Interview

Per Gessle in King Magazine – “Looking back, my greatest talent is that I’ve found all these people who make me a better person than I really am.”

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It’s not the first time Per Gessle appears in King Magazine. Do you remember his session with Jonas Åkerlund in 2006? Here you can see some werk photos and here you can see some of the end results.

Now, almost 20 years later, history repeats itself and Per’s face is like the cover of a magazine again and he appears in the May-June edition of King Magazine in Sweden. This time, the most talented Fredrik Etoall was behind the camera to take some amazing shots of PG. The February photo session happened at Grand Hotel in Stockholm where Rasmus Blom was also present. Rasmus did a big interview with Mr. G the day before in Per’s office on Strandvägen.

Rasmus mentions in his article that Per Gessle is usually too restless for holidays, but this time he is looking forward to spending two weeks at Four Seasons in the Maldives.

Strandvägen for most Swedes represents the last step on the ladder of success. Per has two floors here, one where he lives and one where he works. According to Rasmus, the work floor is more like a pop museum than an office.

We have lived here since 1993. The apartments were for sale together, so we bought the lower floor to have as Stockholm accommodation and this floor as a studio. I recorded Belinda Carlisle here in the ’90s, but then I realized I’m so incredibly untechnical, so I closed the studio. Now I use it as my office. I have my meetings here and sit and write my songs. As you can see, there are instruments everywhere. There is also a nice view with a good sunny position. If it’s sunny in Stockholm, it’s sunny here.

Rasmus looks around and he can see references to pop culture everywhere: an Elvis bust, a Playboy pinball machine, old stage clothes, a big black grand piano and loads of expensive electric guitars. He can also see tons of books from floor to ceiling: rock biographies, pop memoirs, photo albums, exclusive special editions and a signed David Hockney book so huge it requires its own stand. Pop art is hanging on the walls: Andy Warhol original of Mick Jagger, Hans Gedda original of Cornelis Vreeswijk and Anton Corbijn original of U2. Between a portrait of August Strindberg and a glazed small Ferrari model stands a gold-framed photo of a beautiful woman with dark eyes.

Per proudly says:

Isn’t she pretty? It’s Åsa in the ’80s when we met. She was a model in Paris back then.

Åsa and Per have been married since the summer of 1993. Rasmus explains, it’s her that all the hundreds of love songs from 1985 onwards are about. They have a son, Gabriel.

They bought Hotel Tylösand in Halmstad in the mid-90s and today own 60% of it. Åsa (“the boss”) is in charge, among other things, of the design and the spa department. Rasmus says it’s noticeable that she works with spa, because she radiates a calming energy when she looks in during the interview and comes by their meeting at Grand Hotel with Semla buns.

The couple divides their time between Stockholm, their Halmstad villa outside Tylösand and the suitcase.

In a normal year, we spend one third of our time in Stockholm, one third in Halmstad and one third on the road. In recent years, it has become more Halmstad, because Åsa works so much with the hotel. Our son went to high school in Halmstad, but he lives here in Stockholm now.

As a world touring pop star and hotel owner for nearly 30 years, Per Gessle must be a connoisseur when it comes to hotels, so Rasmus is curious what makes an outstanding hotel experience according to Halmstad’s own Basil Fawlty.

First and foremost, it’s about being seen as a customer. You are paying for a service, so you need to feel important. Then my personal favourite hotels are not necessarily the most luxurious. Super fancy hotels can be fun, but I like unique boutique hotels with a special feel. In London I always stay at Brown’s, in New York at Whitby and in Miami at The Edition.

Rasmus points at a book about the legendary Studio 54 nightclub in New York that was created by The Edition founder Ian Schrager.

I was actually at Studio 54 once. Me, Anders Herrlin and Expressen’s Mats Olsson, who is a good friend. It must have been 1981. We were let in thanks to Mats Olsson’s girlfriend at the time who wore a very short leopard skirt. There were a lot of lovely odd types there. It was exactly as you would imagine.

When you have an absolute ear for pop melodies like Per Gessle, Benny Andersson or Max Martin, you cannot fail, Rasmus thinks. You only have to look at Gessle’s career – apart from a short period in 1984/85 when Gyllene Tider was over (“I was a has-been as a 26-year-old”) and he acted as a hired gun for other artists (most memorable are the lyrics to Lena Philipsson’s Kärleken är evig), it has been constant success. Sommartider, Listen To Your Heart or Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång) – different styles, different constellations, different eras, but they all carry Per Gessle’s strong genes and became instant hits. Music that goes straight into the central nervous system. It is this kind of magic that makes 70,000 people gather in a football stadium in São Paulo and sing songs written in Halmstad. Rasmus says, Per Gessle is humble about the success and likes to blame it on luck, but if he is forced to point at something else, it’s the melodies.

My music is very melodic and often easy to absorb. But why it turned out the way it did, I actually don’t know. The hardest thing I’ve done was breaking through with Gyllene Tider, because it came out of nowhere, which is also what the film is about. The next difficult thing was breaking through with Roxette. It was a completely new journey that you can analyze yourself to death about how it happened, but we had luck, timing and talent. We were in the right place at the right time, but the probability of that happening was so small at the time, especially the time before what is usually called the Swedish pop wonder. There was absolutely no advantage of not coming from England or the US. We really had to fight for it. During the promotion of The Look in England, the record company wrote that we were an American band. It was not possible to say that we were from Sweden. When Marie fell ill in 2002, I started working on Mazarin, which was my first solo album since 1985. When the record came out in 2003, it was huge and led to Gyllene Tider embarking on their biggest ever tour the following year with an average of 30,000 people every night. So success breeds success, while the hardest thing there is to follow up success.

Rasmus says Per only writes when he feels inspired.

Sometimes I sit in front of the TV and watch some weak series and take out the guitar and start playing, but otherwise I usually say that I write as little as possible. I know there are many who say exactly the opposite. That as an artist and songwriter you must have discipline, and of course you must have it, but I’m not sitting at the piano between nine and five o’clock. I only work when I have an idea or a project, when I feel that I have something in my system that needs to be released. Then I go into my bubble and lay eggs, as my wife calls it. I become antisocial and completely hopeless to go to a restaurant with, because I just sit and think about some phrase in the second verse. It’s probably some kind of ADHD. I go into it 110 percent.

The lyrics take so much time and energy. It takes a lot of concentration to come up with a text that makes sense. Finishing a text becomes more and more difficult every year. Not least because you have written so much that it is easy to repeat yourself. You try to find an angle in a text. Who is telling the story? What are you talking about? Why do you tell it? When I wrote for Marie in Roxette, I tried to write from her point of view. It’s interesting to put yourself in another person’s shoes. For me, writing lyrics is much more difficult than writing music, but at the same time, it is more rewarding exactly because it’s so difficult. It’s complex to write texts, because I want to be open, but only to a certain extent. I don’t do very many interviews, because I have no need for celebrity. I don’t want to flaunt my life and my family. The texts I like the most are the general ones that everyone can identify with. It is about finding very basic topics; relationships, joy, sadness.

Rasmus says Per Gessle recognizes a good melody when he hears it, regardless of genre. Rumor has it that he thinks Broder Daniel’s indie anthem Shoreline is one of Sweden’s best pop songs.

I really think so. Fantastic song. I also like songs like Work and Underground. Broder Daniel is a fantastic pop band. It has been a great asset that I have never been a fachidiot, but listened to everything possible: experimental ’60s music like The Velvet Underground, blues rock like Led Zeppelin, flume music like the Grateful Dead or hard rock like Metallica. Today I mostly listen to older pop and rock, but also to piano music and jazz. With pop music, I’m so worked up that I start analyzing the songs right away. It’s like I’ve already revealed the magic trick. I mostly listen to things I don’t control myself.

Rasmus says, in recent years, selling the rights to their song catalogues has become popular in the music world, from hyper-commercial artists such as Katy Perry and Justin Bieber to privacy fanatics like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Per Gessle has noted the trend.

I can possibly understand that Katy Perry does it, she belongs to a younger generation of artists and songwriters who work in large teams and therefore perhaps has a different relationship to her songs than I do. But I was surprised at Dylan and Springsteen doing it. Even Neil Young has sold half his rights and I saw that Tina Turner sold the rights to her stage name before she passed away. In a way, it is their life they are selling. I wonder why they do that. The only reason I can think of is that they have a lot of kids and are trying to sort out any disputes between their kids while they are still alive. For me, it would feel very strange to let someone else decide over my songs. Music is my life and the songs are my babies. I’ve had a lot of offers, but I’ve never gotten into them. It doesn’t feel relevant. And what would I do with all that money then?

Later this year, Per Gessle’s first Swedish album in seven years will be released, Rasmus informs. The title Sällskapssjuk is a wink to all the duets with famous Swedish artists on the album. The first single Beredd with Molly Hammar is already out, but the rest of the guest artists are still a secret.

It’s not a purely duet album, but seven or eight duets out of a total of thirteen songs. Everyone I asked said yes, which makes me feel honoured. I chose female and male singers that I respect and that I believe can have a positive benefit. Then it was important to find voices that work in terms of keys.

Rasmus wants to know how much contact Per has with Swedish artists otherwise.

No contact at all, actually. I have gotten to know one or two that I hang out with sometimes. Nisse Hellberg and Uno Svenningsson, for example.

