The career of the Swedish band Roxette began in 1986, when "Neverending Love" was first played on the radio, which became the undisputed hit of the Swedish stage. The song was originally written in Swedish. It was called "Svarta glas" (in literal translation - Black glasses, or maybe it was Dark glasses). Per sent this song to Pernilla Wahlgren, but she didn't want to record it. Then Per made an English version, "Neverending Love" and EMI executive Rolf "Roffe" Nygren heard the song and suggested that Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson sing it together. What they did… So begins the story of the world-famous band.
In 1986, the album "Pearls of Passion" (Pearls of Passion) was released. This album was removed from the list of official releases, but returned in 1997 with bonus tracks.
In the summer of 1987, Roxette made a tour of Sweden, which was called "Rock Runt Riket" (Rock around the Country - Rock around the country). About 115,000 people heard Roxette on this tour. Ratata and Eva Dahlgren also participated in the tour. Together they performed the song "I Want You", which was only released as a single. In the summer of 1988 Roxette began recording a new album, Look Sharp!, which was an incredible success in Sweden and beyond. He was not known anywhere abroad and would not be recognized if one American student had not taken “Look Sharp!” to the local radio station (FM 101.3 MHz) in Minneapolis. The DJ liked the song "The Look", which quickly spread to radio stations and soon everyone knew about it. And then the single "The Look" was released, which became No. 1.
Album Look Sharp! was sold worldwide with a circulation of 8 million copies. Roxette started their first European tour. It started in Helsinki on November 11, 1989. It was Roxette's debut abroad. Back in 1987, Per Gessle wrote "It must have been love (Crhistmas for the broken hearted)". They thought that IMHBL could be the #1 single and title of the new Roxette album. But Touchstone Pictures turned to EMI and IMHBL landed in Pretty Woman. The film was a big hit and IMHBL was #1 in the States. The soundtrack has sold 9 million worldwide.
Summer 1990. Per comes home and finds a piece of paper on the table, on which is written: “Hej din tok, jag ?lskar dig! Woody." What in English meant "Hello you fool, I love you ..." And once Per heard an interesting word from Paul McCartney - "Joyride". An ex-Beatle once said that writing songs with John Lennon is like joyride on a red Ferrari or Porche with an open top on the track at a speed of, say, 150 km / h and Joyride plays in the car). And so, these two facts served to create such a masterpiece as Joyride. And the album has the same name.
The album was very successful (10 million worldwide). The video was played 12 times a day on MTV in the US. What is called "heavy rotation" or as Per said - "brainwash rotation".
It's time for a world tour. It started again in Helsinki. The tour was called Join The Joyride and consisted of 108 concerts on 4 continents. Per & Marie said that on a scale of 10 they gave the performance an 11! During the tour, Roxette made a new album - "Tourism, Songs from studios, stages, hotelrooms & other strange places". It's not a Live album, it's a Tour album, says Per. Tourism sold 4.5 million units. Per and Marie say that Tourism was a "bonus" album.
It's time to rest. There were rumors that Roxette supposedly broke up, but this was not the case. Maybe the rumors arose because Marie was pregnant and didn't show up as often as she used to.
In 1994, Roxette returned with a new album that was even bigger than the previous ones. It was titled "Crash! Boom! bang! Per and Marie already have new hairstyles. The album was recorded in different locations: London, Stockholm and Halmstad and Isola di Capri, Italy.
And again the world tour! Now it's Crash! Boom! Bang! tour". And of course the first concert was in Helsinki. But they didn't go to the States on this tour. Their record company EMI USA decided that the tour would not be successful due to the low number of CBB discs sold in the US.
In the States, the album Favorites From Crash! Boom! bang! It contained several songs from "CBB" and was only sold at McDonald's fast food restaurants. About a million discs have been sold.
In October 1995, Roxette released an album of singles and hits, Don't Bore Us - Get To The Chorus! Roxette's Greatest Hits", which contains all their 14 mega hits (although I think this is a small number :)) and 4 new songs: "I don't want to get hurt", "June afternoon", "You don' t understand me" and "She doesn't live here anymore". The album's first single was "You don't understand me". "Don't Bore Us - Get To The Chorus!" exceeded 4 million copies worldwide.
The release of the new album was slightly different from the previous ones - it was a collection of hits. It was not released in the States and the singles were very different in different countries. In England, The Look '95 was first released, followed by You Don't Understand Me in March 1996, which also featured acoustic versions of "The Look", "Listen to your heart" and "You don't understand me. They were recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Roxette also recorded the Beatles classic Help! but did not release it.
The new Spanish album "Baladas en Espa?ol" was completed in August 1996. And was released before Christmas. Even in the States by the Latin branch of EMI. In February 1997 Roxette signed a new contract with EMI for 10 years.
For the next three years, little was heard about Roxette again. But we knew that they were working, working on a new album. There were a lot of rumors about the album. When finally the final title of the album became known, namely Have A Nice Day, there was a rumor that this was the last Roxette album (Have A Nice Day is usually said when they say goodbye and wish you all the best). Even when Per announced that they were not going to leave anywhere and would at least release hits and masterpieces for another 10 years, the rumor did not die out completely. We have been waiting for this album for a very long time. But finally we waited.
Per Gessle talks about 2001's Room Service: "We thought 'Room Service' was a good title for the album because the music on it is the way we intended it to be. We wanted the music to excite people's minds, fill the space, so the name seems very appropriate to us. And when you have such a suitable name, you can do whatever you want with it. It suggests a great video, a great album, and in general it's just a great phrase. The first single from this album was called "The Center Of The Heart". On November 7, 2001, the group arrived in Moscow and performed at the Olimpiysky.
On September 11, 2002, Marie returned home from her morning run. In the bathroom, she felt unwell and fainted, hitting her head on the sink. Her husband, Mike Bolios, immediately took her to the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, where doctors found a brain tumor in the singer on an ultrasound. A few days later, the operation was performed, it was successful, and for several more years, Marie underwent chemotherapy and rehabilitation. In such a situation, everyone was worried about the singer, wished her a speedy recovery, many thought that this would be the end of the group's career. In 2005, it was announced that Marie had recovered and no longer required further treatment.
In early 2009, another solo album by Per Gessle was released in Europe. In his support, the musician went on a tour of the continent. At two concerts (May 6, Amsterdam and May 10, Stockholm), fans were in for a surprise in the form of an "invited guest", which turned out to be Marie Fredriksson. She performed a duet with Per on 2 songs from the Roxette repertoire ("It must have been love" and "The look").
After the joint performance of the musicians, fans and the press started talking seriously about the duo's return to the studio and stage for joint work. So, the duo performed as headliners on July 28, 2009 at the New Wave festival in Jurmala.
