In 1985, the Swedish pop-rock band Roxette (Per Håkan Gessle in a duet with Marie Fredriksson) released their first song "Neverending Love", which brought her considerable popularity.
Roxette: or how did it all start?
Per Gessle repeatedly refers to the work of The Beatles, which greatly influenced the work of Roxette. The group itself was formed in 1985.
At the time of its creation, Per Gessle was a very famous and recognizable person in Sweden, he was called the king of pop music. Musician and composer who himself created very successful projects and produced them himself.
He started with garage rock and experimented a lot with different genres (pop, eurodance, blues, country, europop, easy listening). Even the crowned persons liked his work: the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf and his daughter Victoria.
Long before the creation of Rokset in 1977, Per Gessle with musicians Mats Persson, Mikael Andersson and Jan Karlsson created the cult group Gyllene Tider, but already in 1978 Gessle began a solo career, and later, in 1982, he met the singer Marie Fredriksson, who then played in different groups on keyboards. Per Gessle helped Marie by introducing her to producer Lasse Lindbom.
Roxette's first single "Neverending Love"
Later, Alpha Records AB offered Per Gessle a profitable collaboration, or rather, a duet with Pernilla Wahlgren, but the latter did not like the demo version of the author's composition "Svarta Glas", and Per offered Marie Fredriksson to sing it.
Per was absolutely sure that the song he wrote would definitely become a hit. The rock composition was written in an unusual style for Marie, and she began to doubt. Gessle re-arranged the composition, changed the lyrics to English, and the result was the song "Neverending Love", which he performed with Marie.
The media considered the duo more of a misunderstanding, another passion for Gessle. And Gessle himself, without thinking twice, used the previous name of the famous group "Gyllene Tider" and called his duet with Marie "Roxette".
Already in 1986, as soon as the first single “Neverending Love” saw the light, the Roxette group became successful. It is noteworthy that the recording studio "Alpha Records AB" used the Swedish version of the composition "Svarta Glas", as Niklas Wahlgren managed to include it in his collection, but this composition then had to be replaced.
The debut album Roxette was released anonymously in the summer. The reason was that the relatives of Marie Fredriksson claimed that by abruptly changing the musical genre, a famous singer could completely ruin her own solo career.
As you know, in the summer, many radio stations do not function at full capacity, most of the employees are on vacation, so this is not the best season for releasing songs. In order for the single "Neverending Love" to take the first line of the radio show, Per cheated by asking his friends to vote for this song several times, changing the handwriting.
But later it became clear that even without these manipulations, the song would have become a hit. The success was overwhelming. Roxette released their first album called "Pearls of Passion" and became well known in Sweden.
In 1987, the guys released another hit "It must have been love", which later became the soundtrack of the film "Pretty Woman" with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in the lead roles.
In the same year, the first tour of the Roxette group took place together with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata.
Roxet's third album and worldwide recognition
And already in 1988, the Swedish group Roxette released their third album called "Look Sharp" and in the same year received recognition from the world community. Somehow, an ordinary student Dean Cushman took a copy of the Roxette album from Sweden to Minneapolis and took it to the KDWB radio station, after which the composition "The Look" blew up the American charts. Previously, only two Swedish bands, ABBA and Blue Swede, were on the first lines of the charts in the United States. The popularity of the duo Roxette increased, tickets for concerts were sold out instantly.
In 1989, the group released another hit "Listen to you heart". At the same time, interest in the personal lives of the group members grew. Judging by the lyrics, and these are mostly love ballads, Peru and Marie were credited with a romantic relationship. On the pages of the yellow press, celebrities were both married and divorced. The musicians themselves have always simply ignored questions about their personal lives.
Later it turned out that Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson had an exceptionally friendly and working relationship. Per married Åsa Nordin in 1993 and had a son, Gabriel Titus Jessl, in 1997. And Marie married the composer Mikael Boishom and gave birth to two children: a daughter, Yusefina, and a son, Oscar.
In 1991, the Swedish duo released their fourth album, Joyride, and in the same year the band debuted with a world tour: 45 concerts in Europe, and then another 10 concerts in Australia.