According to Rasmus, it’s not so strange that Per Gessle feels sociable as an artist and songwriter, his most successful song ever was performed by Marie Fredriksson after all. Roxette’s epic power ballad It Must Have Been Love with Marie Fredriksson in top shape is one of the pop duo’s four US No. 1 songs, today with over half a billion plays on Spotify and almost 800 million views on Youtube.

The song was sent into orbit around the earth in 1990 as the theme to Pretty Woman, the most famous romantic comedy of all time with Richard Gere as the businessman Edward and Julia Roberts in her breakthrough role as the prostitute Vivian in a storming love story. The film classic offered the personal chemistry of the century between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts on the big screen and between Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson on the film’s soundtrack, Rasmus says.

Marie had a fantastic career going on in Sweden that was much bigger than mine. So my only chance to keep her in Roxette was if the band became successful. Roxette was really just a side project for her in the beginning. The first album didn’t do well at all outside of Sweden, so our German record company suggested that we do a Christmas song. It would probably be easier to get on German radio then. I hooked on that straight away. I wrote It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted). It became a gold record in Sweden, but the Germans didn’t even want to release it. They didn’t like it! Life went on, Marie released yet another Swedish solo record while I put together the material that would become Look Sharp! with which we broke through internationally. At a lunch in LA, someone at the record company asked if I wanted to write a song for a Disney/Touchstone movie with the working title 3000. A classic love story based on a man who hires a prostitute for a weekend for 3,000 dollars. Robert Palmer and David Bowie would be involved, among others. It sounded hugely exciting. However, we were on our way to New Zealand, so I didn’t have time to write anything new, but I said we have a great Christmas ballad I can fix and remove all the Christmas references from. Said and done. Marie re-sang a few verses, we did a new intro and Michael Jackson’s technician, Humberto Gatica, mixed it. Then Marie and I got to see the film, which had then been renamed Pretty Woman, in a small cinema in Burbank, California. I walked away thinking it was a fun movie, but not much more than that. Julia Roberts was a newcomer and Richard Gere a has-been. But then everything exploded.

Rasmus informs that Roxette was Sweden’s biggest music export since ABBA even before Pretty Woman thanks to hits like The Look, Listen To Your Heart and Dressed For Success, but with the Hollywood hit, they became a global phenomenon in earnest. The records sold multi-platinum and the world tours succeeded one after the other. Roxette was the biggest in South America and Germany where to this day they are one of the country’s most popular bands ever.

Roxette increases by 10 percent on the streaming platforms every year. I’m just grateful that people are still interested and that the music finds its way down through the generations.

It has been almost five years since Marie Fredriksson passed away from the effects of the brain tumor that she lived with for almost 20 years against all odds.

It was terribly hard. But at the same time, she was sick for so long, so we knew it could happen anytime. You waited for that call somehow and knew it would come sooner or later. It was almost even more difficult when we got the news that she was ill, in 2002. It came like a bolt out of the blue and you didn’t understand what it was. It was a strange fate. She was sick for so long and so heroic that she was able to make a comeback in 2009 and continue playing until 2016.

Rasmus says that Marie is not the only one Per has lost recently. Mother Elisabeth, brother Bengt and sister Gunilla all passed away within a few years, while father Kurt passed away already when Per was 19 years old.

We’re all going to die. I don’t think about it much. It is always very difficult when loved ones pass away. My mother was old and sick, so it was also something you mentally prepared for. I also knew that my sister was sick. However, I did not know that my brother was ill. He had lung cancer, but hadn’t told anyone. So it was very surprising that he disappeared. I don’t know what to say about that, life is so fleeting and you have to make the most of your days. It’s clear that you think about it more when you get older. When you are young, you don’t have a relationship with time in that way. You can’t do anything about it. Time does things to you, but I’m a positive type and super grateful for what I’ve been a part of in my life. And my gosh, I’m not done yet!

Just like for Monica Zetterlund and Ted Gärdestad, the story of Gyllene Tider will now become a feature film, Rasmus informs. Sommartider premieres in theatres on 17th July and takes place during the band’s first years in the ’70s and ’80s, with a lot of nepo babies in the cast: comedian Peter Wahlbeck’s son Valdemar Wahlbeck plays Gessle, Magdalena Graaf and Magnus Hedman’s son Lancelot Hedman Graaf portrays Anders Herrlin and Jesper and Mia Parnevik’s son Phoenix Parnevik portrays Micke Syd. Newcomers Ville Löfgren and Xavier Kulas take on Mats “MP” Persson and Göran Fritzon respectively.

We were all quite skeptical about a Gyllene Tider movie at the beginning. A film about a band where everyone is still alive could be weird. But then the filmmakers told us what they were looking for, a story about a gang of small town guys who for some reason manage to enter Café Opera in clogs. It’s not a documentary about Gyllene Tider’s fantastic career, the film ends in 1982 when Sommartider is released. So it’s about the journey there. I’ve only seen five scenes, which were great. The script is super fun and fairly accurate. Artistic liberties must be accepted in order for the film to be as good as possible.

Rasmus continues with Joyride – The Musical, where Per Gessle’s second pop group will get a new lease of life. The musical premieres on 6th September at Malmö Opera. Unlike the Gyllene Tider film, the musical is not based on real events, but more like ABBA’s Mamma Mia!, on the band’s songs.

This process has been going on for years. I’m involved to the extent that it is my songs. I intervene in the way it is presented, in what style the actors should sing. There is a certain kind of mannerism in the musical world that I have a hard time with. I’d like there to be a pop and rock edge to it all. Roxette is big all over the world, so hopefully, this can grow and be played outside of Sweden in the long run. I really love Roxette and am very proud of what we created. I myself am the biggest Roxette fan in the world.

The lavish feel-good musical is created by award-winning director Guy Unsworth and set designer David Woodhead, with Gessle’s blessing. The plot revolves around a humorous triangle drama based on the novel Got You Back by Jane Fallon, the British writer and Roxette fan who also lives with the world-famous comedian Ricky Gervais.

I have met Jane Fallon many times while working on the musical, but never Ricky. I saw in an interview that he called Roxette his best guilty pleasure band, which is fun. I hope he comes to the premiere.

Rasmus says, at 65 years old, Per Gessle has spent an entire professional life in the rock industry. But unlike many of his Swedish and foreign colleagues, he has avoided both drugs and headlines.

There’s been a lot of drugs around one, but it’s nothing for me. I’ve never been interested in it. I take care of myself.

Already during the most hysterical years with Gyllene Tider in the early ’80s, Gessle kept a low profile and went to California instead of basking in the limelight in Sweden. When he is not playing to sold-out arenas, he enjoys being under the radar.

The celebrity life has never attracted me, but it has come as a result of the fact that I like playing in bands and making music. My journey in life is about music.

As Rasmus writes, on the other hand, Per Gessle meets a lot of other rock star standards: he loves expensive leather jackets and Italian sports cars. His interest in motoring kicked off when, as a 12-year-old, he saw Tony Curtis’ red Ferrari in The Persuaders. Today, a Dino 246 GT similar to the one in the TV series takes pride of place in the pop star’s Ferrari collection, which is on display in the permanent exhibition The Joyride Car Collection at Hotel Tylösand.

I’ve always loved cars. Even motorcycles and Riva boats, I love all that is beautiful. During the Gyllene Tider years I drove a Golf, but after the Joyride album with Roxette, when I started making money, I bought a Mercedes SL600. In 1995 I bought my first Ferrari, which I unfortunately don’t have anymore. A 456 GT, blue with cream upholstery. In 1997 I played at Ferrari’s 50th anniversary party and since then have had good contact with the company, which has allowed me to buy some limited models.

After all these years on the international music scene, the son of a plumber from Furet in Halmstad has extensive acquaintances all over the world, Rasmus says. In one of the site-built bookshelves is a photo with a greeting from Tom Petty and a while ago he was at a bar mitzvah in New York in the company of celebrities.

It was a good friend of mine in New York whose son had a bar mitzvah. It was a big party where I was appointed as the host of my table. At the table I had Springsteen, John McEnroe, Lars Ulrich and Keith Richards, who, however, never showed up. Then there was some other rascal that I have forgotten. I can’t say I know Springsteen, but we’ve met and talked a few times. He’s a nice guy.

Rasmus ends the interview by saying Per Gessle is one of our greatest artists, but as Per says, he owes his own greatness to others.

Looking back, my greatest talent is that I’ve found all these people who make me a better person than I really am. It takes talent to find them and allow them to take their place. To not always think you know best yourself. The older I get, the more I leave the place to other people.

Thank you so much for this wonderful material, King Magazine! Amazing photos by Fredrik Etoall and a great interview by Rasmus Blom!

In the online version, you can read it all and you can see all photos as well, but if you are in Sweden, make sure you get yourself a copy! This 15-page article is well worth it!

All interview text is written by Rasmus Blom for King Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Per Gessle talks about Roxette In Concert 2025 on Efter fem

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TV4 invited Per Gessle on Efter fem to ask him about the world tour, Roxette In Concert 2025. Watch it HERE! The program starts with showing a short part of the video to Sällskapssjuk, the duet single of Per and Lena Philipsson.

