Marie Fredriksson

Marie Fredriksson’s biography in English – official press release

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We have just received the official press release to the English edition of Marie’s biography, so we share it with you.

Marie Fredriksson’s Final Memoirs Gets English-Language Release
Iconic Roxette Singer Documented Her Influential and Inspirational Life Due From 1984 Publishing April 25, 2023

Cleveland, OH — Marie Fredriksson’s final memoirs, Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette, will see a worldwide English-language release from 1984 Publishing on April 25, 2023.

The 260-page hardcover is the fully candid and compelling life story of one of rock music’s most resilient lead singers. Given only a few months to live following a harrowing diagnosis in 2002 — yet surviving for 17 more years, until 2019 — Marie boldly forged ahead into a life with newfound courage and inspiration. She continued as both a solo singer and with Roxette, where she performed over 550 concerts to millions of fans, sold 75 million records, and released over 50 singles including several global hits. Stateside, the duo had four #1s with “Listen to Your Heart,” “It Must Have Been Love” (from the film Pretty Woman), “The Look,” and “Joyride.” In all, Roxette is Sweden’s biggest music group — second only to ABBA.

Heart-wrenching yet winning, and told with exceptional energy and sincerity, Listen to My Heart sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our generation’s most talented and courageous artists.

Marie wrote her memoirs in tandem with author Helena von Zweigbergk. “Ever since co-writing Marie’s memoirs in Swedish, I’ve always been asked about an English-language version; after all, Marie sang primarily in English with Roxette. I’m glad that we finally have that answer,” says Helena. “I was so deeply moved by the enormous amount of love that Marie both gave and received over the years, and I know how much this release would have meant to her. It’s a book about strength, love, a remarkable career and a woman who gave life her all, each and every day.” Helena wrote a new afterword for the book in August, 2022.

Marie’s family continues, “We know Marie would have been very excited seeing her biography in so many different languages, reaching fans in so many countries. This English version makes her life story available to even more people in the world, keeping her legacy alive.”

Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Tina Turner and Elton John to The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra, Listen to My Heart also explores her humble family beginnings, an early tragedy in the sudden loss of Marie’s sister, her transition into the music industry as a solo artist, and the formation and challenges of being in one of the world’s most successful pop groups. All while trying to maintain a strong marriage and be a mother to two young children in the face of a life-altering illness.

A new book foreword was penned by acclaimed director Jonas Åkerlund, Marie’s longtime friend and colleague. “Marie was my first true break in the industry,” says Åkerlund. “I’ll always be grateful for that — not only because of the projects that followed, but more because of the integrity, focus, and creative generosity that she taught me . . . this book is but one testament to the boundless creativity she exuded throughout her life.” Åkerlund directed Marie and Roxette in nearly twenty music videos and documentaries, and later worked with Madonna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, U2, and Metallica.

A limited special edition of the book will contain Marie’s celebrated English-language solo CD The Change (2004), its first physical release in North America, along with Marie’s final recording “Sea of Love” (2017) as a bonus track. Along with the newly remastered music, the limited edition hardcover will contain foil gilding and a satin ribbon marker.

Both physical editions (plus an ebook) will be available worldwide at your local bookstore, plus on-line retailers including Amazon and many more. Store inquiries should be made to Consortium (US), Ingram (US, UK, Europe), PGC (Canada), and URP (record stores). If the title is not available in your country, please contact 1984 via e-mail.

Book cover photo is by Mattias Edwall, with book design by Midnight Marauder. Marie Fredriksson created the artwork for The Change album cover.

             

Listen to My Heart – Hardbound Cover            Listen to My Heart – Limited Edition Hardbound

             

UPDATE on 9th March 2023 from 1984 Publishing: due to production delays affecting much of the book industry, publishing date of the English version of Marie Fredriksson’s biography had to be shifted to 25th July in North America and 27th July in UK/Europe. Other regions should have the release also during that time frame.

Marie Fredriksson’s biography to be published in English

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Marie Fredriksson’s autobiography, Kärleken till livet was first published in Swedish in 2015. It was then translated into several languages and published in German in 2016 (Listen to My Heart: Meine Liebe zum Leben), in Czech in 2017 (Listen to My Heart: Moje láska k životu), in Spanish in 2019 (Listen to My Heart), in Hungarian in 2020 (Listen to My Heart – Hallgass a szívemre), in Portuguese in 2021 (Listen to My Heart) and in Russian in 2022 (Love for Life). Finally, an English edition is in the making under the title Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette. It’s planned to be published by 1984 Publishing (USA) on 25th April, 2023 and it’s already available for pre-order e.g. on Amazon (look for other countries’ Amazon sites too, to get the best price regarding postage), at Barnes & Noble and on Book Depository, but probably more online book stores will pop up later.

The English version of the biography you can buy as an e-book or a hardcover, which is a limited edition – as stated on Barnes & Noble’s website. The limited collector’s edition includes Marie’s 2004 English-language solo album The Change on CD – previously unreleased in any physical format in North America – as well as bonus track Sea of Love (2017), the last song that Marie recorded. This edition also contains foil gilded page edges and a satin ribbon marker.

