Магне Фурухольмен: Музыкант, художник и автор хитов A-ha

Norwegian musician and visual artist

Magne Furuholmen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian musician and visual artist. Also known by his stage name Mags, he is the keyboardist of the synthpop/rock band A ha and co wrote hits such as "Take On Me", "Stay on These Roads", "Manhattan Skyline", "Cry Wolf", "Forever Not Yours", "Analogue (All I Want)", "Minor Earth Major Sky", "Touchy! ", "You Are the One", "Move To Memphis" and "Foot of the Mountain". A ha has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He was named Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success. Furuholmen is also a visual artist with solo exhibitions held in Norway, the UK, and elsewhere in Europe. His work is represented in private and public institutions and museums worldwide, among them The Norwegian State Archives, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and others. In 2016 Magne Furuholmen undertook his biggest commission to date and created the largest ceramic sculpture park in Scandinavia titled "Imprints", which is located in Fornebu outside Oslo. In 2017 the University of Agder in Norway nominated five new honorary doctors in connection with the university's 10th anniversary. The degree was awarded for significant scientific or artistic efforts. Magne Furuholmen was one of the recipients.

Furuholmen (keyboards and vocals) formed Bridges with Paul Waaktaar Savoy (guitars and vocals), drummers Erik Hagelien and Øystein Jevanord, and bassist Viggo Bondi. In 1980, Bridges released their only album, the self financed LP Fakkeltog. Although the title is Norwegian (meaning torchlight procession), the songs are in English. At the request of A ha frontman Morten Harket, A ha performed the Fakkeltog song "The Vacant" (renamed "Sox of the Fox") during their 2017 MTV Unplugged performance, released as MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice.

Furuholmen has been the keyboardist with A ha since their formation in 1982, though he also plays guitar. He composed the synth riff of "Take On Me", when he was only 15 years old. In an interview from 2014, he revealed it was thanks to Morten Harket that they used the "Take on Me" riff saying he would quit the band if they didn't. The synth riff was sampled in the American hit song "Feel This Moment" featuring Pitbull and Christina Aguilera in 2012. Magne Furuholmen has performed live together with Chris Martin of Coldplay, who introduced Mags as "the best keyboard player in the world". Furuholmen co wrote most of the a ha classics with Paul Waaktaar Savoy, including "Stay on These Roads", "Manhattan Skyline", "Foot of the Mountain", "Cry Wolf", "Move To Memphis", "Minor Earth Major Sky", "Analogue (All I Want)", "Scoundrel Days", "Touchy! ", "You Are the One", "Love Is Reason", "Early Morning", "I Call Your Name", "We're Looking for the Whales", "Soft Rains of April", "I Dream Myself Alive", "Little Black Heart", "The Company Man", "The Bandstand", and the band's first and biggest hit "Take On Me". In the 2010 a ha biography "The Swing of Things", Furuholmen describes one highlight for him: "Stay on These Roads" was a song that I, unusually enough, showed to Morten first – in Paul's apartment. Morten had a brilliant suggestion for a change in the chorus. That song is potentially the best I've ever written". In the biography, Magne also commented: "Manhattan Skyline" was perhaps one of the most inspired cut and paste projects that Paul and I did. I wrote the quiet part. Paul wrote the rock part." Magne Furuholmen has written or co written the majority of songs on albums like Lifelines and Analogue, and his co writing and single track contributions make up most of the tracks on Scoundrel Days, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Foot of the Mountain and MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice as well. Mags has written songs such as "Cosy Prisons", "Lifelines", "This is Our Home", "I Wish I Cared", "Mythomania", "Objects in the Mirror", "The End Of The Affair", "Giving Up the Ghost", "Forest Fire" and "Maybe, Maybe" for a ha, and he takes lead vocals on a couple of recorded album songs with a ha including "The Summers of Our Youth". When a ha went on hiatus in 1994, Furuholmen began working on other music projects. The band reconvened in 1998, though announced they would split in 2010. In 2012 the three members of a ha, Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar Savoy, were appointed Knights of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for their contribution to Norwegian music. The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav is granted as a reward for distinguished services to their country and mankind. The official ceremony took place on 6 November 2012.

In 2008 Furuholmen collaborated with Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman and Mew vocalist Jonas Bjerre under the band name of Apparatjik for the theme to the BBC Two series, Amazon. The theme was made available (along with exclusive tracks from various other artists) on the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. In 2010 Apparatjik released their first album We Are Here, a digital album also available physically via their website. Apparatjik has performed in a cube at venues like The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, The Serpentine Gallery in London, The State Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and The Norwegian National Gallery. Apparatjik is described by themselves as an artist collective falling between art and mainstream culture, but happy in the fall. Magne announced on Jo Wiley's show on BBC Radio 2 in October 2010 that he intends to work with his friends in MEW and Coldplay after retiring from A ha in December.

Furuholmen's work is represented in institutions and collections in his native Norway and worldwide. Among his permanent public commissions are 'Resonance' for The city of Bergen, as well as his
largest commission to date – a ceramic sculpturepark in the Oslo region consisting of 50 tonnes of clay, opened in June 2016. In 2001, Furuholmen was commissioned to design an official Norwegian postage stamp. In 2005 he decorated the 11 floors of the Royal Caribbean International cruiseship Adventure of the Seas with sheets of glass of his work. 2014: Furuholmen started working on his biggest commission to date, for what ended up being Scandinavia's largest ceramic sculpture park. 2015: Magne exhibited works in Edinburgh, and his collaboration with Dovecot Studios of Edinburgh for his "Peeling a Glass Onion" exhibition was made into a shortfilm shown on the BBC website.

Furuholmen was born in Oslo, the son of jazz trumpeter Kåre Furuholmen (1940–69) and Anne Lise Furuholmen (b. 1941). Furuholmen married Heidi Rydjord, his high school sweetheart, on 8 August 1992, in the garden of their Nesøya home. They have two sons, Thomas Vincent (born 19 April 1990) and Filip Clements (born 2 October 1993). Furuholmen has previously revealed in interviews that he suffered from a heart disease, however in 2016 he told Norwegian Newspaper "Bergensavisen" that he had a whole new life after undergoing surgery in 2012.