Program leader Tilde de Paula Eby likes the song very much, she says it’s a new collaboration between two giant artists that she really likes and it is released today. Tilde adds there is something else happening to Per and Lena, they are also going on a world tour. Per confirms and says at least they are going to South Africa and Australia. Tilde says it’s a world tour then. Per laughs and says it’s a big world out there. They were thinking of doing that at the beginning of next year and it’s quite exciting, under the name Roxette.

Tilde says it must be pretty emotional for Per to do this tour with someone other than Marie. PG says it is, of course. He has been toying with this idea for years, how to manage the Roxette catalogue in a good way. The great thing about the Roxette songs is that they still live on and there will be new people who like them. When you start thinking about it, there are really only two ways to go. Either you leave it at that or you move on. Per needed time to himself and also needed to find the right voice. When he recorded Sällskapssjuk with Lena – it’s a song from the duet album that will come out in the fall – then he realized that „shit, there it is”. He thought Lena would fit the Roxette songs perfectly. Per knows Lena is a big Roxette fan. Besides that, he has worked with her. Per has co-written her breakthrough song, Kärleken är evig in 1986. PG contacted Lena after the recordings of Sällskapssjuk and asked if she was interested. She was a little shocked, of course.

Tilde says she can imagine that one can react to such a question both with total jubilation and also a little panic. She says they will talk further about how it was, but before that, she asks her colleague, Henrik Alsterdal to tell a little background info about Roxette.

Henrik shows pictures from the good old days and talks about the numbers: 80 million albums sold, 4 Billboard No. 1 hits, 19 songs on the UK Top 40 and over 600 concerts. Henrik also talks a bit about PG Roxette and the upcoming Swedish album and finishes by stating that Per goes on tour with Lena under the name Roxette and the first gig is planned to be in Cape Town next February. In Cape Town, where Per played his last Roxette concert with Marie in 2016.

Tilde says, when you listen to these songs, it’s like decades are flowing through your whole body. She can’t even imagine what it’s like for Per. PG says they had a fantastic journey with Roxette. The eight years between 1988 and 1995 were fantastic. They were on the US charts for almost four years without falling off. They just changed the song. It was simply an amazing time. He still has to pinch his arm. Tilde says it’s funny that Per, who has done so incredibly much, can still appreciate these things and feel that he has to pinch his arm. It’s unreal. Per says it’s unreal indeed. Their whole journey, coming from such a small country like Sweden at the time. Their record company marketed them as an American band in England, because they couldn’t say they were from Sweden. To succeed was incredibly difficult.

Tilde asks Per if it is on purpose that he and Lena will play the first concert in Cape Town. Per says it was not intentional, it just happened that way and it’s actually strange that it turned out that way. Maybe that’s a sign, PG says.

Tilde is curious if Per has mixed feelings about doing this. PG says, not at all. If Marie would still be here, they would have been out on tour all the time for sure. But she is no longer there. Like Mr. G said before, you either leave it at that or you move on and start a new chapter in the book.

Tilde wants to know how he asked Lena Philipsson. She realized that it must have been mixed feelings for Lena, wonderful and scary at the same time. Per says it was absolutely like that. She asked how she could replace Marie, but Per said it’s not the idea that she should replace Marie, but Lena should do it her way. This is about managing the song catalogue. Per understands that Lena was stressed about it. At the same time, he thinks she has a lot to gain from this. She is a superstar in Sweden, but she has never played in Australia, in South Africa, in South America or in the USA. For her, it’s also a big challenge. Per is sure that if you have never seen Lena Philipsson and don’t know who she is and see her on stage for the first time, you will be shocked. According to Tilde, Lena is incredible on stage. It’s like a persona stepping out of her. She has body language and an absolutely phenomenal voice.

Per says they tested some Roxette songs at home at his grand piano and it sounds magical when she sings Queen Of Rain, Spending My Time and Listen To Your Heart. Per thinks this could be amazing.

Tilde says Per talked about South America, Australia, South Africa, but what about Sweden. PG says, oh, he forgot about Sweden. Haha. There are no plans for Sweden yet, but it will surely come, if it works. They see the Australia and South Africa tour as a small pilot tour. They see how it feels and how it works. PG brings the old classic Roxette band with him. If it works, it would of course be a lot of fun to play in Sweden too.

Tilde is incredibly impressed by Per’s driving force and is wondering where it comes from. Per says he loves his work. He loves to write, to be in the studio, to be on stage. He loves to play his songs and to feel the positive energy that comes from the audience. You get so much back, he says. PG thinks he has the best job in the world, after Tilde. Tilde smiles and says they probably share the first place.

According to Tilde, besides being a lot of fun, it’s a lot of work and it’s quite tough to travel around. Per agrees, touring is a lot of waiting at airports and in traffic jams and all that. But the reward is when you are on stage. It’s fantastic. That one minute, 30 seconds before you go on stage and 30 seconds into the first song, it’s the magic minute. You travel to another universe then. It’s a great charge up and a fantastic blast. That’s wonderful. When Tilde hears how Per describes it, she wants to experience it.

Tilde finishes the interview by mentioning Per’s upcoming album, Sällskapssjuk that is released in fall and the title song that has been released today with Lena Philipsson. She thanks Per for coming on the show and Per thanks for the invitation.

 

 

 

Stills are from the interview.

RoxBlog interview with Lena Philipsson before Roxette In Concert 2025 – “I’m gonna do everything I can to honour Marie”

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As you could read in the press release, Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson release a single on 3rd May, the next single from Per’s upcoming Swedish album and embark on a tour together in 2025.

I met Lena Philipsson on 1st May via Zoom and after we discuss it’s better for me to speak English than doing the interview in Swedish, we get down to a very nice chat about her career and life as a performer and songwriter, as well as her collaboration with Per Gessle and their future adventure.

Patrícia Peres: – Hi Lena! Nice to meet you!

Lena Philipsson: – Hi Patrícia! Nice to meet you too!

PP: – First of all, I have to mention that I’m not a journalist. I’ve been a Roxette fan since 1991 and I’m blogging about Roxette and related stuff on RoxetteBlog. So my questions will rather be from a fan’s point of view, for a worldwide audience. Starting with the point where your career met our fan world, we have to go back to 1986 when Per wrote a song to you, “Kärleken är evig”. We can say it was your breakthrough song. How do you remember those times and how did everything evolve around that song? You even chose this as the title of your debut album.

LP: – Yes, Per wrote the lyrics to it. The music was written by another person. That was actually the first time Per and I met and that was when Gyllene Tider was over and right before Roxette started. I guess he had time before Roxette, but after that he became very busy, because Roxette was a huge success. Actually, “Kärleken är evig” is one of the most important songs in my career. I’ve also been working for a very long time, since 1986, and I’m still working, doing my thing. I release albums and go on tours. Back then I worked with a guy called Torgny Söderberg, who wrote the music, and he wanted someone to write the lyrics. I think he kind of knew Per and called and asked him if he could write the lyrics. And he said yes. I think it was that uncomplicated. Melodifestivalen is very big in Sweden and that was my first time in Melodifestivalen. And so, of course, that song became a huge hit and I still sing it.

PP: – No surprise, “Kärleken är evig” finished in 2nd place at Melodifestivalen.

LP: – If you google it, you can probably see us in Melodifestivalen. Pictures of us three standing there being interviewed before I sing the song. Per, Torgny and I.

 

Screenshot from Melodifestivalen 1986 and scan of Schlager-SM 1986

PP: – Yes, there is even a video, that’s very cool! [47:09 into the video. /PP] You took part in the contest 3 times in the ’80s as a performer, then 2 times in the ’90s as a songwriter and while you were also hosting the show in other years, in 2004 you came back as a performer just to win it with “Det gör ont”. A song that finished in 5th place in the Eurovision Song Contest that year. What does Melodifestivalen mean to you? It must have an important place in your life.

LP: – Yes, as I said, it’s a very big TV show and everyone is watching it. So I mean, if you want to make a big impact, that’s the show to be in. And it’s still like that even now. It’s very popular to be in that contest and I’ve been there so many times, as you say, I’ve been a host too, several times. It’s a good program and it’s like a huge party going on.

PP: – In Sweden, you have a long and very successful career. You released numerous albums, mainly in Swedish, but you also have many English songs. Per wrote songs to you later as well, not only in Swedish. On your “Talking In Your Sleep” album, there are two songs written by him. “Never Is A Long Time” and “Take It Or Leave It”. Why was it important to you to sing in English back in the days and how was your cooperation with Per during those times?

LP: – Why did I sing in English? I guess it’s just because it felt kind of cool. I mean, I was 20 when I started and my “Talking In Your Sleep” album was a mix between Swedish and English. I thought I was cool. I don’t have a better answer than that. I wanted to be a little bit tougher, I guess. Haha. As you said, Per wrote two songs and he sent them to us. I didn’t meet him at that point. I just sang the songs in a studio. I think I remember him asking if Roxette could record “Never Is A Long Time”. And they did record it later.

PP: – Yes, it came out on their “Tourism” album in 1992. In later years, you wrote more songs yourself. What is the essence of songwriting for you? Do you usually start with writing the lyrics or the music?

