A-ha’s keyboard player on early struggles… and how he earned £2,000 per note

MAGNE FURUHOLMEN – better known to music fans as Mags, the keyboard player of the 1980s pop band A-ha – is now a highly successful artist whose sculptures and paintings, which can sell for as much as £100,000. But he wasn’t always rolling in money and had a desperate struggle to make ends meet as a young man.

What did your parents teach you about money?

That it would not mean anything unless you were happy doing what you were doing. I grew up in Oslo and am from a middle-class Norwegian family. My father was a musician who died when I was six years old. My mother was a teacher but she did not push me towards education. She always said: ‘I don’t care if you collect dustbins, but whatever you do, be happy.’ She did not have a lot of money when I was growing up but we lived within our means and I did not want for anything.

What was your first paid work?

Picking berries and selling them at the roadside at the age of five or six. But the first meaningful job I had was working at a multimedia arts centre outside Oslo when I was 16. It had a recording studio in the basement and great artists coming from abroad like David Hockney and Yoko Ono. I got to meet them – I was one of the assistants running around, sorting out every little thing that needed to be done for their exhibitions. They gave me the odd kind word but what I found most exciting was peeking into their world. It made me realise one’s hobby could be a way of life. I found that quite informative and inspirational.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

Yes. Guitarist Paul [WaaktaarSavoy] and I first moved to London in 1982 and we quickly went through the money we had saved in Norway. We were there on tourist visas and were not allowed to work. So I would do cash-in-hand jobs like working as a builder tearing down buildings with asbestos, and as a barman in pubs for £1 an hour. Sneaking over the border, trying to make sure you were not stopped, was always a big issue. To save money, we would all sleep in one room with a little hotplate and a sink in the corner. There were lots of mice. I remember we caught some and put them in an aquarium as pets. In one place, there was a broken window in the bedroom, which we covered with black plastic. There was also a gas leak. Sometimes there were not enough beds, so we would take it in turns to sleep on bare bed-boards or mattresses on the floor.

Have you ever been paid silly money per hour for a job?

There have been a few corporate gigs over the years where I have divided the fee I was paid by the number of notes I played and realised it was silly money. The most I was paid was £2,000 a note for Take On Me during a short, well-paid corporate gig.

What was the best year of your life, in terms of the money you made?

I have never thought about my life that way, but the last 10 years have probably included my biggest earning years. I could not be sure when exactly, but possibly 2009 and 2010 because we did some big tours then. I still get royalties every year from

Take On Me, and other songs too. Everything I have recorded generates an income. There have also been years recently when I have made more money as an artist from my visual practice than from my music. My sculptures can sell for up to £100,000, depending on size, and paintings for £20,000.

The most expensive thing you have ever bought yourself, just for fun?

A black AC Cobra, in the 1980s. It cost me £150,000. I should never have sold it. It’d be worth over £1m now.

What is the biggest money mistake you have made?

Selling my two-bed, two-bath, splitlevel flat in Kensington in 1990. I had bought it for about £200,000 in 1986 and sold it for about the same amount or less. It would be worth millions now.

What is the one luxury that you treat yourself to?

Good food and good wine – and making sure friends have a good time. I treat myself to that as often as I possibly can, probably too often.

What is your number one financial priority?

To encourage my children to use money responsibly, for the greater good, rather than extravagantly. I do not want them to grow up differently from their peers.