Terry Slater obit

A-ha icon Terry Slater dies aged 85: ‘The most important person in our career’

 

He was not on the list.

A-ha’s first manager, Terry Slater, who was pivotal in launching the band’s high-profile career, has died aged 85.

The Norwegian band, founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen, and Morten Harket in 1982, had mega success with their 1985 hit Take On Me.

Slater, at one time a board member of the record label EMI, took on the then-unknown trio in 1983. They would go on to become pop superstars under his management for 12 years after signing with Warner Brothers Records.

On July 29, in a heartfelt tribute to the man who ‘took a chance on three scruffy, hopeful Norwegians living in London squalor with a burning ambition and some degree of talent,’ Furuholmen posted an emotional statement.

He credited the late music mogul, who also helped launch Queen, Sex Pistols, Kate Bush and Duran Duran to superstardom, with pioneering the first Norwegian artists to find global success with major hits topping charts around the world.

‘[We can] eventually now look back on a more than 40-year international career in music as Norway’s still biggest ever international act,’ he said.

‘Terry is the singularly most important person in A-ha’s music career,’ Furuholmen declared, later calling him a ‘kind of father figure and good friend’.

‘He is without a doubt the person with the greatest impact on our professional lives and, I dare say, the lives of all our families,’ the music artist praised.

In the 1960s, Slater started his musical career as a songwriter and bass player with the Everly Brothers, Isaac Donald ‘Don’ Everly and Phillip ‘Phil’ Everly.

As Furuholmen concluded: ‘Thank you, dear Terry – for everything. I hope you are inimitably chuckling away in some other dimension – playing bass and goofing off with your friends Phil and Don and all the other music greats who are no longer gracing us with their talent – most of whom you knew and who knew and appreciated you.’

In the late 90s, A-ha joined new management, but Slater remained a crucial part of their band, often spoken of as the fourth member.

The band – also behind hits such as The Sun Always Shines on T.V. and Hunting High and Low – conducted a farewell tour in 2010 before breaking up, and performed an acoustic version of the song her co-wrote for the Everly Brothers, Bowling Green, in his honour.

The trio later reunited in 2015 and have released new music and performed live together again in the years since.

Slater also made a cameo in 2021’s A-ha: The Movie, where he visits the band backstage.

Elsewhere, the Ed Sullivan Show’s Facebook page also posted: ‘We are deeply saddened by the passing of Terry Slater. From performing and writing alongside The Everly Brothers to his influential years as an executive at EMI and manager for a-ha, Terry left an unforgettable mark on the music industry.

‘His legacy lives on through the timeless songs and artists he championed. Rest in peace, Terry. Thank you for the music.’

The Everly Brothers’ page, managed by their estate, also shared their condolences.

‘Terry was many things to the Everly Brothers – a bass player, a writing partner and a lifelong friend.

‘He is credited for writing numerous Everly Brothers’ songs including Bowling Green, Lord of the Manor and Up in Mabel’s Room.

‘In the mid 60s, the three became so close that Ike and Margaret Everly referred to Terry as their third son. We send our condolences to Terry’s family,’ the statement read.