LP: – Very often it starts with the music and the lyrics come later. Sometimes I write songs just because I know I want to do another show and I need some new songs. When I’m working with my own things, I like to be involved in everything around. I have made a lot of shows. It’s like being on the same stage for three months doing four or three shows a week and in that kind of show you can maybe change clothes or dance a little bit. You do this monologue and I’m being funny and I’m playing the piano and I do all sorts of things. And I really like that way of performing. The two latest albums that I wrote, I already thought of them as doing them on stage. And I always think about how I’m going to do it. Music and the visual appearance are combined in that way. I’ve been writing new music now, but I’m still thinking of what way, what direction I’m going for and what I want to do with that, what’s the meaning of that. I would like to find some kind of meaning to the music more than just the music itself. I’d like to see that vision in my head, how I sing it, what I am wearing…

PP: – I read somewhere that you were even sewing your own clothes.

LP: – Yeah, a long time ago. I actually did that because I come from a very small town and they didn’t have those cool stores. So you had to buy some fabrics and just do it yourself.

PP: – How cool is that! And when you have an idea, how do you record it for a song? Do you make demos or just snippets?

LP: – Yeah, I usually make a demo at home here, I have a tiny little studio. But I also sit by the piano and try some things out. I just vary it a little bit too. It depends on what I feel for. And I’ve always had a demo studio at home since the beginning, actually, since I was 15 years old. Writing songs has always been a part of my career, even though I haven’t always written the songs myself. It’s definitely a part of me.

PP: – When I was in Sweden, I think it was after COVID, I couldn’t avoid your song “Maria Magdalena” on the radio. It’s a very danceable, earworm song and it became a big hit. What do you think, what makes a hit?

LP: – Little do I know about that. I’m a person that likes totally different kinds of music, really. I love techno, house, R&B and great singers or even rock ‘n’ roll things if it’s a good song. When I write music myself, sometimes I write complicated songs and sometimes simple songs. And it feels like it will always be the simple song that wins. I love “Maria Magdalena”. It’s quite simple in the melody and that seems to work the best. But I’m a little bit more complicated than that. I write a lot of other sorts of music, too, but they have never become some kind of single hit. “Maria Magdalena” did, and I kind of felt it, because I knew it was catchy. And when I played it for people to see what they think about it, everyone was very positive about it immediately. But I still think it’s a mystery, this thing about what makes a hit. Simplicity might be one of the key things.

PP: – Who are your main musical inspirations?

LP: – Well, as I just said, I like so many different kinds of things. And at the same time, I’m not so interested in listening too much to something and being too influenced by it. I try to dig into myself and find what’s the best part in my musical thinking and use that, because I want it to be as personal and unique as possible. I like everything, but then I kind of shut it out and start thinking about what I want to do. This is typical for me. I do my own thing. I know it’s not what you hear on the radio right now, but maybe I don’t care about that. I just do it anyway, because that’s me.

PP: – Now that Per is releasing a new Swedish album and he decided to do some duets on it, you met again. You sing the title track with him, “Sällskapssjuk”. How did this cooperation start?

LP: – You know Marie Dimberg. She texted me one day and asked if I wanted to sing a duet together with Per. And I actually quite immediately said yes, because I thought that was fun. I went down to Halmstad and we recorded the song there. It was very easy to do it together with him. He was easy to work with. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner and talked about what we were doing now and everything we’ve done during the years and the future and so on. And then I went home and a couple of days later he texted me and asked if we could meet. He had a question to ask.

PP: – And then he asked you about joining him.

LP: – Yes, he asked about this Roxette tour. And I was very surprised by the question. I don’t know what I had expected. Maybe doing some more songs together or some tour together, but this wasn’t the question I was expecting. It’s different for me, because I’m always doing my own thing all the time. Then suddenly I got this question and the first thought in my head was actually, I can never be Marie Fredriksson. I mean, she was an amazing singer and she IS Roxette. And that might be difficult, I thought. But Per was very optimistic and positive. He said “you’re doing your thing”. I went home to think about it for a while and talk to my people about it. And now here we are, I said yes.

PP: – I know Per has been thinking a lot about how to bring Roxette songs around the world again and it was only a question of time to find a solution. All the songs deserve it.

LP: – Yeah, I can understand that, because there are so many songs he has written that he can never sing, kind of. So I really understand it.

PP: – What does Roxette mean to you personally and musically?

LP: – At that time when they got really big in the US, when they became No. 1 and had this huge success, I was working, too. I was in the middle of everything. You of course heard about it, you read about it, you heard them on the radio, at the cafe, at the nightclubs and you saw them on TV, but I actually have never seen them live, because I was also touring myself. I must say I have the greatest respect for Per. He is a brilliant songwriter. He is really amazing. I’m very happy to work together with him. He is still so full of energy.

PP: – Yeah, that’s inspiring!

LP: – Yeah. And he still writes these songs, he never stops. Amazing!

PP: – I don’t like to compare anyone to Marie and as Per says, Marie is irreplaceable and it has never been the intention to replace her with someone else, but fans tend to compare female vocalists who cooperate with Per, it’s inevitable.

LP: – Yeah, I know that, of course, and I can understand that.

PP: – How do you feel about stepping into these shoes?

LP: – It will be hard for me. Well, that was the first thing I was thinking about. I can never replace Marie. And even though I try to do a good job, the fans are standing there and say, you’re okay, but well, you’re not Marie. I will just try to do my best, because that’s the only thing I can do. I also understand that the fans don’t know anything about me. I’m just somewhere from Sweden. Per himself is very, very happy and positive and really looking forward to this. And I trust him. I understand I’m like a guest here, I’m going to try to blend in and he will do all the decisions and I will just come along. I understand the job.

PP: – How much did you know Marie and what do you think about her? You already mentioned that she was an amazing singer.

LP: – Yeah, she was! I didn’t know her deeply, but I met her several times here in Stockholm at parties and other places. She wasn’t my best friend, but we talked. She was always so kind and humble, a very nice person with a warm heart. And she was always smiling.

PP: – How challenging is the Roxette song catalogue for you?

LP: – Well, the songs are not that easy to sing, actually, because they have a big range, high up, down low. We tried some songs in an easy way at home with Per and two musicians and I listened to six or seven songs to try to learn them a little bit, so we can just try out how this sounds. Then I just realized that it was like up there. OK, you can take this down a little bit, but this one you can’t take down, because it’s already very low. Then I said sorry, maybe I promised too much. But Per just laughed and said, no, no, we don’t do that thing anymore. So we have changed the keys and it went OK when we tried it out. But yeah, there are some difficult songs.

PP: – Which is your favourite Roxette ballad?

LP: – I think “It Must Have Been Love” is a very good ballad. There are a lot of ballads that are very good. “Queen Of Rain” I really like, because it’s kind of soft and more suggestive. I would say those two are my favourite ballads.

PP: – And which do you think is the best Roxette power pop song?

LP: – Now I’m thinking about the songs I’m gonna sing. “Dressed For Success” would be very special and it’s very much Marie to me. A fun song to sing. I’m looking forward to that.

PP: – Have you already discussed which songs are in sight for the tour?

LP: – No, not yet, but there are a lot of songs they need to play. Or WE need to play. We are not there yet and that’s one of the decisions that I leave to Per. To decide on which songs to perform. I wouldn’t interfere with that. So you just have to wait and see.

PP: – Yeah, I’m excited about it. Is there a Roxette song you wish you had written?

LP: – Hm… all of them! Haha. I don’t know what to pick here, because there are too many great songs.

PP: – If we are talking about your songs, which are your, let’s say, top three songs that you would suggest Roxette fans to listen to, to get to know you better? Which songs represent you the most?

LP: – Wow, that’s a difficult question, because I never think about my own songs. I’m just working with them. I know the songs that are most famous that I always sing, but they are not necessarily the same that I like the most. It’s difficult to say. I have written all the songs on my two latest albums, so maybe those represent me now. But there are also some old songs. All the songs from Melodifestivalen, for instance, are very well known here in Sweden. So I guess somewhere in there you will find me.

PP: – I have of course checked videos of you on YouTube and I must say you are very much of a rock chick, but you also have your sensitive side when performing. How does it feel for you to be on stage?

LP: – I love to be creative. I love to work with stuff behind the scenes when you prepare a new show, when you think about the songs and where to speak and where to insert some fun. Then I always get a little nervous to be on stage and meet the audience for the first time, to see if it works. I’m never like, oh, I love to be on stage, because to me, being on stage, it’s all about doing a good job and giving it all to the audience. So it’s all about the audience and the communication between us. I almost never think being on stage is fun for me. I must say many times I’m kind of amazed that I’m on that stage, because I’m quite an introverted person.

PP: – It’s very interesting what you say, because indeed, a lot of artists are introverts.

LP: – Yes. But on stage, you have to take that role and just do it. At the same time, when I come up with a good idea, I’m of course looking forward to showing it to people and thinking that it will make them happy. They will laugh or that will surprise them. When you feel that energy, when you create something, it takes a little bit of the nervous thing away. Obviously, I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years now, so I’m here because it’s fun and I’m good at it.

PP: – In an interview you mentioned you are always looking for new things, not to repeat or sing the same stuff all the time. Now this is very different to what you have been doing so far. As a songwriter yourself and performer of your own songs, how does it feel that you will now perform whole concerts of another band’s songs?

LP: – Yeah, that’s something new I didn’t do before. That’s kind of an adventure. I often work that way when I know I’m going to do something and I’m already there in my head to just prepare for that. So, I know what I’m going to do and I’ve just stopped wondering how it feels, because now I’ve decided to do this and I’m just on my way towards it. And I think it will be something different and hopefully very fun.

