Morten Abel was born and grew up near Bodø, but moved to Stavanger when he was 15 years old. There he became the lead singer of a band called Catrix, which soon changed their name to "Mods". They released two albums in Norwegian language in 1981 and 1982, and had a big hit with a song called "Tore Tang". A third album in English language was released in 1984.