Roxette

Roxette is a Swedish ^Sweden pop music duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. They enjoyed worldwide success, from the late 1980s until the mid 1990s, gaining nineteen UK Top 40 hits and four US #1 singles with, "The Look", " ", "It Must Have Been Love" and "Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette song)} ". Two further singles "Dangerous ^{Dangerous (Roxette song)} " and "Fading Like a Flower ^{Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)} " hit #2. Roxette took to the stage together again for the first time in 8 years, in 2009, during Gessle's European Party Crasher tour.

Their songs continue to receive radio airplay ^{Airplay (radio)} . "It Must Have Been Love" and "Listen to Your Heart" have both recently received awards from BMI ^{Broadcast Music Incorporated} , with both songs achieving four million radio plays. They have sold an estimated 45 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, with over 3.5 million record sales in the United States, achieving platinum for Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette album)} and Look Sharp! ^{Look Sharp! (Roxette album)} there.

 
1979–1986: Formation

Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson first met in Halmstad, Sweden, in the late 70s. Gessle performed in one of Sweden's most popular bands of the time Gyllene Tider and Fredriksson in the less successful Strul and MaMas Barn (Mama's Children) before both embarked on solo careers. 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 ^{Anni-Frid Lyngstad} , 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. According to Gessle, the group's first English-language release was in response to interest expressed by EMI's American label Capitol Records, in an attempt to reach into the lucrative American market. The 11-track Heartland Café was released in February 1984 and sold 45,000 copies in Sweden. Capitol took six of the tracks and released an extended play (EP) record in the United States 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 ^{Dr. Feelgood (band)} song, "Roxette ^{Roxette (Dr. Feelgood song)} ".



The album was followed by a compilation of remixes of the same songs entitled Dance Passion.

In 1987, Fredriksson released and publicised her third solo album Efter Stormen, which won her the 1988 Swedish Grammis Award as Best Female Pop/Rock Artist and two Rockbjörnen awards for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Female Artist. Meanwhile, Roxette released the single "I Want You ^{I Want You (Roxette song)} " in collaboration with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata. Later in the year, they released "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For the Broken Hearted) ^{It Must Have Been Love} ", a holiday themed song that received some attention as Roxette prepared their next album, though EMI Germany decided against releasing the single. Pearls of Passion was re-released internationally in 1997, and included "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)" as a bonus track.


1988–1990: Look Sharp!

In native Sweden, "Dressed for Success" and " " were chosen as the first two singles from Look Sharp! ^{Look Sharp! (Roxette album)} , as Gessle and EMI Svenska chose to highlight Fredriksson's singing. Gessle said "I always thought we should promote the songs Marie sang. Me being a lead singer wasn't part of the plan, not for me anyway.", heard "The Look", and brought a copy of Look Sharp! home for the 1988 holiday break. He gave the album to a Minneapolis radio station The station started playing "The Look" and based on positive caller feedback, the song became very popular

A fourth single, "Dangerous ^{Dangerous (Roxette single)} ", was released at the end of the year, entering into the Hot 100 at the end of December. The single, a duet between Gessle and Fredriksson, spent two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100 in February 1990, and again becoming a worldwide success by reaching the Top 10 in important music markets such as Germany and Australia. "Dangerous" was released as a double A-sided single in the UK with "Listen to Your Heart".

Look Sharp! ^{Look Sharp! (Roxette album)} won Gessle his first Swedish Grammis award in the category Best Composer. Gessle has claimed that "It Must Have Been Love", by then a 2-year-old recording, was chosen because Roxette didn't have time to compose and record a new song. The song also topped the charts in more than 20 other countries (including Australia and Japan) around the world. In Germany the single spent 9 months in the Top 75, and peaked at #3 in the United Kingdom, the group's highest singles chart position there. The soundtrack went on to be certified three times platinum by the RIAA ^{Recording Industry Association of America} .

In Sweden, Roxette collected their second Rockbjörnen as Best Swedish Group and Fredriksson won her fourth award as Best Swedish Female Artist.


1991: Joyride

As 1990 wound down, Roxette completed its tour and returned to Sweden to record its follow-up to Look Sharp! ^{Look Sharp! (Roxette album)} The 14-track collection, titled Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette album)} , which was released in March 1991, became a worldwide hit and is Roxette's best selling album. Their record company EMI invested almost 2 million dollars on promotion for the album J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone magazine reviewed Joyride: "By emphasizing its sense of personality, Roxette delivers more than just well-constructed hooks; this music has heart, something that makes even the catchiest melody more appealing."

"Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette song)} " the single became Roxette's first #1 in their home country. It also topped the charts in more than 25 countries around the world, including Germany, Australia and the United States, becoming their 4th and last U.S. #1. The single also reached #4 in the U.K. ^{United Kingdom} and achieved success in Canada which resulted in Roxette being nominated in 1992 for a Juno Award in the category, Best Selling Single by a Foreign Artist. Its follow-up, "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)", a power ballad similar to " ", with Fredriksson on lead, spent a week at #2 in the U.S. in July and was a major hit in other big markets as well, peaking in the Top 5 in Australia, Germany and Sweden. "Fading Like a Flower" became Roxette's last U.S. Top 10 single.


It was then that Roxette embarked on an ambitious Worldwide tour. The Join The Joyride! World Tour 1991/92 tour eventually reached more than 1.5 million fans in 107 concerts around the world, including a few dates in the United States.

It was at this time that EMI's American subsidiary made personnel changes that resulted in a downturn in the publicity for Roxette. Though Joyride was certified platinum In a 2009 interview with the BBC, Gessle highlighted Nirvana and grunge music as part of the cause which contributed in Roxette's downturn of success.


1994: Crash! Boom! Bang!

Roxette took a turn with the 1994 release of Crash! Boom! Bang!, "It all sounded so... perfectly grown up"

Although Crash! Boom! Bang! saw some chart success (#1 in Sweden, #2 in Germany & Australia, #3 in the UK), Expressen reporter Ninni O Schulman said it was a "major failure" as it didn't sell as many as previous albums. EMI America were reluctant to release the album It was suggested that the McDonalds promotion CD and other CDs by Tina Turner, Garth Brooks and Elton John, led to US music retailers of the time being unhappy with the promotion which bypassed established music stores. The retailers were upset on several fronts including the low price of the items; some stores refused to sell the album, with one major chain protesting by temporarily pulling all products from CEMA ^{CEMA (record label distributor)} (EMI's distribution wing) out of its sales and ad campaigns. Crash! Boom! Bang! became the last Roxette release EMI would issue in the US.

The first single release from Crash! Boom! Bang! was "Sleeping in My Car". The distortion guitar-heavy pop song, born out of anger and frustration of the album's grown up nature Also that year, a compilation of demos, B-sides and remixes, alongside some of the 1993 MTV Unplugged material, was released in Japan and parts of South America under the title Rarities ^{Rarities (Roxette album)} . Roxette received their third ECHO ^{ECHO (music award)} Award nomination for the International Group of the Year.

In 1996, Roxette took instrumental masters of many of its ballads and recorded translated Spanish lyrics over them, released on the album Baladas En Español, which sold well in Argentina, Chile and other parts of South America, reaching platinum in Spain. Also in 1996, Marie Fredriksson released another solo Swedish-language album, I en tid som vår (In a Time Like Ours). Meanwhile, Gessle reunited with Gyllene Tider for what turned out to be a successful tour, that brought the band three awards in Sweden.

Per Gessle released a solo English-language album, The World According to Gessle, in 1997. One song "I'll Be Alright", featured Fredriksson singing backing vocals.


1999–2000: Have a Nice Day

Gessle and Fredriksson reunited in 1998 to record material for a new Roxette album, Have a Nice Day ^{Have a Nice Day (Roxette album)} , which was released in March 1999 and gave Roxette a comeback in continental Europe. It entered at #1 in Sweden and #2 in Germany. Containing elements of techno and house music, Have a Nice Day produced singles that returned Roxette to European charts. The first single, "Wish I Could Fly", became their highest charting UK single since 1993 (#11), while in Sweden, it charted at #4, their best position since "Sleeping in My Car". Although the second single, "Anyone ^{Anyone (Roxette song)} ", didn't chart well in Europe, "Stars ^{Stars (Roxette song)} ", the third single, charted well in Scandinavian and german speaking countries.

NME's review called Have a Nice Day "...another clever-clever bastard of an album which defies Doctor Rock". Damas of Allmusic called the album "an effort to encapsulate Roxette's trademark sound with Brit-pop and electronica, and, by gosh, it works." He called one of the tracks, "You Can't Put Your Arms Around What's Already Gone", "quite possibly the best song (Gessle has) ever written." Sales were brisk in South America as well, but there was no U.S. release of Have a Nice Day.

