Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson form the pop music duo Roxette. The band originated in Halmstad, Sweden and began in 1986. Gessle and Fredriksson were both already established artists in Sweden. They met in 1979 while they were in separate bands. Gessle performed in one of Sweden’s popular bands called Gyllene Tider (Swedish for “Gold Times or “Golden Age”) and Fredriksson was in a band called Strul and MaMas Barn, or Mama’s Children, which was less successful than Gessle’s Gyllene Tider. Fredriksson first sang with Gyllene Tider on stage in 1981. She was then featured as a background vocalist for a Swedish-language album the band had released in 1982. This album bought Gyllene Tider its first Rockbjornen award as a Best Swedish Group.
The Heartland Café was Gyllene Tider’s only album in English and Fredriksson performed more background vocals, while working on her first solo album. The band’s first English album release was in desire to reach the lucrative American market and in response to EMI’s American label Capital Records expressed interest. Gessle had actually written one English-language song that showed up on a 1982 album by the ex ABBA singer, Frida. The music was set to a Dorothy Parker Poem.
Heartland Café was released in February of 1984. Capitol Records took six of the eleven tracks and released an EP, or extended play record in the United States with Heartland as the abridged title. However, the company insisted the band choose a different name. Gessle and other members of Gyllene Tider chose “Roxette”, the title of a 1975 Dr. Feelgood song.
In Sweden, The Heartand Café sold 45,000 copies. Teaser Japanese” was Roxette’s near-invisible hit in the United States. The video to “Teaser Japanese” reached MTV’s studio but received no rotation. Subsequent singles fared far better in Sweden and Gyllene Tider did a brief tour around the country in support of their album. Gessle once wrote, “the album died soon enough and the international career died before it even started. We decided to put Gyllene Tider to rest…until further notice.”
Gessle went on to record a second Swedish-language solo album called Scener, in 1985. Fredriksson was also featured on this album as background vocals. Fedriksson also recorded a second solo album called Den sjunde vagen and received a Rockbjornen award in 1986 as Best Swedish Female Artist. Gessle and Fredriksson joined to record and English-language single at the advice of their mutual record company. The song “Neverending Love” was released in 1986 under “Roxette” and the song reached the Swedish Top 10 list.
1986-1987:
“Neverending Love” became such a success that Gessle and Fredriksson recorded a full-length album translating songs Gessle had written for his third solo album. In 1986, Pearls of Passion was released by Roxette. They became an even larger success with such singles as “Soul Deep” and “Goodbye To You”. Some of the singles from Pearls of Passion were released in other countries such as Canada, Japan, Italy, Australia among other European countries. However, these international releases didn’t rank as well as they did in Sweden. The album Dance Passion was released which is a compilation of remixes of the same songs on Pearls of Passion.
Come 1987, Fredriksson released and publicized her third solo album called Efter Stormen. This album won her the 1988 Swedish Grammis Award as Best Female Pop/Rock Artist and two Rockbjornen awards for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Female Artist. While this was happening, Roxette released the single “I Want You”, which was recorded in collaboration with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata. Later that same year, they released “It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Brokenhearted)” a holiday themed song. This song received attention as Roxette was preparing for their next album. Gessle said that “It Must Have Been Love” was Roxette’s first earnest endeavor to expand their reach beyond Sweden and toward European markets such as Germany. However, EMI Germany decided not to release the single. Pearls of Passion was re-released in 1997 with “It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Brokenhearted)” as an additional track.
1988-1990:
Two years after their first release, Pearls of Passion, Roxette released their second album in Europe Look Sharp!. The first two singles “Listen To Your Heart” and “Dressed For Success” were the songs Gessle and EMI Svenska chose to highlight Fredriksson’s singing. Both singles reached the top three of the Swedish singles charts. The album Look Sharp! Broke all Swedish records. It held the number one position for up to fourteen weeks.
The Look”, the third single from Look Sharp!, became a top ten success in their home country. However, outside of Sweden, Roxette was still as yet unknown. Dean Chushman, an American exchange Student from Minneapolis heard “the Look” while studying in Sweden. He bought a copy of Look Sharp! and took it home on a holiday break in 1988. He played “The Look” to a local Minneapolis radio station KDWB 101.3FM and based on positive caller feedback, the song was very popular with listeners. The station’s program director copied the song and gave copies to other radio stations. The “The Look” became very popular. Roxette singles and other merchandise had not yet been released in United States. A story grew, and it was covered by newspaper, TV, and radio in the United States and Sweden.
