Editing Michael Learns to Rock (section)

===Continuing as a trio (2000–2006)===
In 2000, Søren Madsen decided to leave the group to embark on a solo career. The remaining three members set themselves the challenge of pursuing a sound different from that of their previous albums and thus produced the album ''[[Blue Night (Michael Learns to Rock album)|Blue Night]]'', which almost went platinum in [[Denmark]] and sold well in Asia,<ref name="jowu" /> with sales over one million. The following year a biography of MLTR, ''Something You Should Know'' written by Poul Martin-Bonde, was published along with a few previously unreleased recordings. The English translation of the book was called ''It Never Rains on Bali'',<ref>{{cite news |author= Poul Martin Bonde|title=Google Books – It Never Rains on Bali: The Story of Michael Learns to Rock|year=2001|isbn=9788756292375|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySLuMgAACAAJ&q=michael+learns+to+rock}}</ref> a reference to an incident that took place during the band's 1995 [[Bali]] concert, where a no-rain forecast proved wrong and the unexpected rain stopped the concert.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rain Stops Play|url=http://www.midaspromotions.com/aboutus.htm|publisher=Midas Promotions|access-date=18 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324094913/http://www.midaspromotions.com/aboutus.htm|archive-date=24 March 2010}}</ref>

After the release of ''Blue Night'', the band took a prolonged break, with Richter working on his solo album ''Planet Blue''. The band later admitted that they even considered disbanding during this time. They ultimately decided against it, following the success of their greatest hits album releases, including ''19 Love Songs / Love Ballads'' in 2002, which went to number 2<ref>{{cite news |title=MICHAEL LEARNS TO ROCK – 19 LOVE SONGS (ALBUM)|url=https://danishcharts.dk/showitem.asp?interpret=Michael+Learns+To+Rock&titel=19+Love+Songs&cat=a| publisher=danishcharts.dk |access-date= 2 October 2010}}</ref> in Denmark.

In 2004, the band regrouped again, departing from the name MLTR, and using the original name for their sixth album called ''[[Michael Learns to Rock (2004 album)|Michael Learns to Rock]]'', released in Asia as ''Take Me to Your Heart''. The album focused on the Asian market. The single "Take Me to Your Heart" was a remake of [[Jacky Cheung]]'s "[[The Goodbye Kiss (album)|Goodbye Kiss]]" ("吻别"), and was popular in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and [[Taiwan]]. By the end of 2006 alone, the single created a record when it sold over 6 million paid downloads and was awarded the "Most Downloaded Single of the Year 2006". MLTR sang an English and Chinese duet of "Take Me to Your Heart" with the Chinese singer Hu Yanbin at a 2005 New Year's Party in Guangzhou, China. The band also sang the song with the [[South Korea]]n star [[Shin Hye-sung]], lead vocalist of the famous boy band [[Shinhwa]]. This album has been one of the major successes of MLTR in Asia, especially China.<ref>{{cite news |title=Danes Play, China Buys – Danish band Michael Learns to Rock sells millions in Asia|author = Charles Ferro & Steve Mclure|date= 29 January 2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxQEAAAAMBAJ&q=Michael+learns+to+rock+billboard&pg=PA44}} Billboard- Google Books Retrieved 14 March 2010</ref>