PP: – I’m absolutely sure it’s gonna be fun.

LP: – And I need to learn a lot of new lyrics. I’m not used to that either.

PP: – You will have a prompter on stage! Haha.

LP: – Ah, you say something! Haha.

PP: – Have you ever toured outside Sweden?

LP: – No, I haven’t. I’ve been thinking about this because of this tour now. And well, I was in London in 1991 and there I was at a kind of management office. They wanted to contract me and they wanted me to move to London, but I didn’t want that. I was too scared for that. No way! I like Sweden. I’ve been a couple of times in Italy, Greece and around Sweden, of course. I did some gigs in Norway, Finland, Denmark, but nothing more than that.

PP: – I saw a 1989 interview with you where you said long bus rides are very tiring, but meeting the audience is always fun. What do you expect from a world tour?

LP: – I guess a lot of travels. Haha. It’s the same procedure as in Sweden, but in another country. You travel somewhere, you check in at your hotel, you go to the place where you’re going to do this gig and you’re into your dressing room and prepare for going out on stage and then you do the work and afterwards maybe a glass of wine. That’s exactly the same thing I do in Sweden. It will be just bigger. And there will be new people for me and a new kind of audience, the challenge in all that.

PP: – The tour starts in South Africa and the next stop is Australia. I assume other continents will soon follow the February and March dates. Which country is high on your list to perform in?

LP: – I’m just focused on the job and Roxette and my work together with Per. But I’ve never been to South Africa and I’ve never been to Australia either, so that will be fun too.

PP: – The touring band will consist of Christoffer Lundquist, Magnus Börjeson, Magnus “Norpan” Eriksson, Dea Norberg, as well as Clarence Öfwerman and Jonas Isacsson. Have you ever worked together with anyone in the band?

LP: – No, I don’t think so. Maybe some of them will remind me that I have, maybe in some studio when we recorded albums in the ’80s. Dea has been working with me on a couple of shows I did here in Sweden. Yes, and other tours as well. So, yeah, Dea I know well. She is super easy to be with.

PP: – Which Roxette songs do you look most forward to singing live?

LP: – As I said, I really want to get “Dressed For Success” right. It’s such a big hit and so much Roxette.

PP: – What is your message to the Roxette fans?

LP: – My message is: I love you too! Haha. I hope we meet and I hope you will like me. I’m looking forward to seeing you all and I’m gonna do everything I can to honour Marie.

PP: – Thank you so much for your time, Lena! Looking very much forward to seeing you on stage with Per and the gang! Happy release day for your duet and all the best on this upcoming journey!

LP: – Thank you very much!

Check out Lena’s music HERE!

Photo by Fredrik Etoall

Per Gessle on Tack för musiken

by

When Marie Fredriksson appeared on SVT’s Tack för musiken TV show in 2013 – which was fabulous and it was amazing to see Marie on it, hear her stories and her wonderful performances –, it was an obvious question when Per Gessle would also be a guest. I even asked program host Niklas Strömstedt via some website back then and he replied „we will see”. Well, we had to wait 10 years only. Haha.

Recording of the Tack för musiken TV show with Per took place at Intiman in Stockholm on 27th March. It’s great that one could buy a ticket to be part of the audience, because it’s always fun and very interesting to see how a TV show is made.

The recording started at 18:30, but the doors opened already one hour before. It was nice to bump into many fans, mainly from Sweden, but also Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Hungary represented the European fan base.

The promo screen on the theatre facade showed Niklas Strömstedt and the dates and names of guests on the program during this season. Entering the theatre, your tickets got controlled and you could leave your stuff at the wardrobe and drink something at the bar.

Some minutes before the program started, we entered the theatre hall and found our seats. There were microphones and cameras all around the place. Microphones also in between some of the rows, so that they could record clear sound of the audience – singing and applauding.

On stage there was everything ready – instruments on the left and in the back, armchairs and tables on the right in the front. Peter Fredriksson and Mikael Nogueira-Svensson were technicians of the show, so it was nice to see them preparing the instruments and stuff and at one point, Malin-My Wall also appeared on stage to check her instruments and spot. Lovely!

When most people were already sitting, Åsa Gessle and Marie Dimberg came from backstage and sat down in the middle of row 7 or so. The hall got full and floor manager Pierre Bredstenslien entered the stage to share some instructions with us. He showed where the exits were and other useful info. He explained it was a TV show, the audience would also be visible on TV, so they would appreciate it if the crowd didn’t use their mobiles during the whole program, because it would look weird on TV. However, there would be parts when they ask us to use it – the lights when Per and Niklas perform It Must Have Been Love and they allowed us to take photos and videos during the last song, so that we could share content on social media with #tackförmusiken. Pierre also asked us to put the mobiles on mute or flight mode, so that no phones were ringing.

The first part of the fun was when they recorded our clapping and shouting and laughing based on instructions by Pierre. We laughed and cheered a lot already when the show hadn’t even started. Haha. They also checked the picture of the audience when we stood up, when we used the lights on mobiles etc. They checked all the noise we made after Pierre counted in: 3-2-1 – laughing out loud, loud applause, quieter laughter, looking at Per and reacting on something fun he just said. It was really entertaining, but we couldn’t wait for the main guest to appear at last. Haha.

Then the Tack för musiken band entered the stage. Ola Gustafsson, Charlotte Centervall, Jonas Gröning and Marcus Liliequist. Then came Niklas Strömstedt and he said we would do the world’s best TV show very soon.

And here the show starts and I switch to the transcript of the TV cut – watch it HERE! The program starts with Niklas and the band playing Det hjärta som brinner. That puts the audience in a party mood immediately.

After Niklas and the band finish the song, Niklas says he has known tonight’s protagonist for 45 years. He guided him and his friend Mats MP Persson around Stockholm city when they were there to record their first album. They didn’t have a clue. Niklas thinks they probably had never even used an escalator before. Since then they have been through a lot together. They have slept together head to toe at a billionaire’s place in Malmö and when his guest was interviewed on a TV sofa in Lisbon, Niklas stood behind a keyboard inside a strange cake, ready to start playback to Listen To Your Heart. Of course, he was also there when Gyllene Tider played their very first gig outside Halland. It was at the youth disco Village in Stockholm on 30th November 1979. Less than three months after this gig at Village, Gyllene Tider was No. 1 on the Swedish charts with Flickorna på TV2. The rest is modern Swedish pop history. Niklas welcomes Per Gessle on stage and the audience is cheering.

The guys take a seat and Niklas starts from the beginning. They are going back to Halmstad of the ’60s and Niklas shows a picture on the screen behind them. He asks Per who that guy he sees on the pic is. PG says he very much lived in a pop bubble. It was pop music for him from day one. As long as he can think back, it’s records and music and the romanticism around pop music. A little longer hair on the guys and noise and fuzzbox and stuff. Niklas wants to know if it was just music Per was interested in. Mr. G says he was a little interested in handball, soccer and ice hockey, but it was music that mattered. He remembers gathering together with his friends and everyone had these sticks from the Couronne game – cheap version of billiard, Niklas explains. Per forced his friends to have those sticks, so they would be The Animals or Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and they mimed those songs. That was his youth, PG says. Niklas won’t force Per to do it now, but he is curious about what Per’s first real instrument was. It was the piano and Mr. G learned to play Für Elise with a classical piano teacher. Per explains he never understood that classical music is the same thing as popular music, that it is based on chords in the same way. Time went by and he left that piano thing behind, because he thought it was miserable. Reading sheet music and stuff like that wasn’t for PG. He wanted to go home and listen to Led Zeppelin. Niklas realizes that Per knows some sheet music. PG confirms, he knows G clef and stuff like that, but if you give him sheet music, he can’t play it.

Niklas wants to know when Per got his first guitar or if he bought it himself. Mr. G got a nylon string guitar from his mother. It might have been in 1975, when he was 15-16 years old. Per started writing lyrics a few years before, when he was 14-15, but he couldn’t write music. He wrote melodies to those lyrics. He says those lyrics are lousy, by the way. Niklas is curious if Per remembers a line. Per laughs and says no. Haha. He wrote melodies to the songs in his head and then for some reason, he got a really nice guitar from his mom. He points at the guitar, which is there next to him. Of course, Niklas wants to have a look at it and PG picks it up. There is a little crocheted cat hanging there on the guitar, made by Per’s mother. He explains they had a white cat in the family, named Sissel.

Niklas asks Per what he played on this guitar. PG played everything he could learn, e.g. Blowing In The Wind, Streets Of London. He even wrote songs on this one, e.g. Billy. Here he plays some tunes from Billy. He also wrote music to a Hjalmar Gullberg poem. It was one of the first songs. Per says Gullberg wrote much better lyrics than him. Haha. He asks if he should play it. Of course. The title of the poem is Lägg din hand i min om du har lust. Per takes a paper out of his back pocket and Niklas asks him if he always has the lyrics to that particular song with him. Haha. Per says it’s his shopping list for the next day. Haha. Per puts the lyrics on the table in front of them and Niklas flattens it out a bit. PG plays the song and says it was a seven-minute-long solo. He was maybe 16 when he wrote this song. Niklas can hear a little John Holm in it. PG says he loves John Holm. His first two-three records are magical. When he tried to learn to write songs, he translated a lot of Leonard Cohen, Bowie, Patti Smith, to try to learn how to write lyrics, how it goes. Niklas is curious what Per learned then. He learned how to tell a story and that there are countless ways to tell stories. He still uses that. Maybe you set a tone in the first verse, but then you completely change the environment in the second verse, although it’s about the same thing. There are different styles.