In October-December 2009, performances took place in a series of concerts "Night of the Proms" (5 Roxette songs at each of 42 concerts), which were canceled in 2002 due to Marie's sudden hospitalization. Initially, the band's management and the musicians themselves announced their plans at a press conference after the end of Gessle's tour in mid-May 2009.
On November 3, Per Gessle announced the band's world tour, which is scheduled to begin on February 28, 2011. The first concerts of the tour will take place in Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kyiv and Minsk. On February 11 of the same year, the group's new album "Charm School" went on sale.
Roxette- Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle- came out of Sweden in the late 80's. Their game was pop, their mission to conquer the world. With 33 chart-busting singles and total record sales exceeding 75 million, it seems safe to say “mission accomplished”.
They entered the world of pop with" The look” in 1989, followed up with the mighty ballad “Listen To Your Heart” the same year, the classic “It Must Have Been Love” in 1990, the über-platinum Joyride album in 1991, and their first World Tour. For the next ten years they were on top of the charts somewhere in the world, the constant flow of hit singles and albums resulting in staggering record sales.
Biding their time during Marie Fredriksson’s recovery from a life-threatening brain tumor operation in 2002, the band staged a unique and hugely successful comeback in 2009. In 2016 all the good vibes shared on stages and studios since then seemed to climax with the new album Good Karma and yet another world tour, celebrating the band's three decades in airwaves around the world.
But the rigours of touring finally became too demanding on Marie, so on doctor's advise she decided to cancel the last leg of their 2016 RoXXXette 30th Anniversary Tour, putting an end to decades of stunning live performances that have touched the hearts of millions during 557 shows around the world.
Marie and Per met in the laid-back West Coast town Halmstad already in the late 70's, but individual success prevented them from working together until they were finally ready to merge their creative forces in 1986. The logic was simple: Per had the songs, Marie had the voice - together they could go places. Here's what happened:
After suggestion from EMI, Per and Marie finally realized their much talked-about plan to work together and recorded their debut single ”Neverending Love” under the name Roxette. It became a big summer hit in Sweden. Songs originally planned for Per's third solo album was used for Roxette's debut album ”Pearls Of Passion”, which established the new duo in Sweden.
Roxette toured Sweden, playing for 100,000 people in open-air festivals throughout the country. marie squeezed in her third solo album, ”After storm” before Roxette's christmas single, ”It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)”, took over the Swedish airwaves.
Roxette released their second album, "Look Sharp!" and toured Sweden again. The album was a triumph in Sweden, but a flop everywhere else-until an American exchange student returned from Sweden and urged radio station KDWB in Minneapolis to play ”The look”. From there, ”The Look” spread on cassette copies to other radio stations. suddenly Roxette had a hit single in the USA – and the record wasn’t even released there.
EMI quickly released ”The look” in the USA, where it raced up to # 1 in March and topped the charts in 24 other countries. In October Roxette got their second US #1 with "Listen To Your Heart", and toured Europe while "Look Sharp!" became a worldwide hit that eventually sold 10 million copies.
A written ”It Must Have Been Love”(without the Christmas references) became Roxette's third US #1 in June. It was taken from the soundtrack "Pretty Woman", which sold 9 million copies.
”It Must Have Been Love” has to date been played more than 5,000,000 times on American radio, a feat it shares with "Listen To Your Heart" earning Gessle some very prestigious BMI Awards only a few songwriters can put on the mantelpiece.
The title track from Roxette's third album Joyride reached the #1 position in the USA and many other countries in May. The ”Join The Joyride” World Tour started in Helsinki on September 4. The band would play 108 concerts in Europe, Australia, USA and South America, before the final show in Stockholm on July 1992. By then more than 1.7 million people had seen Roxette on stage with Joyride passing the 11 million mark.
Roxette release their fourth album tourism, a collection of live tracks and on-the-spot recordings made during the world tour. With "How Do You Do!" dominating the international airwaves, Marie picked up her solo career with her fourth Swedish album, the platinum selling "Den standiga resan".
As the first non-English speaking band ever, Roxette played MTV Unplugged. "Almost Unreal" from the ”Super Mario Bros” movie soundtrack, was a summer hit in Europe.
Roxette's fifth album "Crash! Boom! bang!” including hit singles like ”Sleeping In My Car”, ”Run To You”, “Vulnerable”, ”Fireworks” and the title track, was released before the group kicked off their second World Tour with 47 shows in Europe during the autumn.
The tour continued to South Africa, where Roxette were greeted by 130,000 South African fans. Australia, South East Asia and Japan before they made a unique appearance at Beijing’s Capitol Indoor Stadium, with 11,000 Chinese fans going absolutely crazy. In South America, the Rox temperature again reached fever pitch during their live shows.
In the autumn the greatest hits-collection "Don't Bore Us - Get To The Chorus" quickly became another multi-million seller.
A Spanish-language album of Roxette's greatest ballads, Baladas En Español, became a platinum selling record in Spain and achieved gold status in Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico and Chile.
1998-1999.
following a well-deserved break, Roxette took off to El Cortijo in Spain to start recordings for their sixth album of new material. "Have A Nice Day" was received as an innovative and fresh comeback with the first single Wish I Could Fly becoming a major European hit, soon to be followed by future Roxette classics like "Anyone", "Stars" and" Salvation". Per and Marie spent the best part of 1999 promoting the record around the world.
Per and Marie traveled to the legendary California hotel Madonna Inn to shoot an inspired Jonas Åkerlund directed video for the first single, “The Center Of The Heart” from the new Roxette album "Room Service" Real Sugar and “Milk And Toast And Honey” will become huge radio hits in Europe and South America during the year. In the autumn Roxette returned to the stage for yet another successful European tour, ending in front of 11,500 cheering and singing fans in Gothenburg.
The new single “A Thing About You” was supposed to be backed with a Roxette tour, but on September 11 Marie Fredriksson collapsed at home. Diagnosed with brain tumor Marie withdrew to regain her health after a successful operation. Only weeks later she had gathered enough strength to record vocals on the upcoming Roxette single Opportunity Nox.
2003-2005.
Due to Marie's recovery, Roxette kept a low profile. Marie recorded her first English solo album, "The Change" in 2004. In 2003, Per reached new commercial and artistic heights with the 400,000+ selling "Mazarine" his first Swedish solo album in 18 years.
In 2004, the 25th anniversary reunion of Per's powerpop band Gylene Tider managed to break all previous records. With more than half a million tickets sold in Sweden alone the band became the year's second biggest tour in Europe. The new GT album was also a great success, shipping more than 200,000 copies.
Not resting on his laurels, Per released his solo and platinum selling double album “Son Of A Plumber” in November 2005. The same month Per and Marie was reunited on stage in London to pick up a BMI Award for the 4,000,000 th US airing of “It Must Have Been Love.