Listen to My Heart is a completely candid and passionate, heartbreaking yet often witty life story of one of rock music’s most resilient lead singers, Marie Fredriksson from Roxette (“It Must Have Been Love”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “The Look”, “Joyride”).

Given only a few months to live following a harrowing diagnosis in 2002 – yet surviving for 17 more years, until 2019 – Marie boldly forged ahead into a life with newfound courage and inspiration. She continued as both a solo singer and with Roxette, where she performed over 550 concerts to millions of fans, sold 75 million records, and released over 50 singles including several global hits. In all, Roxette is Sweden’s biggest music group – second only to ABBA.

Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Tina Turner and Elton John to The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra, Listen to My Heart also explores her humble family beginnings, an early tragedy in the sudden loss of Marie’s sister, her transition into the music industry as a solo artist, and the formation and challenges of being in one of the world’s most successful pop groups. All while trying to maintain a stable marriage and being a mother to two young children in the face of a life-altering illness.

Heart-wrenching yet winning, and told with exceptional energy and sincerity, Listen to My Heart sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our generation’s most talented and courageous artists.

The book contains a foreword by Marie’s longtime friend, director Jonas Åkerlund (Madonna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Paul McCartney, U2) and personal photographs from her family’s collection.

The picture is here for illustration. The final English cover has not yet been revealed.

Update on 17th September 2022: Amazon has just shared the cover:

Ännu doftar kärlek – a tribute concert to Marie Fredriksson

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Malmö Live Konserthus organized a tribute concert to Marie Fredriksson during the theme year ”100 women, 100 years” in Malmö this weekend. Programs of the theme year aim to strengthen and pay tribute to women in the music industry.

The 90-minute-long tribute concert was performed three times, on 10th, 11th and 12th March. Christoffer Nobin who – besides being the one who came up with the idea – was the conductor and arranger, while Helena Josefsson, Amanda Bergman and Emil Svanängen (Loney Dear) performed the songs together with Malmö Symphony Orchestra. According to hardcore fans who were present, all three singers made the songs their own and the whole event was beautiful. The organizers and performers, all singers and musicians had great respect for Marie and the songs.

The concert was a journey through Marie’s art. Songs on the setlist appeared in four groups, each season got a set. During the songs, Marie’s charcoal drawings and parts of the lyrics were projected on the background.

Setlist

Autumn

  • Den ständiga resan (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Helena Josefsson
  • Efter stormen (Marie Fredriksson & Lasse Lindbom) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • Watercolours In The Rain (Marie Fredriksson & Per Gessle) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • Mellan sommar och höst (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Helena Josefsson

Winter

  • Herren ber för dig (Marie Fredriksson & Mikael Bolyos) – sung by Emil Svanängen (longtime fan Anja Hoppe was part of the background choir pre-recorded for the concert)
  • Så länge det lyser mittemot (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell) – sung by Emil Svanängen
  • Tro (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Helena Josefsson (longtime fan Anja Hoppe was part of the background choir pre-recorded for the concert)

Spring

  • The Man I Love (George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • Den bästa dagen (Marie Fredriksson, Lasse Lindbom & Niklas Strömstedt) – sung by Helena Josefsson
  • Berusa mig (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Emil Svanängen
  • Den sjunde vågen (Marie Fredriksson & Lasse Lindbom) – sung by Amanda Bergman & Helena Josefsson

Summer

  • Sista sommarens vals (Marie Fredriksson / Erik Satie) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • It Must Have Been Love (Per Gessle) – sung by Emil Svanängen
  • Ännu doftar kärlek (Marie Fredriksson & Lasse Lindbom) – sung by Helena Josefsson
  • Mot okända hav (Ulf Schagerström) – sung by Emil Svanängen
  • Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell) – sung by Amanda Bergman
  • Ett hus vid havet (Marie Fredriksson & Lasse Lindbom) – sung by Amanda Bergman, Helena Josefsson & Emil Svanängen
  • Sparvöga (Marie Fredriksson) – sung by Amanda Bergman, Helena Josefsson & Emil Svanängen

The concerts ended with well-deserved standing ovation.

Here you can have a sneak peak of how the songs sounded: Sparvöga; Ett hus vid havet & Sparvöga

Photo by Paula Cafiero Högström

Photos by Riccardo Löffler

Photos by Andreas Kämpf

Thank you for your cooperation, Paula Cafiero Högström, Anja Hoppe, Andreas Kämpf and Riccardo Löffler!

Per Gessle in radio documentary about Jonas Åkerlund

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Swedish Radio P3 did a radio documentary about Jonas Åkerlund’s career. They interviewed Jonas about his collaborations with tons of world famous artists, the music videos he directed, his black metal band, Bathory, his dyslexia he struggled with and also about his movies. Besides his wife, Bea Åkerlund, Jan Gradvall and Per Sinding Larsen, Per Gessle was also interviewed for the docu.