A year later, Roxette's fifth album, Tourism, was produced by director Wayne Isham, who had previously produced music videos for Metallica and Bon Jovi. An acoustic album was released with live recordings in unusual locations during a tour specifically for the US and Canada.
In 1993, the recording of the sixth album started, which has a wide geography, since it was recorded in Capri, and then in London, Stockholm and Halmstad. Composition Crash! Boom! Bang" was released in 1994, and worldwide sales have reached incredible heights. Roxette even has an album "Baladas en Español" released in Spanish in 1996, however, it was successful only in Spain.
In 2001, Roxette released a collection of hits. The composition "The center of the heart" became the most successful, and the group began a new tour in Europe, however, due to the events of September 11, 2001 in New York, the planned performances in South Africa were canceled.
Calm Roxette for almost 7 years
In September 2002, it became known about the illness of Marie Fredriksson: after a morning run, she lost consciousness and, falling, hit the sink. Her husband immediately took her to the hospital, and according to the results of examinations, Marie was diagnosed with a brain tumor. For several years, the world community sympathized with the Swedish singer, and it was already believed that the Roxette group would never reunite.
The Roxette group canceled all concerts and ceased activities for four whole years. Despite a difficult rehabilitation, Fredriksson released a solo album, The Change. Also released were compilations of the most popular hits "The Ballad Hits" (2002) and "The Pop Hits" (2003). In 2006, the Roxette duo celebrated their XNUMXth anniversary and delighted their fans by releasing a greatest hits collection, The RoxBox, as well as new songs, One Wish and Reveal.
Roxet reunion
In 2009, during a solo concert by Per Gessle, after such a long break, Per and Marie performed together. The media immediately started talking seriously about the reunion of the legendary group.
In 2010, the Roxette group visited Russia with a concert program. The tour included Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. The group released the album "Charm School".
Until 2016, the group actively toured the world, while Marie's health condition allowed long-distance travel and continuous concerts.
Roxette is history
Since 2016, the existence of the Roxette group as a single entity has ceased, however, both Per and Marie continue their solo careers. Marie Fredriksson gave concerts only within the country.
In 2017, the Swedish TV channel TV4 announced that 30 years of Roxette's existence is a significant milestone in musical history.
Together with Gessle and Fredriksson, musicians participated in the performances: Christopher Lundqvist (bass guitar) and Magnus Berjesson (bass guitar), Clarence Everman (keyboards), Pele Alsing (drums).
Death of Marie Fredriksson
On December 10, 2019, information was received that the lead singer of one of Sweden's most iconic bands Roxette, Marie Fredriksson, had died. Fans could not believe the news, however, the official representative of the Swedish group confirmed the information.
A black-and-white photograph of Marie with the date of birth and death appeared on the official pages of the group and members of the musical group. Note that Fredriksson struggled with cancer for a long time.
Back in 2002, Marie was diagnosed with brain cancer. Until 2019, the singer struggled with the disease and supported her body. However, on December 10, doctors pronounced him dead. At the time of her death, Fredriksson was 61. She was survived by her husband and two children.
Discography
- 1986 - "Neverending Love"
- 1986 - "Goodbye To You"
- 1987 - "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)"
- 1988 - "Listen To Your Heart"
- 1988 - "Chances"
- 1989 - "The Look"
- 1990 - "It Must Have Been Love"
- 1991 - "Joyride"
- 1991 - "Spending My Time"
- 1992 - "Church Of Your Heart"
- 1992 - "How Do You Do!"
- 1994 - Crash! Boom! Bang!"
- 1997 - "Soj Una Mujer"
- 1999 - "Salvation"
- 2001 - "The Center Of The Heart"
- 2002 - "A Thing About You"
- 2003 - "Opportunity Nox"
- 2006 - "One Wish"
- 2016 - "Some Other Summer"
- 2016 - "Why Don't You Bring Me Flowers?"
Clips
- 1989 - "Neverending Love"
- 1990 - "It Must Have Been Love"
- 1991 - "The Big L."
- 1992 - "How Do You Do!"
- 1993 - "Run to You"
- 1996 - "Yune Afternoon"
- 1999 - "Salvation"
- 2001 - "Real Sugar"
- 2002 - "A Thing About You"
- 2006 - "One Wish"
- 2011 - "Speak to Me"
- 2012 - "It's Possible"
