Roxette

Roxette biography

Roxette is a Swedish pop music duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough album Look Sharp!. Their third album Joyride, which was released in 1991, became just as successful as its predecessor. Roxette went onto achieve nineteen UK Top 40 hits and several US Hot 100 hits, including four US number-ones with "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love", and "Joyride". Other hits included "Dangerous", "Fading Like a Flower" and "Dressed for Success".

Before coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and Gessle were already established artists in Sweden, with Fredriksson releasing a number of solo albums and Gessle being the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider, which had three No. 1 albums. On the advice of the managing director of their record label, they came together to record "Neverending Love", which became a hit single in Sweden.

After the release of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus from the mid-1990s before returning with the albums Have a Nice Day (1999) and Room Service (2001). They continued to chart in other territories such as Europe and South 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. 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 8 years, in 2009, during Gessle's European Party Crasher tour. In 2011 they released Charm School, their first studio album in ten years. This was followed by Travelling a year later.

Their songs "It Must Have Been Love" and "Listen to Your Heart" continue to receive radio airplay, with both singles recently receiving awards from BMI for achieving four million radio plays. They have sold an estimated 60 million records worldwide, 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.

History

1979-1986: Formation

Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson first met in Halmstad, Sweden, in the late 1970s. Gessle performed in Gyllene Tider, one of Sweden's most popular bands of the time, 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, for a song that appeared on her 1982 album Something's Going On, setting music to a Dorothy Parker poem.

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