Paul waaktaar savoy biography channel

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (born Pål Gamst, 6 September 1961) is a Norwegian musician and songwriter. Waaktaar-Savoy is best known for his work as the main songwriter and guitarist in the Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha, which has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He has written or co-written most of the band's biggest hits, including "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", "Hunting High and Low", "Take On Me", the 1987 James Bond theme "The Living Daylights" and the ballad "Summer Moved On". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Paul Waaktaar-Savoy has received more than 828,401 page views. His biography is available in 21 different languages on Wikipedia. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is the 1,124th most popular musician (down from 920th in 2019), the 255th most popular biography from Norway (down from 194th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Norwegian Musician.

If you ask people to name the top drum programmers in history, you’ll hear a series of familiar names. “The King,” Jimmy Bralower. Prince. Session pros like Sammy Merendino, John Robie, and Jason Miles. Pioneers like John Foxx and Martyn Ware, and masters of a single instrument, like Greg “Egyptian Lover” Broussard, the “king of the 808.” (Look for full interviews with several of the aforementioned folks, coming soon!)

A more surprising addition to the list might be Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. Not, however, because you don’t know his drum programming. As the principal songwriter and programmer in Norwegian trio A-ha, alongside singer Morten Harket and multi-instrumentalist Magne Furuholmen, Waaktaar-Savoy’s work has helped sell more than 50 million records worldwide. And it would be hard to find anyone who hasn't heard “Take On Me,” the band’s global Number One hit from 1985, and one of those rare songs that continues to resonate in the culture long after its initial release.

What most people don't realize is that Waaktaar-Savoy’s LinnDrum programming played a critical role in that song’s success. They also don't know that producer Alan Tarney insisted, years later, that “I’ve never seen anyone as good as him at programming a Linn.”

I caught up with Waaktaar-Savoy i