2006-2008
During 2006 Roxette fans got a treat when the duo celebrated their 20th anniversary with the 4 cd and 2 dvd set ”The Rox Box”, containing the group's biggest hits as well as unreleased material, demos, live recordings and videos.
With Roxette still on hold, Marie devoted time for her art while regaining her strength. Having received favorite reviews for her first exhibition, a series of coal drawings titled “After The Change” in 2005, she returned three years later with a series of color drawings called "A Table In The Sun". She also released two albums; "Min bäste vän", with versions of her favorite Swedish songs, as well as ”Tid for tystnad”, a collection of her own ballads. She also performed "Where Your Love Lies" the main theme for the blockbuster movie ”Arn – The Kingdom At Road’s End”.
Meanwhile Per kept himself busy by recording and touring around his Swedish solo album ”En händig man” in 2007, followed by the 80's tinged pop collection ”Party Crasher” the year after .
2009-2010
In the spring of 2009 Per embarked on a solo tour of Europe, solo material with Roxette mixing classics. After eight years fans could finally witness Marie Fredriksson reunite with Per on stage when they performed ”It Must Have Been Love” and ”The look” in Amsterdam.
Shortly thereafter the dreams of many loyal “Roxers” came true when the group announced that they would reunite for the 25th Anniversary ”Night of the Proms” tour in Holland, Belgium and Germany during 42 shows in the autumn of 2009. The tour was a magnificent success with more than 600,000 ecstatic Europeans experiencing the group's comeback in a neo-classic surrounding with a full symphony orchestra. The tour worked so well that Roxette started to look ahead; Per wrote material for a comeback album and new shows were planned for 2010.
On June 18 2010 Roxette performed live at the Crown Princess Victoria's and Daniel Westling's wedding party at the Royal Castle in Stockholm. A few weeks later the band kicked off their summer tour at the Hotel Tylösand, standing in front of a Swedish audience for the first time since 2001. Six shows in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Russia proved that Marie was strong enough to tour on a larger scale. Roxette was finally back in the game.
2011-2016
In February 2011 Roxette kicked off their comeback World Tour in Russia and released "Charm School" their first album of new material since "Room Service" in 2001. The tour was originally scheduled to end that summer, but more dates were constantly added-first for the autumn of 2011 and then for 2012-until the whole thing was renamed “The Never Ending Tour”.
It was soon clear that the “new” Roxette were in top shape. Egged on by the phenomenal response, Roxette put on an amazing live show with Marie belting out powerful vocals like every show was her last. The musicians were also on fire with the right combination of joy, playfulness and superb musicianship. In between shows, airports, and backstage meet ‘n greets, Roxette recorded and released the new album "Travelling" in 2012.
When they reached their final show in Mexico City in September 2012, Roxette had performed their classic songs in front of a staggering 1.5 million singing, screaming and crying people in 46 countries since the tour started 18 months earlier.
Resuming touring in the autumn of 2014, the idea now was to make short tours to keep everybody’s energies up. They visited Russia, Australia and spent the summer of 2015 on a massive European summer tour.
But finally the demands of life on the road became too much for Marie Fredriksson. Roxette were supposed to start the last leg of their 30th Anniversary Tour in the summer of 2016, when she was advised by her doctors to withdraw from touring completely. As a consequence all the summer shows were cancelled, making Roxette’s February 8 performance at the Grand Arena in Cape Town the final show of a magnificent live career.
In the summer of 2016 Roxette released their tenth album Good Karma, with singles “It Just Happens”, “Some Other Summer” and “Why Don't You Bring Me Flowers” getting again the band back on the world's airwaves.
And though the band's touring days are definitely over, Roxette's legacy is remarkably alive and vibrant-as is the will to make music. Which means that a sad goodbye might actually turn into a sweet hello when you least expect it. It's just the kind of group they've always been.
83 chord selections
Biography
The career of the Swedish band Roxette began in 1986, when "Neverending Love" was first played on the radio, which became an undisputed hit on the Swedish stage. The song was originally written in Swedish. It was called "Svarta glas" (in literal translation - Black glasses, or maybe it was Dark glasses). Per sent this song to Pernill "e Wahlgren, but she did not want to record it. Then Per made an English version, "Neverending Love" and EMI executive Rolf "Roffe" Nygren heard the song and suggested that Per "Gessle and Marie Fredriksson sing it together. What they did... So begins the story of the world-famous band.In 1986 the album "Pearls of Passion" (Pearls of Passion) was released. This album was removed from the list of official releases, but returned in 1997 with bonus tracks.
In the summer of 1987, Roxette made a tour of Sweden, which was called "Rock Runt Riket" (Rock around the Country - Rock around the country). About 115,000 people heard Roxette on this tour. Ratata and Eva Dahlgren also participated in the tour. Together they performed the song "I Want You", which was only released as a single. In the summer of 1988 Roxette began recording a new album, Look Sharp!, which was an incredible success in Sweden and beyond. He was not known anywhere abroad and would not be recognized if one American student had not picked up "Look Sharp!" to the local radio station (FM 101.3 MHz) in Minneapolis. DJ "I liked the song "The Look", which quickly spread to radio stations and soon everyone knew about it. And then the single "The Look" was released, which became No. 1.
Album "Look Sharp!" was sold worldwide with a circulation of 8 million copies. Roxette started their first European tour. It started in Helsinki on November 11, 1989. It was Roxette's debut abroad. Back in 1987, Per Gessle wrote "It must have been love (Crhistmas for the broken hearted)". They thought that IMHBL could be the #1 single and title of the new Roxette album. But Touchstone Pictures approached EMI and IMHBL got into Pretty Woman. The film was a big hit and IMHBL was #1 in the States. The soundtrack has sold 9 million worldwide.
Summer 1990. Per comes home and finds a piece of paper on the table that says: "Hej din tok, jag Г¤lskar dig! Woody." What in English meant "Hello you fool, I love you ..." And once Per heard an interesting word from Paul "and McCartney -" Joyride ". The ex-Beatle once said that writing songs with John" Lennon "is like joyride (this is not translated into Russian in one word, but joyride is the feeling that you experience from fast driving a car - imagine that you are racing in a red Ferrari or Porche with an open top along the track at a speed of, say, 150 km /h and Joyride plays in the auto).And so, these two facts served to create such a masterpiece as Joyride.And the album was named the same.
The album was very successful (10 million worldwide). The video was played 12 times a day on MTV in the US. What is called "heavy rotation" or as Per said - "brainwash rotation".
It's time for a world tour. It started again in Helsinki. The tour was called Join The Joyride and consisted of 108 concerts on 4 continents. Per & Marie said that on a scale of 10 they gave the performance an 11! During the tour Roxette made a new album - "Tourism, Songs from studios, stages, hotelrooms & other strange places". It's not a Live album, it's a Tour album, says Per. Tourism sold 4.5 million units. Per and Marie say that Tourism was a "bonus" album.