Niklas says they will soon talk about Per’s criminal past. He asks if it’s OK to do that. Per asks back if they have enough time for that. Niklas says they got extra time for that. Haha. But first, they are going to play a Gyllene Tider song that was inspired by a movie. Mr. G explains he saw a movie with Jack Lemmon called Save The Tiger. It’s a great movie. There is a scene where he is asked if there is anything he wishes for or if he is missing something that hasn’t happened and then he says, „I want that girl in a Cole Porter song”. Then Per thought, „shit, what a great title!”

The guys play Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång. The audience stands up and sings along.

The guys sit down again and Niklas states they were not called Gyllene Tider from the beginning. Per says they were called a lot of things, e.g. Hjärtekrossarna after Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, of course. That was their name for a few hours. Haha. There was Grape Rock, too. Original Grape Rock was just MP and Per. It was the two of them who started it all. They did a lot of Dr. Feelgood and Patti Smith covers. Then they started writing songs together. Niklas asks if they did that on real instruments. And why he is asking it is because he got hold of a document. A verdict. He shows a picture of it on the screen behind them. It’s a verdict from November 1977 where Per smuggled in 0.7 liters of spirits, an electric guitar, two microphones and two stands with cables. Per says the cables were important. Haha. Niklas asks where he bought these things. PG explains they went to London and he bought a Gibson guitar and an amplifier. When they got back to Sweden, they found out they should have paid VAT, but they didn’t have any money, so they took a chance and it was stupid. Niklas says Per has admitted the crime. PG confirms, he confessed and he sent a letter of remorse to the police where he wrote they were poor students who just wanted to play pop music and apologized. So he got the stuff back, but he was fined 2000 bucks, which was a fortune back then. Niklas says Per was still lucky that he got the instruments back, because it led to him playing and it led to an article in Expressen. Per says they were very ambitious and as soon as they wrote a new song and recorded it, they sent around demo tapes. They sent the tapes to radio programs and newspapers. Mats Olsson at Expressen was the first to write about Gyllene Tider. He liked their demos very much and he wrote: „Per Gessle lives on Hamiltonsväg in Halmstad”, in case record companies wanted to find him. Niklas asks if record companies were queueing up then. No, they weren’t. Haha.

Niklas says GT made the first real record after that. He has it with him and picks it out from under the table. Per smiles and says what a stock Niklas has here. Niklas reacts that he has a treasure trove underneath the table. He gives the yellow EP to Per and asks him to talk about it. PG says they recorded it in a little area called Kärleken outside Halmstad, in a four-channel studio. It was pressed in 900 copies and all records came crooked. The guys were totally depressed. They got 900 new records and they threw away all the crooked ones. They sent the album to all the record companies, Björn & Benny and also to EMI. Kjell Andersson from EMI responded. He liked Billy and När alla vännerna gått hem. Niklas says they should play a bit of När alla vännerna gått hem. They stay sitting in their armchairs and both of them play the guitar and Per sings.

The guys continue talking. Niklas says, the dream was of course to get a real record deal. He asks Per if it was difficult. PG says it wasn’t difficult. They made this EP and Kjell Andersson at EMI called him to tell he was interested and asked if they had more songs, similar to what he liked. Per said they had tons. Then EMI sent down a happy young man called Lasse Lindbom from Stockholm to check them out and he thought they were good, but they were quite like the cousins from the countryside. Per says it was true, but they got to record an album. Niklas says it wasn’t that easy. Per sent around a lot of cassettes to different record companies. PG says, but that was before they made the EP. Niklas says then they got a rejection letter. PG confirms, they got that all the time. Niklas shows one on the screen and asks Per to read it out loud.

„We have listened to your material with great interest. Unfortunately, we have no opportunity to use it in our planned production, but you are welcome to send us new contributions and ideas in the future. Yours sincerely, Polar Music AB, Björn and Benny through Åsa Bergold.”

Per says he has several rejection letters from Björn and Benny via Åsa Bergold. Niklas says he thinks they regret it a little now. He thinks they are still sitting and waiting. Per says they are sitting there depressed. Haha. Niklas shows a video on the screen. Its Björn:

„Hi Per! I just want to take the opportunity and say that we are still interested. If you have new material, send it in.”

Niklas says the chance is still there. Per laughs and says, „Thanks, Björn!”.

So, EMI agreed and Gyllene Tider was going to release their first single, but they picked the wrong A-side. Per explains, the record company wanted the single to be a song that had some kind of disco groove that was in trend at the time. Then the guys picked a song called Himmel No. 7 and since Flickorna på TV2 was their favourite, it became a double A-side. Niklas and Per talked about Village before, Village started playing it and then it started to spread. Even if it’s not so easy to dance to Flickorna på TV2, it went well anyway. Niklas confirms, it went great for those at Village to dance to the song and at Atlantic too. Niklas thinks it’s a fantastic title and it grabbed the attention. He also states Per had many fun titles, e.g. Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly, (Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän and he is curious where Per got all these from. Mr. G says he has always loved writing stories. When he started writing lyrics, he wanted them to have something that stood out. He loves nonsense lyrics, e.g. I Am The Walrus. Fantastic lyrics. Many Bob Dylan lyrics are very fuzzy. Per loves them. The Look is also such text. Here Niklas shows a part of the lyrics of The Look on the screen. Per starts reading it, but he immediately gets into the rhythm and kind of raps it and the audience is clapping to the rhythm. Niklas asks Per what the text means. Per’s reaction is: „Can’t you speak English?” Haha. Per thinks the text is obvious. Niklas says almost everyone he knows who writes songs in Swedish, always writes a kind of made up text in English first. Per says it was the case for him with the first verse. This one he read was the second verse. Niklas asks what the first verse is, so PG starts rapping that one too and the audience joins in. Per explains that the whole song is based on rhythm so he tried to find words that had that swing. Niklas is curious what the English-speaking audience thought of these lyrics. Per says they wondered what drugs he was doing. Haha. There was someone who said that no Englishman or American could have written this and that made it stand out and it became something special. Niklas states this was Roxette’s first US No. 1 and that was the beginning of their fabulous collaboration with Marie Fredriksson. Niklas says they will talk more about it later, but Per has managed to surround himself with many talented singers over the years. Now we meet one more, because they are going to play a brand new song. Niklas asks PG to tell more about it. Mr. G says there is a new record that will come out this fall, which contains a lot of duets. He has chosen a lot of female and male singers that he admires and thinks are fantastic, and one of the coolest of our time is Molly Hammar. Then Niklas invites the fantastic Molly Hammar on stage. The guys are greeting Molly and they perform Beredd together.

Niklas introduces the band after they finish the song. Jonas Gröning on keyboards, Marcus Liliequist on drums, Charlotte Centervall on bass, Ola Gustafsson on guitar and especially today, Malin-My Wall on accordion, violin and guitar.

The guys sit down again and Niklas says Per has had incredible success not only in Sweden, but also abroad. He thought they would remind us of what it has been like and show a footage from Per’s career on the screen. From Gyllene Tider through Roxette’s US break-through to award-winning moments. In the video, Julia Roberts is also shown from an old report, where she says It Must Have Been Love was the tearjerker song in their movie.

Niklas can see that Per is very touched when he sees these pictures. PG says it’s always incredibly fun to see Marie. Niklas thinks so too. Niklas wants to know what kind of memories come to life, when Per sees these pictures. Mr. G says it’s a long life, a long time. Gyllene Tider was fantastic in the ’80s, but it became a completely different thing when Roxette broke through. After all, they had about eight years that they just worked around the clock, between 1988 and 1995. Fantastic years. Niklas asks Per what the biggest thing was that he got to experience. PG says, at that time, it was not particularly common to succeed in the industry unless you were from England or the USA. So the whole thing to come from little Sweden and get all the hits. They were on the US charts for almost four years without falling off. They just changed the song. Then it spread to South America and Asia and Australia.

Niklas wants to go back to the beginning. A few years after the Gyllene Tider era, Per asked Marie Fredriksson if she wanted to start singing with him or collaborate with him. Niklas is curious what Marie thought then, because she was big then as a solo artist. Per smiles and says they got to know each other in the rehearsal studio in Harplinge in 1979. So they became good friends. They said early on that at some point they will do something together. But then the Gyllene Tider era hit and Marie got her own record deal. Then when Per’s career went down in 1985, he was a has-been when he was 26. Niklas says it’s easy to become one. In 1984-1985, Per wrote songs, mainly lyrics for other artists. Among other things, he wrote a song for Pernilla Wahlgren called Svarta glas. They never came back to say whether they liked it or not. Her record company didn’t get in touch. Niklas asks what happened to Svarta glas. Per didn’t have a record deal anymore, but he played it for EMI. The manager, Rolf Nygren, when he heard it, he said Per should write an English text to the song and record it with Marie. Rolf thought that’s exactly the song Per has always talked about needing. So PG wrote an English text called Neverending Love and that became the first Roxette single.