Since “The Look” became so popular, EMI officials made the decision to release and market the single worldwide. “The Look” along with pressed copies of Look Sharp! were issued in early 1989 to radio stations and to record stores. The Look” became Roxette’s firsts number one hit in the United States and it remained there for one week. The song was number one in twenty-five countries. When the end of the year came, Billboard named “The Look” one of the twenty biggest Hot 100 singles of the year. Roxette broke through the international market when “The Look” successfully topped charts in Germany, Austraila and Japan. Come May, it entered the Top 10 in UK market.
“Dressed for Success” became the second international single. Roxette then when on their first world tour. “Dressed for Success” peaked as number fourteen on the Hot 100 as well number three in Austraila and number two in Japan.
“Listen to Your Heart” was then released resembling the guitar-heavy ballads of the band Heart. It didn’t have the pluckiness of “Dressed for Success”, or the synth pop of “The Look”. Listen to Your Heart” hit number one in the United States and remained there for one week. It also hit the Top 10 in most places including Germany, Japan, the UK, and Australia.
The next single, “Dangerous” was released at the end of the year. It entered into the Top 100 at the end of December. The single spent two weeks at number two on the Hot 100 in February 1990. It reached the Top 10 in Germany and Australia becoming a worldwide success. In the UK, “Dangerous”, was released as a double A-sided single with “Listen to Your Heart”.
Gessle won his first Swedish Grammis award in the category Best Composer for Look Sharp!. Roxette went on to receive two Rockbjronen awards for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Group. Fredriksson won her third Rockbjornen award for Best Female Artist.
“It Must Have Been Love” – Pretty Woman soundtrack
Touchstone pictures approached EMI and Roxette about contributing a song to the soundtrack of an upcoming film, Pretty Woman, starting Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. It Must Have Been Love”, now a two year old recording, was chosen because Roxette didn’t have time to compose and record a new song. At first, the film producers declined asking for another song, however, Gessle wouldn’t produce another song. Weeks after re-editing the film before release, the producers surprising re-requested “It Must Have Been Love”. There was a catch, however, and Roxette had to remove the Christmas lyrics. Producer Clarence Ofwerman and Gessle took the original “It Must Have Been Love” and had Fredriksson replace a single Christmas-referenced line and then added instrumentation and background vocal overlays.
“It Must Have Been Love” was not the first single released from the soundtrack, but it proved to be Roxette’s most successful single release. The song was at number one on Hot 100 in June of 1990, three months after the films release. It stayed for two additional weeks at the number two slot, spending a total of seventeen weeks on the Billboard’s Top 40. Behind Wilson Philips’ “Hold On”, Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” was named by Billboard the number two Hot 100 single of the year. The song also topped the charts in more than twenty countries world wide. The single spent nine months in the Top 75 in Germany, and peaked at number three in the United Kingdom, which would be Roxette’s highest position there. The soundtrack to Pretty Woman went three times platinum by the RIAA. In Sweden, Roxette won their second Rockbjornen as the Best Swedish Group and Fredriksson went on to win her fourth award as Best Swedish Female Artist.
1991: Joyride
By the end of 1990, Roxette’s tour was winding down and they returned to Sweden to record their follow-up to Look Sharp!. Joyride a fourteen track collection, was released in March of 1991 and became a world wide hit and also Roxette’s best selling album. EMI, their record company, spent nearly two million dollars in promoting the album. Joyride stayed at number one in Germany for thirteen weeks, and stayed on the United States album chart for over a year.
The single “Joyride” became the group’s number one in their home country. It topped the charts in over twenty five countries around the world, becoming their fourth and their last number one hit in the United States. In the U.K., the single reached number four and achieved success in Canada and this resulted in Roxette being nominated in 1992 for the Juno Award for Best Selling Single by a Foreign Artist. The follow-up song, a power ballad, “Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)” spent a week at number two in the United States in July. It peaked at the Top 5 in Australia, Germany and Sweden. “Fading Like a Flower” was Roxette’s last U.S. Top 10 single.
Roxette then decided to go on an ambitious world wide tour. The Join the Joyride! World Tour 1991/92 tour reached more than 1.5 million fans in one hundred seven concerts around the world.
During this time, EMI made personnel changes and this resulted in the downturn of publicity for Roxette. Joyride was certified platinum and made incredible world wide sales, surpassing Look Sharp!, singles from the album “Spending My Time” and “Church of Your Heart” failed to reach the same heights of previous singles in the U.S. charts.