It's time to rest. There were rumors that Roxette supposedly broke up, but this was not the case. Maybe the rumors arose because Marie was pregnant and didn't show up as often as she used to.
In 1994, Roxette returned with a new album that was even bigger than the previous ones. It was called "Crash! Boom! Bang!". Per "and Marie already have new hairstyles. The album was recorded in different places: in London, Stockholm and Halmstad and at Isola di Capri, Italy.
And again the world tour! Now it's "Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour". And of course the first concert was in Helsinki. But they didn't go to the States on this tour. Their record company EMI USA decided that the tour would not be successful due to the low number of CBB discs sold in the US.
The album "Favorites From Crash! Boom! Bang!" was released in the States. It contained several songs from "CBB" and was only sold at McDonald's fast food restaurants. About a million discs were sold.
In October 1995, Roxette released an album of singles and hits - "Don" t Bore Us - Get To The Chorus! Roxette "s Greatest Hits", which contains all their mega hits in the amount of 14 pieces (although I think this is a small number :)) and 4 new songs: "I don" t want to get hurt", "June afternoon", "You don"t understand me" and "She doesn't live here anymore". The album's first single was "You don't understand me". "Don't Bore Us - Get To The Chorus!" exceeded 4 million copies worldwide.
The release of the new album was slightly different from the previous ones - it was a collection of hits. It was not released in the States and the singles were very different in different countries. In England, "The Look "95" was first released, and then in March 1996 "You don't understand me", on which there were also acoustic versions of "The Look", "Listen to your heart" and "You don" t understand me". They were recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Roxette also recorded the Beatle classic "Help!", but did not release it.
The new spanish album "Baladas en Español" was completed in August 1996. And was released before Christmas. Even in the States by the Latin branch of EMI. In February 1997 Roxette signed a new contract with EMI for 10 years.
For the next three years, little was heard about Roxette again. But we knew that they were working, working on a new album. There were a lot of rumors about the album. When finally the final title of the album became known, namely Have A Nice Day, there was a rumor that this was the last Roxette album (Have A Nice Day is usually said when they say goodbye and wish you all the best). Even when Per announced that they were not going to leave anywhere and would at least release hits and masterpieces for another 10 years, the rumor did not die out completely. We have been waiting for this album for a very long time. But finally we waited.
Per Gessle talks about 2001's "Room Service": "We thought 'Room Service' was a good title for the album because the music on it is the way we wanted it to be. We wanted the music to stir the minds people filled the space, so we think the name is very appropriate. And when you have such a suitable name, you can do whatever you want with it. It suggests a great video, a great album, and in general it's just a great phrase." The first single from this album was called "The Center Of The Heart". November 7, 2001 the group arrived in Moscow and performed at the "Olympic".
Biographical information of the band members
Marie Fredriksson - Heart of Roxette.
Real full name: Gun-Marie Fredriksson
Date of birth: May 30, 1958
Height: 167 cm
Hair color: Blonde (blonde), real color - brown
Eye color: Brown
Marital Status: Married to Micke Bolyos. Ex-husband - Gert Claesson
Children: Inez Josefin (born April 29, 1993) & Oscar Mikael (born November 26, 1996)
Played with bands: Strul, MaMas Barn and solo
Family: Father died. Inca - her mother (died 1998), brother and two sisters (older sister, Anna-Lisa, died in a car accident)
Hobbies: Drawing, playing the piano, jogging, playing ice hockey
Favorite treat: Pasta (something like spaghetti)
Favorite drink: Beer
Favorite Color: Black
Favorite instrument: Piano
Favorite songs Roxette: "Watercolors in the rain" and "Go to sleep"
Favorite vacation country: Sweden
Favorite city: Rotterdam
Five words about myself: Friendly, thoughtful, modest, honest and kind
A bit of bio-solo discography: Marie Fredrikssson was born in G–ssjG¶ (Sweden). In 1975 Marie left school and began her musical education.
In 1984 she released the album "Het Vind" (Hot Wind) which was a huge success.
In 1985 Marie released her second album, which was also a great success. She is probably the best female musician in Scandinavia (and in the whole world).
And in 1986 she was already working with Per. Marie has another solo album on her account - Efter Stormen.
1992 Den Ståndiga Resan
1996 I en tid som vГҐr
2000 „ntligen
2002 Kärlekens Skuld
2004 The Change
2006 Min Bästa Vän
Per Gessle - Brain Roxette.
Real full name: Per-NGҐkan Gessle
Nicky: Pelle, Parre, Gellner
Date of birth: January 12, 1959
Height: 183cm
Weight: 80 kg
Hair color: Light (blonde)
Eye color: Brown
Marital status: Married to G ... s "e Nordin-Gessle since August 21, 1993, they have been together for about 15 years since they met at a disco
Children: G…sa gave birth to his son Gabriel "I Titus" on August 5th
Played with groups: Grape Rock, Peter Pop & The Helicopters, Gyllene Tider, Per's Garage, The Lonely Boys
Family: Mother Elisabeth, Father Kurt (died of cancer April 27, 1978), brother Bengt and sister Gunilla
Hobbies: Reading, playing the guitar, tennis, collecting wines, paintings and records from the 60s
Favorite treat: Sea food, especially lobsters
Favorite drink: Anything alcoholic, prefers red wine - Bordeaux claret
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite compositions Roxette: The Look and Crash! Boom! Bang!
Favorite vacation country: France
Favorite city: Buenos Aires
Five words about yourself: Greedy, dishonest, calculating, cold and indifferent
A bit of bio-solo discography: Per Gessle was born in Halmstad (Sweden) on January 12, 1959. He is the guitarist and vocalist of the Roxette band. He is the one who mainly writes Roxette's songs. He has a very successful musical career. He played in several groups, the most successful of which was Gyllene Tider (Golden Time). They were hugely popular in Sweden in the early 80's and could be said to be the most successful band in Scandinavia (I mean among the bands that released their albums in Scandinavia). The group has sold over a million records. (In 1995 they released a Greatest Hits album called "Halmstad PG¤rlor" (Pearls of Halmstad). The album was a success.
In 1983, Per released his first solo album, almost unlike the Gyllene Tider album. In 1984 Gyllene Tider tried to break into the world stage. They released an album in the US under the name Roxette. But the following year the band disbanded and Per released a second solo album. Neither the first nor the second albums unfortunately were successful. The following year, Per and Marie were already working together as Roxette. By the way, an interesting fact - the very word "Roxette" was taken from the song Dr. Feelgood "and obviously that was the name of the heroine of the song.
In 1997 Per made a 3rd solo album, this time in English. And this time he was not very successful. Not really - because in Sweden the single "Do You Wanna Be My Baby" and the album "The World According To Gessle" were number 1 (each) for only one week.
