Pop group A-ha to break up after 25 years

The band formed in 1982, and scored their first hit three years later
Pop group A-ha have announced they are to call it a day, just months after achieving a top 10 album in the UK.

"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale," the group, which formed 25 years ago, said.

The trio added that the split would allow them to pursue "other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else".

The Norwegian band scored international hits with The Sun Always Shines On TV and Take On Me in the 1980s.

Their most recent album, Foot Of The Mountain, marked a return to their synth-pop roots after a period in which they recorded chiming guitar ballads. It charted at number five in the UK.

Farewell tour

However, the band never quite recaptured the spark of their heyday, when lead singer Morten Harket was a teen pin-up and the group were followed around by screaming fans.

They even broke a world record at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium in 1991, when 196,000 fans paid to see them.

But after the commercial failure of 1993's Memorial Beach, the band went on hiatus, only reforming after being invited to play the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998.

Both Harket and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy released solo albums during this period.

The group have announced they will mount a farewell tour before disbanding. Only the final date, in Oslo on 4 December 2010, has so far been confirmed.

"We are retiring as a band, not as individuals," the band reassured fans in their statement.

"Change is always difficult and it is easy to get set in one's ways. Now it is time to move on."