In the United States, music tastes were changing. New genres emerged such as jack swing, grunge, harder-core rap, and hip-hop. Gessle, in a 2009 interview with the BBC, highlighted Nirvana and grunge music as part of the cause that contributed to Roxette’s downturn.
Roxette’s commercial momentum in America may have been slowing down, elsewhere Roxette’s hug success with singles from the Joyride album continued when “Spending My Time” became another Top 10 hit in Germany and Australia. The guitar pop tune “The Big L” made the Japanese and Swedish Top 10 and reached the Top 20 in several European countries.
1992-1993: Tourism
Roxette continued their Join the Joyride tour throughout 1992 and into 1993. Most of the songs for Roxette’s next album Tourism: Songs from Studios, Stages, Hotel Rooms and Other Strange Places, was recorded during the tour.
The first single from the album was “How Do You Do!” which was followed by “Queen of Rain” and an electrified version of “Fingertips”. Tourism did not fare well in the American market, but the single “How Do You Do!” gave Roxette a huge Top Five hit all over Europe; number two in Germany and Sweden, and its first Top Fifteen single in the U.K. in over a year. Tourism became the number one selling album in Germany and Sweden and the second best selling album in the U.K. It peaked at number five in Australia.
In 1992, Roxette’s European and Australian success reflected in Germany’s ECHO Award nomination for the International Group of the Year. They won a Swedish Grammis Award as Best Pop Group and two Rockbjornens for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Group. In October of the same year, Fredriksson released her first solo album in Swedish called Den standiga resan, or The Eternal Journey. This album brought her her second Swedish Grammis Award and this time it was for Artist of the Year.
In 1993, Roxette were the first non-native English speaking artists to be featured on MTV’s Unplugged series. In Sweden, Roxette won a Rockbjornen Award for Best Swedish Group, which was the last Rockbjornen the group would receive. Roxette then received their second ECHO Award nomination for the International Group of the Year.
Also in 1993, Roxette recorded and released “Almost Unreal”, which was originally slated to be on the soundtrack to the movie Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler and Sara Jessica Parker. Instead, the song was moved to the film based on the Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper. “Almost Unreal” managed to reach the lower end of the Billboard Top 100, but reached the Top 10 in the U.K. singles charts.
1994: Crash! Boom! Bang!
In 1994, Roxette released Crash! Boom! Bang! Which turned out to be another success for the duo. The album hit number one in Sweden, number two in Germany and Australia and number three in the U.K. The album broke records in Japan and reached the highest debut in the charts of a non Japanese album ever. However, the album did not sell well in the United States. It would be the last Roxette release EMI would issue in the United States.
The first single release from Crash! Boom! Bang! was “Sleeping In My Car”. The song reached the Billboard Top 50 and Top 15 in the U.K., Australia, and Germany. Roxette also returned to the number one spot in Sweden after several years. Other releases such as “Fireworks” and “Run To You” made chart showings in the U.K. and world wide but not in the U.S.
Roxette went on another tour, however, this one was scaled down from the previous Joyride tour. They skipped the U.S. in this process. It was during this tour that Roxette became the first Western band to be allowed to perform in China’s Workers’ Indoor Arena in Bejing, since Wham! in 1985. It had taken years to get this permission and included having to self-censor some of the lyrics. The band re-wrote some of their songs, but ended up using the original lyrics during performance.
1995-1998: Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! and Baladas En Espanol
It was in 1995 that Roxette released their greatest hits album Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!. The album reached Top 5 in several European countries including the U.K. and the Top 10 in Australia. Four new songs were featured and three of these were released as singles. The ballad “You Don’t Understand Me” was co-written with Desmond Child and the song hit the Swedish Top 10. Roxette received their third ECHO Award nomination for International Group of the Year.
Come 1996, Roxette released Baladas En Espanol, which took instrumental masters of many of its ballads and recorded translated Spanish lyrics over them. The album sold well in Argentina, Chile and other parts of South America, reaching platinum level in Spain. Mare Fredriksson released another solo Swedish-language album titled, I en tid som var, or In a Time Like Ours. Gessle reunited with is former band Gyllene Tider and they put on a successful tour that brought the band three awards in Sweden.
Gessle released a solo English-language album called The World According to Gessle, in 1997. “I’ll Be Alright”, a song on the album, featured Fredriksson singing backing vocals.
1999-2000: Have a Nice Day
In 1998, Gessle and Fredriksson reunited and recorded a new album, Have a Nice Day. The album was released in March of 1999 and gave Roxette a successful comeback in Europe.
