Roxette
Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and piano) and Per Gessle[1] (vocals and guitar). They are Sweden's second-best-selling music act after ABBA.[2]
For the eponymous Dr Feelgood song, see Roxette (song).
Before coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and Gessle were already established artists in Sweden. Fredriksson had released a number of solo albums and Gessle was the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider, a band which had three No. 1 albums. Acting on the advice of the managing director of their record label, the two joined to record "Neverending Love", which became a hit single in Sweden. Roxette went on to achieve nineteen UK Top 40 hits,[3] and several US Hot 100 hits, including four US number-ones with "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love", featured on the soundtrack of Pretty Woman, and "Joyride".[4] Their other hits include "Dressed for Success", "Dangerous", and "Fading Like a Flower".[3][4]
After the release of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus before returning with the albums Have a Nice Day (1999) and Room Service (2001). They continued to chart in other territories, mainly in Europe, Australia and Latin America, where they earned various Gold and Platinum awards until the beginning of the new millennium. In 2002, the duo took a break from recording and touring when Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour.[5] Gessle went on to release solo albums and reunited with Gyllene Tider before Roxette took to the stage together again for the first time in eight years, in 2009, during Gessle's European Party Crasher tour.[6] In 2011, they released Charm School, their first studio album in ten years, which was followed by Travelling in 2012. Their final studio album, Good Karma, was released in 2016. Marie Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019, at the age of 61, following a long battle with her brain tumour.
Their songs "It Must Have Been Love" and "Listen to Your Heart" continue to receive wide radio airplay, with both singles receiving awards from BMI in 2014 for achieving five million radio plays.[7] They have sold an estimated 80 million records worldwide,[8][9][10][11] with over 10 million in certified units from Germany, the US and the UK, achieving gold and platinum certifications for Joyride and Look Sharp! in all three regions.[12][13][14] Since 2021, Gessle has released music under the name PG Roxette; their debut album Pop-Up Dynamo! was issued in 2022.
History[edit]
1979–1986: Formation[edit]
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson first met in Halmstad, Sweden, in the late 1970s.[15][16] Gessle fronted Gyllene Tider, one of Sweden's most popular bands at the time, and Fredriksson was in the less successful Strul and MaMas Barn (Mama's Children) before both embarked on solo careers.[17] In 1981, Fredriksson sang for the first time with Gyllene Tider on stage and was featured as a background vocalist for a Swedish-language album the band released in 1982. Gessle also worked with ex-ABBA singer Frida, for a song that appeared on her 1982 album Something's Going On, setting music to a Dorothy Parker poem.
While working on her first solo album, Het vind (Hot Wind), Fredriksson performed more background vocals for Gyllene Tider's only album in English, The Heartland Café. The 11-track album was released in February 1984 and sold 45,000 copies in Sweden.[18] According to Gessle, the group's first English-language release was in response to interest expressed by EMI's American label Capitol Records. Capitol took six of the tracks and released an extended play (EP) record in the US with an abridged title, Heartland, but the company insisted on a different name for the band. Gessle and the other members of Gyllene Tider (Swedish for "Golden Times" or "Golden Age") chose the title of a 1975 Dr. Feelgood song, "Roxette".[18][19]