Pop group a-ha ends career with 2010 world tour

Norwegian pop band a-ha performs in front of the Brandenburg Gate during the opening ceremony of the world athletics championships in Berlin in this August 14, 2009 file photo.[Agencies]

OSLO - Norwegian pop-group a-ha, which rose to fame during the 1980s, will end its nearly 30-year career with a 2010 world tour, Universal Music said on Thursday.

A-ha won its biggest success in 1985 with their debut album "Hunting High and Low," which yielded the international number-one single "Take on me."

The band has sold more than 35 million copies of its 9 albums, or 70 million copies including singles.

"The band will make a final world tour in 2010 to end their collaboration on a high note," Universal Music said in a statement.

The band -- formed in 1982 -- has won several awards, including a nomination for Best New Artist at the 1986 Grammy Awards, numerous MTV music awards and "Spellemannsprisen" awards -- the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy awards.

The trio -- vocalist Morten Harket, keyboardist Magne Furuholmen and guitarist Paal Waaktaar-Savoy -- split up for about seven years in the early 1990s, but were reunited in 1998 after they performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert.

A-ha's last album from 2009, "Foot of the Mountain," peaked at the charts in Germany, was listed second in Norway and fifth in Great Britain.

"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale, through a longer, more rewarding career than anyone could hope for," the band said in the statement.