Norwegian singer, songwriter and musician Paul Waaktaar-Savoy was born as Paul Gamst 62 years ago in Tonsenhagen, is married and has a daughter. He is is best known as one of the members of the famous 80s pop band trio ‘a-ha’.
As a child, Paul studied the flute and later music composition, after being encouraged by his parents. He was influenced by guitarist Jimi Hendrix and wished to write a rock opera one day. He also loved to read and paint.
In 1978, he became a member of the band ‘Bridges’ who released just one album in 1980. Two years later, the synth-pop trio ‘a-ha’ was created, with Paul as the lead guitarist, Magner Furholmen as keyboardist and Morten Harket as the lead singer. Paul is also the group’s main songwriter and has composed many of the band’s most successful tracks like ‘Take on Me’, ‘The Sun Always Shines on TV’ and ‘Hunting High and Low’. Interesting to note is that the international number one hit ‘Take on Me’ evolved from an unreleased track by Paul’s previous band ‘Bridges’.
Until 1993, ‘a-ha’ had 5 albums and after a 7-year hiatus, returned to the music scene and in the year 2000 released a new album and embarked on a tour which was sold out. Until 2022, they released another 8 albums.
Apart from ‘a-ha’, Paul forms part of the rock band ‘Savoy’ together with his wife and a drummer and released several CDs. He also presented a project with American singer Jimmy Gnecco and formed a duo with Jimmy’s daughter Zoe, with whom he released 2 singles.
In 2012, together with his fellow ‘a-ha’ members, Paul was appointed as a 1st class Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav for his music contributions towards his country. As a group, ‘a-ha’ received 56 awards out of 81 nominations.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: Zimbio