Per Gessle interview on El Universal, Mexico – ”Marie Fredriksson is irreplaceable”

In a recent interview on El Universal, Per says ”Marie Fredriksson is irreplaceable”.

She was a very strong woman, she fought even to the end, she never gave up, she wanted to keep going. She loved being on stage, meeting the fans, sharing her love and affection with them everywhere.

Per tells El Universal:

Our last concert was in 2016 in South Africa, there she could still be on stage; she didn’t want to leave the stage or her fans. Eventually, we got to do more than 300 concerts, because she loved it, even if during the last shows she had to sit. But in the end she always got a lot of energy because she loved her audience, she was a great person.

Mr. G remembers Marie as an amazon. She never gave up and always remained strong. He tells she had bad days and good days. The last recording was made in her home studio, because she couldn’t travel anymore, but she wanted to continue participating in all the processes. She was only 44 years old when she got ill, she was very young.

Per says:

I feel fine, but it was very hard when Marie passed away. I knew her since I was 17, it’s been a long time. Although we knew about her condition, when you lose someone who is very close to you it’s difficult to get prepared. At the end of the day it’s very difficult to get used to the idea that you’re going to lose someone. It brings emptiness and changes you forever. It was very difficult what happened, but life goes on and we must continue to be positive for what comes next.

Roxette’s journey lasted more than three decades and their iconic songs (Listen To Your Heart, It Must Have Been Love, The Look among others) will live forever. Per tells El Universal that when they started in the 80’s, it was almost impossible for artists from Sweden to become internationally recognized and successful. At first they thought they would only get to listeners in countries like Germany, Denmark, Norway, but in the end they were very lucky and ended up being around the world. It was a dream come true for them, something magical, a wonderful journey.

Roxette is a legend, however, Per tells that his wife doesn’t think so (laughs). Mr. G’s wish is that the new generations take the efforts and courage the duo had in all aspects as an example.

Per says on El Universal:

We know that we are a great inspiration for young people and that’s superb. We were nobodies, we came from a small town in Sweden and eventually we had that success. Everything can happen in life, so I hope that people will take us as an inspiration.

Per tells it’s impossible to replace Marie. She was unique, she was the lead singer of all the songs. At the same time, he wrote most of the Roxette songs and he wants to continue touring and playing them, singing them himself or using more singers. But it doesn’t mean that Marie can be replaced, because that is impossible.

Regarding Bag of Trix, Per tells El Universal that there are many different things on it and it also reminded him of many things that he experienced with Roxette and Marie.

Every time I heard her voice it made me remember what a great person she was and how brilliant she was.

Photo of Roxette by Jonas Åkerlund