Niklas says the gang around Marie and maybe Marie herself was a bit unsure too. PG says the conditions for this were that it was in English, so it was something that did not compete with Marie’s career. She was on the way up with her career. Per was thrilled that Marie agreed to this, to record Neverending Love. It became a summer hit in 1986 in Sweden. Niklas shows the sleeve of the single and says they were a bit secretive. PG confirms, it was because if something went wrong, it would not affect Marie’s career. It was a strategic move from the record label. Per’s chance to keep Marie was to try to make it successful. Niklas thinks it must have been a pressure. PG says of course it was. He had made a Swedish album that was never recorded, because nobody wanted it. He translated it into English and it became Roxette’s first record. So all these songs like Soul Deep, I Call Your Name and Goodbye To You were written in Swedish first.

Niklas says Roxette is Sweden’s biggest music export after ABBA. Per thinks so. Niklas says they got a song in one of the world’s most popular movies. When Marie was on this show, she sang this song, a stripped down version on the sofa. Niklas thinks they should do it with Per too. PG agrees and the guys pick up their guitars and play It Must Have Been Love while the audience is holding up their mobiles with the lights on and singing along.

Niklas asks Per what he thinks is more fun: playing alone or in a band. The immediate answer is: in a band. Then you are part of a puzzle and it’s nice to find your role. Per usually says to all young people – that’s most people on Earth when you are Per’s age, haha – that everyone should try playing in a band. It’s a fantastic feeling that „I do this, you do that and you do that and together it will be this fantastic thing”. Playing in a band is magical.

Niklas says Per did a couple of solo records in the early ’80s. He is curious how it was. Per says it was chaotic. He made his first solo record the year when the others in Gyllene Tider did the obligatory military service. Per says he skipped it, because he was too kind and green didn’t fit him anyway. Haha. Then it became a singer-songwriter record. PG wasn’t quite ready for that. Both that record and the second album are pretty hard to listen to. Niklas asks Per if he has not grown in the singer-songwriter role. Mr. G says it’s a bit weird when you write that kind of lyrics when you are 22. Per was incredibly happy to make a record called Mazarin in 2002 after he had been working with Roxette for 18 years in English. Looking back, it feels like one of the most important records, because there Per was ready to make that kind of music and that kind of lyrics and you can feel and hear it.

Niklas says there was a song on Per’s first solo record that he remembers they wrote together in Per’s room while PG’s mom was making pancakes in the kitchen downstairs. Per says his mom really loved Niklas. Niklas says she loved Per much more. It was the opening track on that record which the guys have never played live together. It’s a lovely song, Per thinks. Niklas wrote the music and PG wrote the lyrics. Per asks if they should play it. Niklas asks the audience if they want to hear it. Of course, here comes a loud cheering, so the guys pick up their guitars, use Capo 2. Niklas asks Per if he needs a plectrum, but PG refuses it. Fingerstyle is better and they start to sing På väg. They hi-five when they finish the song and Per says it wasn’t bad. Niklas says then they got pancakes.

Niklas says Per talked about Mazarin that it was a very important record and it was so good and successful. He is curious if it has anything to do with not having any expectations. Per doesn’t really know. To predict if something is going to be successful is incredibly difficult. The most common question he gets is „how do you write a hit?”, but he has no idea. Everyone laughs here. Niklas says there were many hits on that album. Per confirms and says he didn’t even want to include Här kommer alla känslorna on the record, because he thought it sounded like that ’50s pastiche, a song without a chorus. But that was the one that everyone got hooked on, so Per had to bite the bullet and accept it. Niklas says there were more songs on that record that became hits, including the one they are going to play now. It’s Tycker om när du tar på mej.

After the song, the guys sit down and Niklas asks quick questions. First: major or minor? Per picks major. Niklas wouldn’t have thought so. PG explains that if you work in minor, you are locked in, but if you work in major, if you are a little ingenious, you can bring out a minor feel even only with major chords. This kind of melancholy can be achieved with major chords, which you are a bit stuck on if you work in minor.

Niklas wants to know what Per thinks is the world’s best song title. PG thinks Love Hurts is a good title. A good song title should make you curious about the song and Love Hurts is like that. You want to find out what it is about.

Niklas says Per prefers to write alone, he doesn’t often write with others, but he is curious if PG would be forced to write with someone, anyone in music history, who he would choose. Per says his big musical hero is Tom Petty. He recognizes a lot of Petty’s style in his own style. They have completely different traditions, but there are similarities. Mr. G thinks Tom Petty was a great songwriter and lyricist too. Burt Bacharach is another one who he always admired. It’s a different musical level than Per’s, but it’s amazing to be able to be on that level and still write such „simple” melodies.

Niklas asks Per what’s the first chord he plays when he picks up a guitar. PG tries it immediately in the air. Niklas tells him he can pick up a guitar and try, so Mr. G picks it up. He says he doesn’t know what chord it is, but he always takes this one. Here he plays a chord. It’s Am7, he thinks. Niklas says it comes from a real major guy. Haha.

Niklas wants to know how many guitars Per has. Per asks if they talk about the guitars he has here with him. No, Niklas talks about all of his guitars altogether. Per doesn’t know. A hundred maybe. 80-90-100. Guitars are like good friends. Every time you buy a guitar, you write a great little song. That’s what happens in Per’s case.

Niklas remembers that about 20 years ago, Per had the guitar hanging very low. He is curious why. PG says, it was tough. The guys stand up and demonstrate how it looked. Niklas says 30 years ago it was OK, but it gets more difficult when arthrosis strikes. That’s why Per quit holding the guitar like that. He had a disc herniation. Niklas asks if it was because of the guitar hanging so low. Per says he realized he had a disc herniation in the lower back in 1996, just before a Gyllene Tyder concert in Lysekil for 25,000 people. He was in the restroom and reached for a towel and felt ouch. Niklas asks what happened then. PG says they had to postpone the gig by 90 minutes. He got some weird injection that hasn’t let go since then. Haha.

While they are at it, Niklas asks Per what it’s like to age like a pop star. Haha. PG says it’s not that bad. He has crowned his career now with being on the cover of Senioren magazine. Haha. Niklas of course has the magazine underneath the table so he shows it to the camera. He says he got it home in the mailbox, but it must have gone wrong.

Niklas wants to know if Per sees any advantages of being older in the music business. Per can’t see any direct advantage in the industry, but he thinks it’s not so crazy to get older as a person. He is much calmer and takes everything easier now than before. Things are not as important as they used to be.

Talking about the future, there will be a musical. Niklas asks Per to tell more about it. PG says there is a Roxette musical that premieres on 6th September in Malmö. It’s called Joyride and it’s a whole new world for him. He hasn’t gotten into it before. It’s very exciting. There is also the Gyllene Tider movie this summer and then there is a bunch of other new stuff next year that you don’t know about.

Niklas thought they would end the show with one of those songs that’s featured in the Roxette musical. Niklas says when they rehearsed it, it was like being 12 years old. It was fun being in the rehearsal studio and it’s been a long time since he had this much fun. Per says it was noticeable on Niklas. Haha. Niklas thanks Per for coming and for 45 years of friendship. Per thanks for it too.

The guys stand up and they perform Dressed For Success together with the band. The audience stands up and party hard at the end of the show.

Regarding the songs, the ones the guys played on guitar while sitting were recorded during the talking, but all other songs were recorded separately, at the end of the session. So when the guys were talking about the upcoming songs, they stood up as if they were to start playing them, but then sat right back without playing the songs. Haha. There were some fun reactions both from Per’s side and from the audience during those moments. Only Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång was played twice, all other songs were performed only once. We were joking after the recording ended that we, the audience, should have messed it up, so they would have had to record it once again. Haha. Maybe next time.

There were also some more fun stories at the recording that are not included in the TV cut. It would have been impossible to include everything, since the recording took more than 2 hours and the TV cut is only 1 hour long. The program itself is still amazing. It’s much fun not only for hardcore fans, but also for those who want to know more about the artists who are guests on the show.

The TV team is very professional and did a fantastic job. The camera angles, the editing, the sound, everything is perfect, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the complete crew, the musicians, Molly as a guest star and of course, the main characters of the show, the two pop nerds and good old friends, Niklas Strömstedt and Per Gessle. Hats off to everyone involved and thank you for this beautiful program!

Stills are from Tack för musiken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Per Gessle on Lotta Bromé’s show at Mix Megapol

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Per Gessle was a guest on Lotta Bromé’s show at Mix Megapol last Friday. John Lundvik and Daniel Paris were on the same program and them 4 talked about Per’s upcoming album, duets, the GT movie and the signs of spring among other fun things. You can listen to the show HERE.

When Lotta welcomes her guests and asks who wants to talk about their week, Daniel is shocked. He says it’s huge, because he has never heard his name in the same sentence as Per Gessle. The only time was when they said, „Daniel, please stop calling Per Gessle”. Haha. He had a stalker period where he called up celebrities. Lotta asks Per how it feels that they have brought a stalker here today when Per is on the show. PG says he is in shock. Haha.

Lotta asks Per how he feels and Mr. G replies he feels great, he loves Fridays. Lotta agrees that it’s perhaps the best day of the week, especially now that Per releases new music. She says they will listen to it in a moment.

Lotta turns to the other two guys and they talk about Semmelchips, because Daniel brought it to the studio. Per refuses to even taste it. He says it’s not for him. He smelled them and it was horrible. Lotta asks him how much of a gourmet he is. PG says he is a pretty basic type of person. So he likes pasta and ketchup and instant macaroni, Lotta says. Mr. G says maybe not so much ketchup, but pasta and instant macaroni, there are days when he eats such stuff. John is trying to sort out that Per Gessle is basic. They are laughing. John has three kids, so they eat a lot of pasta and meatballs.