The life of Per Gessle year after year
1959: Per Gessle is born in Halmstad, Sweden.
1967: Per buys his first Kinks record "The Kink Kontroversy" from his older brother, who needs 5 crowns for cigarettes. Serious vinyl passion begins.
1973: Looking at D. Bowie and impressed, Per makes an ill-fated attempt to dye his hair red. He walks the streets of Halmstad and shines. He seems to be crazy about himself.
1976: Halmstad, known as the "Swedish Liverpool" of the 60s, is under the influence of a new rising wave of sound music phenomena. Per is passionate about various bands
1977: The Sex Pistols perform at a small club in Halmstad. This is an event not to be missed. Per at Home - Watching a replay of The Monkees on TV.
1978: Start of a career. Per sings, writes and plays guitar with Gyllene Tider. After Gyllene is rejected by most of the Swedish record companies, the band finances their first debut on their own.
1979: Per's funny wordplay on a self-financed cassette got EMI signed to Gyllene Tider.
1980-81: Gyllene Tider mania broke out in Scandinavia. Hit singles, best selling albums, tours, abandoned records, work...
1983: Per releases the debut solo album "Per Gessle", which surprises greatly with its dissimilarity to Gyllene Tider, their energy strength and power.
1984: Gyllene Tider's black streak begins, so to speak. The band is making their latest album "Heartland Café©". This is their first attempt to become famous abroad. They released the album in the US not as Gyllene Tider but as Roxette. The album is broken.
1985: Gyllene Tider breaks up. Per recorded the second solo album "Scener", which was the least sold.
1986: After an offer from EMI and after much talk about plans to work together, Per and Marie Fredriksson recorded one single single "Neverending Love" calling themselves Roxette. The single becomes a big hit in Sweden that summer of '86. Marie is advised not to ruin her solo career with Roxette. But she still decides to record with Roxette. The songs planned for Per's third solo album were used for Roxete's debut album "Pearls of Passion". A new duo is born in Sweden. "Neverending Love" is a hit in Europe.
1992: Release of the compilation CD "Demos, 1982-86", which was made up of two old solo albums and contained demo versions.
1993: Per Gessle marries As'e Nordin.
1996: After strong demand from Swedish fans and media, Per decides to reunite with Gyllene Tider for a summer tour. Greatest Hits "Halmstads Pgrlor" are released in a new edition and with new gizmos. The album remains at the top positions all summer long, without giving the rest the slightest chance to take the first line. The tour becomes the most successful Swedish tour - 250,000 Swedes came to the show. The band was awarded two Grammy awards. With the energy left from the events with Gyllene Tider and using some of the time between albums, Roxette Per begins to write and record material for his first solo album in English He invited his favorite Swedish pop band Brainpool and friends from Gyllene Tider to the studio to record.
1997: "The World According To Gessle" completed and released worldwide in May. An explosion of immense power brought the single "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?" in April. Both the album and single number 1 in Sweden. In August, Per's firstborn was born, who was named Gabriel Titus.
1996 The Lonely Boys
1997 The World According To Gessle
1997 Hjärtats Trakt / En Samling
2003 Mazarin
2005 Son of a Plumber
2007 En händig man
Years and still exists, despite several increases in the pace of new music creation in the 2000s. Like many of the Swedish artists, the duo performs their songs in English. Roxette is the most famous duo in the world of pop music. Roxette have sold approximately 75 million albums worldwide, four singles by the duo "The Look", "Listen To Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love" and "joyride" topped the US charts billboard, which is a huge achievement in the history of the Swedish pop industry.
1. General information about the group
- In the world car "eri Roxette helped the case. While in Sweden, an American student Dean Cushman (Dean Cushman) was so carried away by the songs of the duet, who dared to send his own copy of the disc" Look Sharp! "To a provincial radio station in Minneapolis. It was on the radio" that the song "The Look" was promoted before the release of the single in the USA. Although the reliability of this story has not been confirmed (they say that the group was listened to in the States much earlier), nevertheless it is less recognized by many experts, including the duet members themselves;
- Roxette is one of the few bands that made it to China with a concert;
- In 1991, the Swedish Post issued a stamp featuring Roxette;
- Both Per and Marie, regardless of working together, work solo. Marie has several Swedish-language CDs to her credit, and Per has the album "The World According To Gessle", as well as many interesting works in Swedish;
- Per is a big fan of ABBA. Worthy of his collaboration with Frida (Anni-Frid Lingstad), in particular, the song "Thremody" was written for her;
- Roxette had great success in the period 1989-1992, when, in particular, there was a world tour called "Join The Joyride" (1991 - 1992). The next world tour took place in 1994-1995 and was called "Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour". After its graduation, the duo did not play concerts for several years, in 2001 the group played 26 concerts of a European tour called "Room Service Tour";
- Roxette became the first Scandinavian band and the first artist from a non-English speaking country to perform and record an acoustic concert for "MTV Unplugged". Swedish TV recorded the concert on 9 January 1993 at the Cirkus in Stockholm; the recording was shared between Swedish television and MTV-Europe.
- On September 11, 2002, Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a few days later an operation was performed, which was successful, and for several more years Marie underwent chemotherapy and rehabilitation. Nowadays [ When? ] Marie is completely healthy and does not require additional treatment;
- Roxette celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2006, with the release of the hits collection "A Collection of Roxette Hits - Their 20 Greatest Songs!" (Roxette - 20 best songs!) And anthology editions "RoxBox - Roxette 1986 - 2006";
- In May 2009, Per Gessle reported on his website, gessle.com, that Marie Fredriksson would join him in the Netherlands for his solo European tour "Gessle Over Europe" and also revealed that Roxette could reunite and play together from autumn 2009. In addition, the band released all the recordings in a new remastered version with several additional tracks in 2009;
- On 18 June 2010 Roxette performed at a party hosted by Princess Victoria and her fiancé Daniel Westling, their first appearance together in Sweden since 2001;
- In November 2010, it became known that Roxette would go on a world tour in 2011, which would begin in Russia in March 2011. The tour was scheduled through August 2012;
- March 10, 2011 the duo played their first concert on the territory of Ukraine in the "International Exhibition Center" in Kyiv. "Wonderful performance, wonderful audience. We will definitely" definitely have to come back here! "Per Gessle wrote in his blog after the concert and kept his promise. The last performance of the year on December 6, 2011 as part of the tour also took place in Kyiv.
- In August and September 2012, the band embarks on a North American tour.
