A-ha singer Morten Harket diagnosed with Parkinson’s

“This isn’t the sort of news anyone wants to deliver."

Earlier today, the Take On Me band released a statement confirming the news.

The statement read: “This isn’t the sort of news anyone wants to deliver to the world, but here it is: Morten has Parkinson’s disease.”

Harket, who is now 65, shared his own statement explaining that he initially wished to keep the diagnosis private but has now decided to tell fans.

He said: “I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis. With time I’ve taken to heart my 94-year-old father’s attitude to the way the organism gradually surrenders: ‘I use whatever works.’

“Part of me wanted to reveal it. Like I said, acknowledging the diagnosis wasn’t a problem for me; it’s my need for peace and quiet to work that has been stopping me.”

He went onto say that he is "trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline”, writing: “It’s a difficult balancing act between taking the medication and managing its side effects.

“There’s so much to weigh up when you’re emulating the masterful way the body handles every complex movement, or social matters and invitations, or day-to-day life in general.”

Harket’s symptoms have thankfully been “softened” due to development in treatment from the Mayo Clinic in the US.

The singer has six children, three with his former wife Camilla Malmquist Harket, who he divorced in 1998, a daughter with a former girlfriend, and another daughter with Inez Andersson, who he is still in a relationship with.