Space travel pops up as a topic. Lotta is curious if Per is longing for travelling in space. PG smiles and says he isn’t, he stays in Halmstad. Haha.

While Daniel is still starstruck by Per, Lotta starts talking about Per’s upcoming album, a record with many duets. Mr. G says wanted to try something new. At his age, he tries to find a new angle in every project he does. He had a lot of songs that he thought would work well as duets, so that became the angle. Not all the songs became duets, but there will be seven or eight duets on this record. The album title is Sällskapssjuk. Lotta thinks it’s such a great title, she loves it. She says Cher released a Christmas album with duets last year, but she never met anyone who sang along. Lotta is curious how it was with Per’s duets. Mr. G says it was the opposite for him. He met everyone in Halmstad and they were together in the studio and had dinner then. He had a good time with everyone. Lotta wants to know how he chose who to work with. Per says the first thing, of course, was that he liked their voices. The second was that it would work reasonably well with keys and such, purely in terms of arrangement. Some songs he had to re-work a bit to make it work, but it has been very nice all the way. Lotta asks if Per could reveal any more duet partners. Per says he could if he wanted to, but he doesn’t want to. Haha. Lotta says she will ask that question again before Per leaves, so Mr. G should be prepared for what he will answer then, because he can’t say the same answer twice. PG says he can use another language.

Lotta asks John about duets. He says one of his big moments in life was when in 2010 he had to write a duet for the wedding of Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. [The song is When You Tell The World You’re Mine. /PP] He is a real sucker for duets. Lotta asks him if he is on Per’s new album. John laughs and says he can’t say anything. Lotta says he can’t answer the same when she asks this question again. Haha. Lotta assumes Daniel is not Per’s upcoming album of duets. Daniel says he doesn’t kiss and tell or sing and tell on the radio. He likes the title of the album Sällskapssjuk. It’s with great humor, because it’s called Sällskapssjuk and then there are a lot of guest artists.

Lotta asks Daniel how sociable he is. Daniel says he can have very introverted periods where he just wants to be devoted to himself and then he has periods where he is really extroverted, his emotions burst out and he wants to hang out with people.

Lotta is wondering if anyone was surprised when Per called them and wanted to do a duet with them. PG says he didn’t ring, but sent an email and a text and stuff like that. Daniel laughs and says they probably thought they were AI-hacked and they could have asked Per to send them a picture of the daily paper to get proof it’s not AI.

Lotta says John has a bottle of his new wine with him, named after him, Pour Toi John Lundvik. She asks John to open it so everyone can taste it.

 

Lotta starts talking about Melodifestivalen with John. He was the winner a couple of years ago and he says he tries not to be that involved sometimes, but he automatically gets into it every Saturday. When he won, it was a door opener on many levels. Lotta turns to Per and says he was also involved, but not as an artist. He helped write the lyrics to Kärleken är evig. And Lasse Lindbom participated with Per’s song, För dina bruna ögons skull. Per laughs and says that became the last song that year. Lotta is wondering if Per ever feels like he wants to be there. Per’s answer is a clear no. It’s not really his cup of tea. In fact, he hasn’t seen any of the Melodifestivalen episodes in the last ten years. Lotta is surprised, but she says Per saw Madonna at least, as they were talking about concerts before. He was at the concert for twenty minutes or so, then he left. Lotta asks John if it happened to him too. John says he never left a concert, but he has friends who did exactly the same as Per. Lotta says she and Daniel stayed, but people left, because Madonna was really late. Daniel thinks that’s why people left. It was a working day the next day.

Lotta is getting back to Melodifestivalen and asks Per if he knows about Fröken Snusk. Per has no idea about her. Also doesn’t know about Gunilla Persson. John says he was in Fort Boyard, on the TV show “Fångarna på fortet” and they competed with Gunilla at the same time. She was nice to talk with. She was also nice to John the other day when he posted a cover of Whitney Houston on Instagram. Then she spread it further and John thought it was very nice. Gunilla Persson is Sweden’s kindest and most misunderstood person, Daniel thinks. This woman has a heart of gold, he thinks. Lotta says she has met another person who had been with Gunilla at the Fort and who had slightly different types of stories related to that. Daniel defends Gunilla and he thinks in Sweden, people are a little too hard on her.

Lotta plays Too Late For Love, song of John Lundvik that was the winner 5 years ago at Melodifestivalen. John says it’s still fun to hear it, however, when you have a hit, it’s a little love and hate. He is looking at Per. For example, he thinks of Lionel Richie when he sings Hello. It might not be fun for him to sing it every night, but he still loves it somehow. Lotta asks Per how he feels about this. He has a lot of hits. Lotta is wondering if there are any songs Per got tired of and never intend to perform again. Per says he thinks a bit like what John says, that you have to respect that it’s actually music that a lot of people like. When you stand on a stage and play Sommartider with Gyllene Tider, it might not be the most fun musically, but the communication create with this song is priceless. He thinks all artists feel the same way.

Now that John mentioned Lionel Richie, Lotta asks if he was in the movie that both John and Per recommended on Netflix. Yes, it’s a documentary about the recording of We Are The World in the happy ’80s. Lotta asks what is so special about this docu, because there are several who say don’t miss this. Per thinks it’s a very cool movie. It was a cool decade with very cool shoulder pads in the jackets and high hairstyles. John says you get an insight in that room, the reason why he sings today. It’s the absolute elite in that room and everyone went there after a party. Daniel thought this was a Julia Roberts movie. Haha. Lotta asks Daniel about Britney Spears. He says he has just read her book for the seventeenth time and he sees new shades all the time. Daniel asks Per what he thinks about Britney Spears. Per says he doesn’t think anything about Britney Spears. She was damn cool when she broke through. She had very good songs that Max Martin put together at the time. Daniel’s reaction is „did you all hear? Per Gessle approves of Britney.”

Lotta starts talking about Per’s upcoming movie about Gyllene Tider. Per says it’s not his movie. Haha. Lotta asks if PG is happy with the actor who plays him. Per is really happy with him. He is Valdemar Wahlbeck. He has the same ridiculous dialect that Per has, so that helps, Mr. G says. Lotta adds he is Peter Wahlbeck’s son. Per says he is super talented. Lotta goes on and says there is a Parnevik boy who will play Micke Syd on drums. Phoenix Parnevik. Lancelot Hedman Graaf plays Anders Herrlin, Sweden’s most handsome guy in 1981. Lotta asks when the movie will be finished. It’s still in cutting phase, so it will premiere at the cinema in July. Lotta is wondering how Per will feel when he sees it. Per doesn’t really know what he got himself into with this one. Haha. Lotta asks whether Per has approved the script or he has given free hand. It’s not a biography, PG explains, but it’s based on a true story with some artistic freedom taken. But it will be fun, Per thinks.

Now Lotta and the guys are talking about the signs of spring. For Daniel, the biggest sign of spring is that many of his old friends have started contacting him. Haha. John has broken down after this answer, so Lotta gets down to Per. Mr. G says it’s a little hard to top Daniel’s answer, but for him it’s that the Formula One season starts. He is crazy about Formula One and it starts in Bahrain next weekend. There are test days this weekend. It’s a fantastic thing according to Per. Lotta asks him if he is going there, to Bahrain. Per won’t go there, but he tries to go to at least one race a year. Lotta asks where he has planned to go this season. Per doesn’t really know, but he would love to go to Las Vegas. But it’s not until November. Lotta says that dude, the one who is supposed to be the best has switched teams, if she knows it right. Per asks if she means Lewis Hamilton. He will switch teams next year. It will be exciting.

John’s spring sign is left for last. John says he is now talking as a father, so the spring sign for him is when the gravel is swept away, because the kids are out skateboarding and riding bikes.

Here Lotta plays a new song, Misstag by Miss Li. She is curious if any of the three guys would put this song on their playlists. John would add it to his playlist, he thinks it’s cool and it would be great to hear it live. It would be sweaty. It’s almost like a rap. Daniel likes Miss Li a lot, he thinks she is very talented. Lotta says that the texts of all Miss Li songs work even when they are translated into English. It’s really special. Per agrees that it’s special, but it isn’t really his cup of tea. But he can hear the charm of this one. But it probably wouldn’t end up on his playlist. He has a lot more older songs on it. Daniel says he likes it, Per likes it too, although it’s not his kind of music. You can still like things. Not everything is for everyone. We have to respect that. But we love Per Gessle, Daniel says. They are laughing.

Lotta asks Per if Miss Li is one of his duet partners. Mr. G says, unfortunately, he can’t answer that. As Per said earlier that he would reply to Lotta’s question in another language, Lotta asks him in English, then Per says „sorry, I don’t understand”. Haha.

Lotta asks the guys what they are going to do today. Jan Lundvik, what are you going to do today? They are taking it easy. Lotta turns to Per and asks him in English if he is making some international phone calls. Per answers yes, of course. He says, jokes aside, he is going to take it easy this weekend. He will do Nyhetsmorgon on Sunday morning.

Lotta thanks everyone for coming and the guys say goodbye.

Pic from Janne Innanfors’s Instagram