2. Band members
Roxette is generally considered to be a duo consisting of soloist Marie Fredriksson and guitarist/songwriter Per Gessle, but over the years a large number of musicians have worked with them, who also participate in Per and Marie's solo projects. As of 2001 (album "Room Service" and tour "Room Service tour 2001"), the group included:
- Christoffer Lundquist (Swed. Christoffer Lundquist) - guitar, bass guitar;
- Clarence Ofwerman (Swedish Clarence Ofwerman) - keyboards;
- Pele Alsing (Swed. Pelle Alsing) - drums;
- Mats Persson (Swed. Mats MP Persson) - percussion
- Jonas Isaksson (Swede: Jonas Isacsson) - guitar.
The constant manager of Roxette, as well as the solo projects of Per and Marie, is the head of "D & D Management", Marie Dimberg.
3. History
Beginnings
definitive duet Roxette was formed in the Swedish city of Halmstad by musician Per Gessle and singer Marie Fredriksson in 1986. Although, it is known that both musicians (Per and Marie) have worked together before, including under the name Roxette. Here is what Per Gessle said about this period in an interview:
The "beginnings" of "Rocksette" are rather vague. I think that's the first time you've used this title on a former band's album?
Exactly! We experienced huge success with Gyllene Tider (note - "Golden Times" - Swedish rock band, Per Gessle's first band), but only in Sweden. Since performing our songs in our native language, we did not really count on conquering the whole world, but in 1984 the studio allowed us to record an album in English. As a result, "the album "Heartland Cafe" appeared, published not only in Sweden, but also by Capitol and in the States. Of course, there was no point in counting on something with the name Gyllene Tider, so, a little later, they came up with another one -" Roxette ?, which was borrowed from the name of the hit group Dr. Feelgood. However, it so happened that Gyllene Tider did not last long. And in 1986 I agreed to create a duet with Marie, but since we had no idea what to call it, we once again used the name Roxette.
So, as I understand it, when the name Roxette was first used, on the "Heartland Cafe" album, there was no Marie?
Was! She was not part of the group, but took part in the recording of some vocal parts. She helped us during the tour, on which the album was presented. We had known each other for a long time by that time. We met in 1977 or 1978" (according to materials of the magazine "Tylko rock" No. 5 (117) May 2001, hotel "Bristol", Warsaw, Poland).
So in July 1986 their first single Neverending Love was released, which became a big hit that year in Sweden.
After the triumph of the first single, Roxette recorded their debut album "Pearls of Passion".
Cover of the first album "Pearls Of Passion"
It has become quite popular in Sweden. The musicians even then wanted to achieve international success, but so far nothing has worked out for them. During the year, Per and Marie traveled around Europe, introducing themselves as Roxette, performing on various TV shows, but still they were known only in Sweden.
Roxette embarked on their first "Rock Runt Riket" tour with Swedish artists Eva Dahlgren and the rock band Ratata in the summer of 1987. All 16 concerts were played in open arenas. Tickets for most of the concerts were completely sold out, and approximately 115,000 people watched the show. Marie Diemberg (then Head of Promotion at EMI Svenska AB) invited several of her colleagues from EMI Germany, Belgium and Italy to the last concert of the tour in Stockholm. She wanted to show them that Roxette is a live band. Representatives of "EMI" were amazed by what they saw and returned home with positive impressions of the team.
First success
October 19, 1988 the band released the album "Look Sharp!" Thanks to which Roxette became popular internationally. In their native Sweden, "Dressed For Success" and "Listen To Your Heart" were featured as the first two singles from the band's second album Look Sharp! , Per Gessle and EMI Svenska decided to pay attention to Fredriksson's vocals. Gessle said: "Our duet thought that Marie would sing in the main. I, as a soloist, was not part of the plan, it's not for me anyway." Both singles reached the "Top 10" on the Swedish singles charts, while the album, which was released in Sweden in October 1988, reached number 1 for seven weeks. Music critic Mane Ivarsson was delighted with the album, "The band is made up of two such original faces, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, the album sounds incredible!". When the third single from Look Sharp, "The Look" became another top ten single in Sweden, Roxette was not yet known to the world. According to one version, while studying in Sweden, an American exchange student from Minneapolis, Dean Cushman, heard the song "The Look" so carried away by it that he took with him a copy of Look Sharp! when he returned home. In addition, over time, even persuaded the leading radio station in Minneapolis, under the name "KDWB 101.3 FM" to put "The Look" on the air, which contributed to a large number of positive reviews from listeners, thanks to which the song became a radio hit, the first in the United States ! Much was said and written about this story in the United States and Sweden at the time, although its authenticity is unknown. Nevertheless, thanks to the hit "The Look", the group became mega-popular in the US and Europe at the turn of the 80s and 90s. Subsequently, the album Look Sharp! topped the charts in 24 countries. In the fall of 1989, with Roxette's second US No. 1 hit, "Listen to your heart", Peer was contacted by Walt Disney Pictures/Touchstone Pictures who needed a song for the film Pretty Woman. . Per was too busy to write a new song for the film, he was not even advised to "get involved with a low-budget picture starring Richard Gere and an unknown Julia Roberts at the time. In order not to sound rude, he sent the film's producers" It must have been love (Christmas for the broken hearted)", but neither Per nor Marie thought the song was suitable for the film as it was a Christmas song. The producers didn't like the band's choice and asked for another song. Per explained that that was all they had to offer, and hoped he would never hear from these producers again. The film company changed its mind when the film's director Garry Marshall heard the song and liked it immediately. He thought that with a few changes in the lyrics, the song would fit perfectly with his tape. The director even wanted to change the script so that the song would fit better into the film. Per rewrote the lyrics, and together with Marie they recorded a new version of the composition. everyone was happy with the work and "It must have been love" became the group's third No. 1 single in the US in the summer of 1990. The film was at the box office worldwide, and the song Roxette was the main reason that the soundtrack to the tape was sold so successfully - more than 9 million copies all over the world.
Roxette record their CDs for a record company EMI Svenska AB. By 2006, they had sold about 50 million albums and over 20 million singles, and had three world tours. One of the band's most famous songs: It Must Have Been Love 1987, became in a slightly modified version the soundtrack to the film "Pretty Woman" with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in the lead roles in 1990. In 1994, their fifth studio album Crash! Boom! Bang! was released. .