In 2000, Fredriksson released Äntligen (At Last). The greatest-hits compilation, titled after one of her songs, is composed of material from her Swedish solo career. It went on to be a big seller in Sweden, peaking at #1 for three weeks, and resulted in a successful tour. Meanwhile, Roxette signed a U.S. distribution deal with Edel Music, which re-released Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! ^{Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!#Track list - 2000 Re-release} , replacing some non-U.S. hits with songs from Have a Nice Day.


2001: Room Service


Room Service ^{Room Service (Roxette album)} followed in 2001 to a mixed response from critics. "Probably the best Roxette album since Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette album)} ", wrote Leslie Mathew of Allmusic. Room Service is an exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed." Per Bjurman from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet was critical of the album, "It is not very good." he wrote. He did praise the three singles, "Real Sugar", "The Centre of the Heart ^{The Centre of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain)} " and "Milk and Toast and Honey", but ended the review with "Roxette is not finished. But soon, I suspect."


The album topped the Swedish charts and reached #3 in Germany, but received little attention in the UK and wasn't released at all in the United States, though it did peak at #2 on CNN's Worldbeat album chart. The first single ^{Single (music)} , "The Centre of the Heart" topped the charts in Sweden, and made the Top 20 in Finland. The other singles, "Real Sugar", the album's opening track and "Milk and Toast and Honey" were less successful. Roxette again went on tour, this time in Europe only, as concerts planned in South Africa were cancelled after the September 11 terrorist attacks. On reviewing their Löfbergs Lila Arena concert, Bjurman from Aftonbladet said "Roxette succeed in all cases, to never leave the 80s.", criticising Roxette's playlist which consisted of some of their early hits. Johan Lindqvist from Göteborgs-Posten was more positive, scoring their Munich concert four stars.


2002–2008: Compilations, solo albums & hiatus


In 2001, at the Grammis ceremony, Roxette received a Music Export Prize from the Swedish Government. After that came a set of compilations, The Ballad Hits in late 2002 and The Pop Hits in early 2003. Each set contained a separate CD with material previously available and never heard before tracks. The single "A Thing About You" was released as the lead single from The Ballad Hits. The album was released in the UK on February 14, 2003, to coincide with Valentines day and entered the charts there at #23 before climbing to its peak position of #11 a week later. It also peaked in the Top 10 in Germany and The Netherlands. The single "Opportunity Nox" was released from The Pop Hits in 2003. The Ballad Hits which sold over a million copies within a year, helped the duo win a World Music Award ^{World Music Awards} as the Best selling Scandinavian artist in October 2003. In that year, Roxette were also awarded with achievement medals by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden "for appreciated achievements in Sweden and internationally".


Fredriksson's illness

In September 2002, after a fainting spell, Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Four months later, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported Fredriksson had been diagnosed with a second tumor. This turned out to be false, and Fredriksson later sued the newspaper for 500,000 kronor.

It was during her recovery that she wrote and compiled songs for her first-ever English-language solo album, The Change ^{The Change (Marie Fredriksson album)} , which was released October 2004. Inspired by Fredriksson's brush with mortality and made mostly in partnership with her husband, Mikael Bolyos, the album entered the Swedish album chart at #1

With Fredriksson's illness and rehabilition, the duo took a hiatus, allowing Gessle to release Mazarin ^{Mazarin (album)} (Cupcake) in 2003, his first Swedish-language solo album in 18 years. The album ended up solidifying Gessle's legacy in his home country. It reached #1 on the Swedish album chart, and the band played to almost half a million fans. As a result, the group was honored with four awards in Sweden.

In 2005, Belgian dance group D.H.T. ^{DHT (band)} 's trance-cover of " " became a worldwide club hit. Originally released in Belgium in 2003, the various mixes of the song reached U.S. clubs in late 2004. By the mid 2005, the song reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified gold in October by the RIAA ^{Recording Industry Association of America} . Also that year, several songs were released as re-mixes and covers. Among them: two prominent versions of "Fading Like a Flower ^{Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)} ", one a trance cover by German group Mysterio and one a sampling by Dancing DJs that reached the UK's dance chart. Also, there was a white label (independent, unauthorized) release, "Joyride 2005", which clubs in the United Kingdom played.

On November 23, 2005, Per Gessle released his first English-language solo album in eight years, titled Son of a Plumber. He was in the middle of publicizing for the album when, on November 29, 2005, Gessle and Fredriksson appeared at the Dorchester Hotel in London for an awards presentation by Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). Gessle received an award for "It Must Have Been Love", which, by 2005, had been played on U.S. radio more than 4 million times. The ceremony marked the first time Gessle and Fredriksson had appeared in public together since before the onset of Fredriksson's brain tumor and subsequent surgery in 2002. When asked by an Aftonbladet reporter if there would be a Roxette reunion, Gessle replied, "We haven't decided yet. No doors are closed. We're still young".

