Morten Harket

“My younger brother was a big Stoke fan, and I was sucked into it. I was kind of waking up every morning and looking at Gordon Banks' face! We had all these small football cards - literally hundreds of them - and swapping them was the currency back then.”

“I can choose to be a serious musician, but the sex symbol part is not up to me.”

“I do respond to the ideas behind the Eurovision and 'The X Factor,' but they're both so limiting and very, very shallow.”

“The video was of paramount importance, because 'Take on Me' was not an instant hit.”

“I love just being in the sphere of nothingness looking inwards.”

“I've never been uncomfortable being a frontman.”

“I actually do sing sometimes.”

“We were never a boy band. We always had much more to offer than that, I thought.”

“Fun is only possible if you have a mindset that allows it.”

“We didn't feel we fitted into the '80s.”

“I'd known since I was 17 that I was going to be a star. It was a strange feeling but a very real one.”

“I don't abuse my body - I don't drink much alcohol, don't smoke and never have - but that's the same of many people. I don't think I've ever stopped ageing myself.”

“People think the chorus is the hard part in 'Take on Me,' but they're wrong. The hard part was making the verses bounce.”

“My brother was an avid Stoke City fan and a good footballer. We shared a room, growing up, and the walls were covered with 1970s Stoke players, like Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks, and Jimmy Greenhoff.”

“I feel very strong about 'Brother.' This is me. I've been writing with a much more free sky, open and free.”

“Just to be spontaneous and free is life's biggest luxury and privilege when life is so busy.”

“I do love beauty. I love beautiful tilings. I grow orchids and collect butterflies. But when it comes to relationships, you have to find the person inside.”

“When you're at war with yourself, you will go under.”

“Although I would like to describe the perfect day, I can't. Because a perfect day is one where there is no plan.”

“People have a wild response to something, and they want it. Sometimes people lose themselves.”