6. Discography
Main article Roxette discography- 1987 - Dance Passion (the remix album)
- 1995 - Don "t bore us, get to the Chorus
- 1996 - Ballads en Español
- 2006 - The RoxBox - Roxette 86-06" (4 CD + 1 DVD)
- 2012 - Traveling
6.1. Singles
| Year | Name | Country | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | USA | Hot AC | Australia | Germany | Austria | Switzerland | Sweden | Norway | Ireland | |||
| 1986 | "Neverending Love" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | Pearls of Passion |
| "Goodbye to You" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | - | - | ||
| 1987 | "Soul deep" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 18 | - | - | |
| "I Want You" (feat. Ratata & Eva Dahlgren) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)" | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 1988 | "Dressed for Success" | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | look Sharp! |
| "I Call Your Name" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Pearls of Passion | |
| "Chances" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | look Sharp! | |
| 1989 | "Listen to Your Heart" | 6 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 3 | - | 5 | |
| "The look" | 7 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 10 | ||
| "Dangerous" | 6 | 2 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 9 | - | - | ||
| "Dressed for Success" | 18 | 14 | - | 3 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 2 | - | 14 | ||
| 1990 | "Listen to Your Heart / Dangerous" | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| "It Must Have Been Love" | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | pretty woman | |
| 1991 | "joyride" | 4 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | Joyride |
| "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)" | 12 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ||
| "The Big L" | 21 | - | - | 20 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 10 | - | 9 | ||
| "Spending My Time" | 22 | 32 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 16 | 15 | 11 | - | 23 | ||
| 1992 | "Church of Your Heart" | 21 | 36 | 24 | 56 | 28 | 24 | - | 21 | - | 24 | |
| "How Do You Do!" | 13 | 58 | - | 13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15 | Tourism | |
| "Queen of Rain" | 28 | - | - | 77 | 19 | - | 27 | 12 | - | - | ||
| 1993 | Fingertips "93" | - | - | - | - | 45 | - | - | 39 | - | - | |
| "Almost Unreal" | 7 | 94 | - | 17 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 5 | Super Mario Bros. | |
| "It Must Have Been Love" (new edition) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 1994 | "Sleeping in My Car" | 14 | 50 | - | 18 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 16 | Crash! Boom! Bang! |
| "Crash! Boom! Bang!" | 26 | - | - | - | 31 | 19 | - | 17 | - | - | ||
| fireworks | 30 | - | - | - | 51 | 18 | - | 34 | - | - | ||
| "Run to You" | 27 | - | - | 49 | 51 | - | 31 | - | - | - | ||
| 1995 | "Vulnerable" | 44 | - | - | - | 71 | - | - | 12 | - | - | |
| "The Look (95 remix)" | 28 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! | |
| "You Don't Understand Me" | 42 | - | - | - | 44 | 25 | - | 9 | - | - | ||
| 1996 | "June Afternoon" | 52 | - | - | - | 57 | - | 35 | 24 | - | - | |
| "She Doesn't Live Here Anymore" | - | - | - | - | 86 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| "No s? si es amor" | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 1999 | "Wish I Could Fly" | 11 | - | 56 | 27 | 26 | 11 | 12 | 4 | 13 | - | Have A Nice Day |
| Anyone | - | - | - | - | 62 | - | 30 | 35 | - | - | ||
| "Stars" | 56 | - | - | - | 23 | - | 28 | 13 | 11 | - | ||
| "Salvation" | - | - | - | - | 80 | - | - | 46 | - | - | ||
| 2001 | "The Center of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain)" | - | - | - | - | 31 | 30 | 28 | 1 | - | - | room service |
| "Real Sugar" | - | - | - | - | 96 | - | 72 | 23 | - | - | ||
| "Milk and Toast and Honey" | 89 | - | - | - | 54 | - | 29 | 21 | - | - | ||
| 2002 | "A Thing About You" | 77 | - | - | - | 37 | 39 | 35 | 14 | - | - | The Ballad Hits |
| 2003 | "Opportunity Nox" | - | - | - | - | 69 | - | 87 | 11 | - | - | The Pop Hits |
| 2006 | "The Rox Medley" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 19 | - | A Collection of Roxette Hits: Their 20 Greatest Songs! |
| "One Wish" | - | - | - | - | 50 | 56 | 56 | 2 | - | - | ||
| 2007 | "Reveal" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 59 | - | - | |
| 2011 | "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" | |||||||||||
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How it all began
Very often, when Peru Gessle is asked in an interview how the Roxette group began, he answers that once, a long time ago, four guys gathered in the city of Liverpool and called their team - the Beatles. Undoubtedly, they became one of the many bands that had a huge impact on the work of Per and Marie (in 1993 they even recorded a cover of the song "Help!" at Abbey Road Studios in London), but still the real story began in the fall of 1985, when Per Gessle, by then already a well-known rock musician in Sweden, received a call from the newly founded Alpha Records AB. They wanted Per to write a song for Pernilla Wahlgren, a Swedish singer who was recording a new album at the time. Per wrote a song called "Svarta Glas", recorded a demo and sent it to the record company. Pernilla did not like the song, and then Per asked Marie Fredriksson if she wanted to take part in the recording, as they had been discussing the possibility of working together for a long time. He told Marie that everyone except Pernilla Wahlgren thought the song was a potential hit. Marie believed that the song was not at all in her style, too pop, no rock motives. Then Per wrote the text in English, rearranged the music, but still did not believe that Marie would agree. Rolf Nygren - at that time the general manager of "EMI Svenska AB" - believed that the song should be performed as a duet - it would turn out a little unusual. In the end, Marie agreed. The title of the new song is "Neverending Love". When the media found out that Per and Marie had recorded a song together, everyone started asking questions about the new project. Everyone who participated in the recording agreed that the media will be announced that this project is just a hobby. It was also reported that there are plans to use the name Roxette - the old name of Gyllene Tider - to release the single outside of Sweden. But the more people heard the song, the more they asked why not release the single in Sweden itself?
.
First album "Pearls of Passion" and remixes of "Dance Passion"
Many of Marie's friends advised her not to release the single in Sweden, as this could negatively affect her solo career. They thought that her fans might not understand the change in musical style that had nothing to do with her own. After some thought, Marie agreed to release the record. It was decided to do it "anonymously": without photos of Per and Marie on the cover of the single. Before the release of "Neverending love", the Swedish version, "Svarta glas", should have been stopped by Alpha Records AB, but by that time Pernilla's brother, Niklas Wahlgren, had already recorded the song and was going to include it on his album. Fortunately, the production of Niklas' album has not yet begun, the song was excluded from his record and replaced with a new one. Roxette released their debut single in the summer of 1986, at that time there was a risk that it would go unnoticed, as all the important radio broadcasts were on vacation, the music reviewers were on holiday and few records were sold at this time of the year. Since the recording came out "anonymously", people were not sure about the performers of the composition. Per decided to help himself and his group had some success sending out postcards, voting for themselves on a radio show called "Sommartoppen" that aired on national Swedish radio all summer long. He asked numerous friends to help him with voting cards from different cities, with different handwriting, otherwise it would become obvious that only one person was voting. The song became the biggest hit of the summer of 1986 in Sweden, later it turned out that without the help of Per and his friends they would have achieved this success. After the triumph of the first single, Roxette recorded their debut album "Pearls of Passion". In Sweden it has become very popular. The very idea of the group was to achieve international success, but so far nothing has been heard from abroad. When the producer of the German TV show "Pink" was turned down two days before the actual recording of the show, he asked EMI if Roxette was interested in appearing on his program and Per and Marie weren't shy. They traveled around Europe introducing themselves as Roxette, appearing on completely different TV shows, but still they were in demand only in the Swedish market. Roxette embarked on their first "Rock Runt Riket" tour with Swedish artists Eva Dahlgren and Ratata in the summer of 1987. All 16 concerts were played in open arenas. Tickets for most of the concerts were completely sold out and approximately 115 thousand people watched the show. Marie Diemberg (then Head of Promotion at EMI Svenska AB) invited some of her colleagues from EMI Germany, Belgium and Italy to the last concert of the tour in Stockholm. She wanted to show them that Roxette is a live band. Representatives of "EMI" were impressed by what they saw and returned home with a completely different opinion about the team. Roxette recorded a special Christmas song, "It must have been love (Christmas for the broken hearted)", which was released in November 1987 and immediately entered the Swedish charts at No. 1. This song is slightly different from the one that entered several years later soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman. The reason for the release of this single was the desire to maintain interest in the group until the release of their next album. In 1987, a disc with remixes of songs from the debut album was released in Sweden. It is called "Dance Passion" and was never officially released on CD, although a bootleg was released in 1995 with a fairly high-quality recording of the songs from the disc.