Marie returned in 2006 with an album of Swedish cover songs, titled Min bäste vän (My Best Friend). Min bäste vän was a cover album with songs from the 1960s and 1970s from Marie's childhood.


20th anniversary & The Rox Box

In mid 2006, Roxette released to radio "The Rox Medley" to promote the forthcoming "20th Anniversary package". The medley includes six Roxette hit singles: "The Look", "Joyride", "Listen to Your Heart", "Dangerous", "It Must Have Been Love" and "Fading Like a Flower (Everytime You Leave)". It was eventually released as b-side to the single "One Wish" and was also available to download.

The "20th Anniversary package" better known as The Rox Box/Roxette 86-06 was released on October 18, 2006. Spanning over 4 CDs and single DVD, it included two new singles, "One Wish ^{One Wish (Roxette song)} " and "Reveal ^{Reveal (Roxette song)} ". The Rox Box was released to commemorate Roxette's successful 20 years in the music industry. A new standard greatest hits album, A Collection of Roxette Hits - Their 20 Greatest Songs! ^{Roxette Hits} , was released at the same time as The Rox Box. "One Wish" and "Reveal" were also included onto the CD.

"One Wish" was released internationally on October 6, and features both Fredriksson and Gessle singing lead. It was their first new song in 4 years and was recorded in May 2006 especially for The Rox Box. On February 14, 2007 the second single "Reveal", was released, not internationally, but "here and there". Following rumours that Per Gessle was unhappy with the album version of "Reveal" a special "single version" was created and released to radio.

In a radio interview on Vancouver Island's , Gessle shared information about the Roxette single, "One Wish" and The Rox Box. "It's four CDs, a DVD, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, outtakes and demos and stuff. It's like a coffee table thing, and it's really, really big [with an] 80-page booklet and stuff."


2009: The Reunion of Roxette

Rumours started of a Roxette reunion when Gessle was interviewed by the BBC in April 2009. "Yeah, we've talked about it. It's really up to Marie." Gessle said. On 5 May 2009 an announcement was made that "Roxette would re-unite after 8 years and play for the first time on the Night of the Proms in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany". The tour started on Friday, 23 October in the Sportpaleis Antwerp. Roxette were due to play the Night of the Proms back in 2002, but Fredriksson's illness meant they had to pull out.

As of 2010 Roxette are still recording new material. In February a concert in Sweden was announced and followed by confirmation of other concerts in Russia, Denmark and Norway scheduled to take place during August and September 2010 with more dates expected to follow.* 1988 Swedish Grammi ^Grammis / Composer of the Year (Look Sharp, Gessle)>
* 1990 Gold Europa (Germany) / Best group Pop international
* 1990 Bronze BRAVO Otto (Germany) / Best rock/pop group
* 1991 Brit Award ^{Brit Awards} (UK) / nomination / Best international group
* 1991 MTV Video Award (USA) / Most played video ("Joyride") >
* 1991 Australian Music Award / Best group Pop international
* 1991 Silver BRAVO Otto (Germany) / Best rock/pop group
* 1991 Swedish Grammi / Pop Group of the Year (Joyride)>
* 1992 Juno Award (Canada) / nomination / Best Selling Single by a Foreign Artist
* 2000 WMA ^{World Music Awards} / Best selling Scandinavian artist
* 2003 WMA / Best selling Scandinavian artist*Pearls of Passion (1986)
*Look Sharp! ^{Look Sharp! (Roxette album)} (1988)
*Joyride ^{Joyride (Roxette album)} (1991)
*Tourism ^{Tourism (album)} (1992)
*Crash! Boom! Bang! (1994)
*Have a Nice Day ^{Have a Nice Day (Roxette album)} (1999)
*Room Service ^{Room Service (Roxette album)} (2001)*Rock runt riket Swedish Tour (with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata) > (1987)
*Look Sharp! Swedish Tour (1988)
*Look Sharp Live! European Tour (1989)
*Join the Joyride! World Tour (1991/92)
*The Summer Joyride - European Tour (1992)
*Crash! Boom! Bang! World Tour (1994/95)
*Room Service Tour (2001)
*Night Of The Proms (Classic meets Pop – headliner, with several artists)> (2009)