Have a Nice Day contained elements of techno and house music which produced singles that returned Roxette to European charts. “Wish I Could Fly” was close to the U.K. Top 10 coming in at number eleven. It reached the Top 10 in Italy and the Top 20 in Australia, Finland, and Switzerland. It placed fourth in Sweden. On European radio, it was named the seventh most played song. “Anyone”, the second single, didn’t chart well in Europe, the third single, “Stars” reached the Top 10 in Finland and the Top 20 in Sweden and Norway. Sales were brisk in South American. However, there was not release of Have a Nice Day in the United States.
In 2000, Fedriksson realsed Antlligen, or At Last, which is a greatest hits compilation composed of material from her Swedish solo career. The album sold largely in SwedIen and peaked at number one for three weeks. This resulted in a very successful tour for Fredrikssson. In the meantime, Roxette signed a United States distribution deal with Edel Music. This deal allowed the re-release of Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! Which replaced non-U.S. hits with songs from Have a Nice Day. The single “Wish I Could Fly” reached number twenty-seven on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and number forty on the Adult Top 40 tally.
2001: Room Service
In 2001, Room Service was released and held a mixed response from critics. The album did tops Swedish charts and came in at number three in Germany. However, it received very little attention in the U.K. The single “The Centre of the Heart”, hit number one in Sweden and made the Top 20 in places like Finland, Latvia, and Argentina. The album’s opening track “Real Sugar” was followed by “Milk and Toast and Honey”, which was the only single from the album to be released in the U.K. where it didn’t chart well. It reached the Swedish and Swiss Top 30. Roxette went on another tour this time leaving out the U.K..
2001-2006: Compilations, Solo Albums and Hiatus
At the Grammis ceremony in 2001, Roxette received a Music Export Prize from the Swedish Government. Then came a series of compilations: The Ballad Hits in late 2002, and The Pop Hits in early 2003. Each compilation contained a second CD with material previously available and never heard before tracks. The sing “A Thing About You” was released from The Ballad Hits as the lead single. The album was released in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2003 which coincided with Valentine’s Day. The album reached number 23 in the U.K. before climbing to its peak position of number 11 a week later. In Germany and the Netherlands, it peaked at the Top 10. From The Pop Hits, “Opportunity Nox” was released in 2003. Roxette won a World Music Award as the Best Selling Scandinavian Artist of the Year with The Ballad Hits. The album sold over one million copies within a year.
Marie Fredriksson’s Illness
Fredriksson suffered a fainting spell and in September 2002 was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The brain tumor was successfully removed through surgery. During her recovery she worked on writing and compiling songs for her first-ever English-language solo album, The Change, which was released in October of 2004. The album entered in at number one in Swedish charts and quickly gain Gold Status from the IFPI.
Due to Fredrisksson’s illness and rehabilitation, Roxette took a hiatus, which allowed Gessle to release Mazarin (Cupcake) in 2003. This was his first solo Swedish album in eighteen years. This album solidified his legacy in his home country. It reached number on the Swedish list and hit five times platinum, and brought Gessle several awards.
Gessle and Gyllene Tider reunited for 25th anniversary celebration in 2004 that included the bands first album in twenty years, Fin 5 fel! and another successful tour in Sweden. They played to almost half a million fans and the group was honored with four Swedish awards.
20th Anniversary & the Rox Box
Come 2006 Roxette released to radio stations “The Rox Medley” to promote their forthcomeing 20th Annniversary package.The medley includes six Roxette singles. The singles included: “The Look”, “Joyride”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “Dangerous”, “It Must Have Been Love” and “Fading Like Flower”.
The Rox Box/Roxette 86-06 was released on October 18, 2006. Four CDs were included along with one DVD which included two new singles, “One Wish” and “Reveal”. The Rox Box was released to commemorated Roxette’s twenty years in the music industry.
“One Wish” was released internationally on October 6 and features both Gessle and Fredriksson singing lead. This was their first new song in about four years. “Reveal” was not released internationally but in sporatic places due to the fact that Per didn’t like the album version of the song and so a different version was created and released to radio stations.
2009: The Reunion of Roxette
The announcement of Roxette’s reunion was made on May 5, 2009 and that they would play for the first time on the Night of Proms in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. They would also play in the Antwerp Sportpaleis for a series of concerts. The band was thrilled to be able to attend Night of the Proms. It would be the first time they shared the stage together since 2001 and they were excited to be in front of such a large audience. They said they looked forward to performing some of their greatest hits and working together for the big Night of the Proms orchestra.