Third album "Look Sharp!" (1988)
To give the band some more international flair, Per and Marie wanted to try and record something new for their next album. They planned to record some new songs with a foreign producer in a studio outside of Sweden and see if it would affect their sound. Per and Roel Kruise (head of EMI Europe at the time) went to England to talk to 6 different producers and ended up with Adam Moseley. The songs "View from a hill", "Chances" and "Cry" were recorded at "Trident II Studios" in London over a few days in June 1988, but the result was not as expected and the collaboration with the new producer ended in nothing. The album "Look Sharp!" became an immediate sensation in Sweden at the end of 1988 and led to Roxette's Swedish tour (which included the first concert in their hometown of Halmstad) being completely sold out. At a meeting of representatives of various European departments of EMI, it was decided to release the song Chances as the first single from the album. Per and Marie thought it was a strange choice, they both thought that The look should be the first single, but later they were happy to see this song on a single at all. Exchange student Dean Cushman brought Look Sharp! from Sweden with him to his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He took the CD to the local radio station KDWB, and asked them to play a song on the air on the program "At Your Request". About a week later, Dean called the radio station to get the CD back. Of course, at least one DJ could find time to listen to the album. The person who answered Dean was program manager Brian Philips. He was in a meeting with the DJs and told Dean to come and pick up the CD. None of the DJs listened to the album, so the manager offered to listen to the CD before Dean arrived. Brian inserted the disc into the player and the song "The look" began to play. Everyone was immediately surprised and began to ask what kind of group it was, they began to look at the cover of the disc in search of information. That night, "The Look" was played on American radio for the first time and during the broadcast, listeners called and asked about the song that was playing on the air at the time. Many asked to play the song again and after a few weeks, the song was the most played on KDWB radio. The radio station did not have a CD with the album, but recorded a copy on cassette. Brian Philips soon made many copies of the cassette and sent them to his friends on other stations, where the listeners also liked the song very much. As a result, "EMI USA" released this song as the first single, which became very successful in the American charts. On the evening of March 28, 1989, a telephone rang at Per Gessle's home in Halmstad. When Per picked up the phone, Roxette's manager Thomas Erdtman was yelling on the other end of the line that "The look" had hit US No. 1. Earlier that same day, Per and Marie were in the Netherlands promoting, and, having arrived in Sweden, they agreed to leave each other for the evening to spend it with their families in Halmstad and Stockholm, respectively. In doing so, they believed that "The Look" would hit #1 on the US charts that very night. Their prediction came true and due to the fact that Per was in Halmstad and Marie was in Stockholm, they had to celebrate their success far from each other in different cities. The phones were constantly busy with calls from people who wanted to congratulate them, as well as journalists and photographers who wanted to immortalize this moment. Dean Cushman later received a gold award from Roxette and dinner with Per and Marie as a token of their gratitude for his unexpected help. Before Roxette, only two Swedish bands managed to reach the first line of the American charts:
Blue Swede - "Hooked on a feeling" (April 6, 1974)
ABBA - "Dancing Queen" (April 9, 1977)
Some people say that Dean Cushman "introduced" Roxete to America, while others say that the band would have been successful without him. The fact is that some radio stations in Los Angeles were already playing "The look" on the air and the song could well become a hit in itself. Per admits that the story about the student who brought the disc to the US and thereby "spun" Roxette is very fond of many journalists. "The look" hit No. 1 on the charts in 26 different countries around the world and MTV awarded Roxette at the "IMA - International Music Award" in 1989 for the video voted by the audience as the best video of that year. Roxette were attending the IM & MC music fair in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in the spring of 1989, and as they walked through the city, a startlingly funny story happened. Someone shouted from the balcony: “Hey, I like your song!”. It was Tom Petty, one of Per's favorite musicians. He and Marie were so surprised and couldn't utter a word, then their manager, Marie Dimberg replied, “We like your music too. » In the summer of 1989, Roxette embarked on a third tour of Sweden, this time performing outdoors, mostly in urban natural parks. Again, tickets for almost all concerts were completely sold out, thus making the tour even more successful. Later, in the autumn of the same year, it was time for Roxette's first European tour, but the night before the premiere, Marie's lumbago worsened and the very first show was on the verge of being cancelled. Luckily, Marie felt quite normal the next morning and the concert in Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland went as planned. Marie had no more back problems for the rest of the tour, which consisted of 15 shows in Western European countries. The last two concerts were held at the Weser-Ems Halle in Oldenburg, Germany and both of these concerts were broadcast live on German radio. In the fall of 1989, Roxette had a second US No. 1 hit, "Listen to your heart". At the same time, they were contacted by Walt Disney Pictures/Touchstone Pictures who needed a song for the film Pretty Woman. Per was too busy to write a new song for the film, he was even advised not to bother with a low-budget picture with Richard Gere and an unknown Julia Roberts at the time. Not to sound rude, they sent "It must have been love (Christmas for the broken hearted)" to the producers of the film, but Per and Marie didn't think it was a suitable song for the film, as it's still a Christmas song. The producers didn't like the band's choice and asked for another song. Per explained that this was all they had to offer and hoped he would never hear from these producers again. The film company changed its mind when the film's director Garry Marshall heard the song and instantly fell in love with it. He thought that with the lyrics slightly changed, the song would fit his picture perfectly. The director even wanted to change the script so that the song would fit better into the film. Per rewrote the lyrics, and Marie recorded a new version of the song in the studio. EVERYONE was satisfied with the work and "It Must Have Been Love" became the group's third #1 single in the US in the summer of 1990. 9 million copies worldwide.
Fourth album "Joyride" (1991)