The Roxette-related part starts with Jonas’ collaboration with Marie Fredriksson at 17:21. It’s Marie talking in the Den ständiga resan docu. Jonas tells that during Den ständiga resan project in 1992 Marie and he became good friends which was easy with Marie, because she was so kind and friendly towards everyone, including Jonas who says he was a nobody back then. He is thankful to Marie that he got the job and that led to so many others. It was that half-hour-long documentary and the videos to the album that Per Gessle saw. Then Jonas began to work with Roxette and that was his break-through.

The first collaboration with Roxette was the video for Fingertips ’93. Jonas thinks it’s a good song. Marie was pregnant and she didn’t want it to be visible, so the clothes she was wearing were hiding it. Jonas was working together with Roxette for 25 years. In 2016 they released Roxette Diaries, a documentary made of home videos recorded by Per and Åsa in the 80’s and 90’s during tours and recordings.

Per tells Jonas is an amazingly creative explosion all over. They became very close friends, both are music nerds. Their style is very different, but both of them are workaholic and dedicated to their own job. Mr. G tells every recording occasion with Jonas was an adventure, because anything could happen. Per thinks Jonas is quite organized in a way, but he is also very spontaneous. If a new idea comes up, he is testing it.

According to Per, Jonas’ best videos are like a very good pop song that is interesting in its whole length, no matter if it’s 3 or 4 minutes long. Jonas is very talented in building up a video that you want to watch again. Per feels it’s the same how he works with his pop songs, to make it interesting and catch the attention. That’s what Jonas is doing both when he is filming and cutting.

Per Gessle appears at the end of the docu again (at 1:24:53) telling Jonas will go down in history as one of the greatest music video directors not only because he has been working with many of the greatest artists, but also because his style is so unique and innovative. Mr. G says he is superproud to have been working with Jonas.

During the documentary, you can hear Small Apartments soundtrack several times and of course, part of Marie’s DSR docu and songs, as well as parts of Roxette songs.

Jonas photo by Allis Nettréus/TT/SR, Marie and Per stills are from Fingertips ’93 video

Tribute concert to Marie Fredriksson during the theme year ”100 women, 100 years”!

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Malmö Live Konserthus inaugurates the theme year 100 women, 100 years which aims to strengthen and pay tribute to women in the music industry. During the year, about twenty programs will be presented and one of them is a tribute concert to Marie Fredriksson who was one of Sweden’s foremost singers and songwriters who passed away in 2019. Her career was both great and broad. She wrote, produced, sang and moved between the creation of big hits and finding the fragile and difficult in her lyrics. Via Roxette, she became a world artist.

With a concert in two parts, together with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and three soloists, she is celebrated on 10th, 11th and 12th March 2022. The concert will be a journey through Marie Fredriksson’s art. Malmö Live Konserthus produces and Christoffer Nobin is the conductor, arranger and author of the idea. His relationship with Marie Fredriksson’s art is deep and has followed him through life.

Christoffer Nobin says:

Her songs and lyrics have been able to describe what I myself have not been able to describe, and her voice has aroused an ecstasy and admiration that only few others can achieve. This world artist, at the same time a mysterious rock star and down-to-earth Scanian girl, has reached hearts all over the world with her unique singing voice and genuine expression.

Soloists will be announced shortly and tickets will be released this autumn. -> UPDATE on 10th November 2021: Helena Josefsson and Amanda Bergman will be on stage!

Tickets are on sale HERE!

Photo is from the press release.

Thanks for the hint, Valeria Zvarova!

Thanks for the hint regarding the ticket sales start, Paula Cafiero Högström!

Update on 13th December:

Loney Dear will also join Helena Josefsson and Amanda Bergman on stage, while Christoffer Lundquist also supports the project. Christoffer Nobin who – besides being the one who came up with the idea – is the conductor and arranger says: „She simply sang fantastically well. She has a directness and an appeal in her voice that makes it strike directly, it feels like a force of nature. There is a simplicity and humanity in her voice, at the same time she was technically proficient. And not least: you always recognize her voice, it’s very unique.”

Helena Josefssson, who is looking very much forward to paying tribute to Marie says: „I think it’s great fun that Marie’s music will be in the focus. I feel we have a lot in common with her, we both come from the band culture, and I think her singing technique was influenced by starting in bad rehearsal rooms. Then you must be able to use your voice in different ways. When I got to tour with Marie for a whole year on Roxette’s last world tour, I got to know her. According to the fans, she became an even more loving person when she came back, and what I saw was a person who really loved to sing for her audience. She was also a very simple person without complicated manners, if there was only simple hot dog after the concert she was happy.”

Helena also remembers with warmth how Marie’s son, Oscar was at several concerts and sat in the dressing room with his mother and patiently helped her practice the lyrics, which became more difficult to remember after her illness: „It must have been fun to see her mother on stage in front of tens of thousands of fans who cheered when she came out. It was probably a great feeling for Marie’s children to see her like this.”