Marie Fredriksson

Caroline Roosmark dedicates her 2021 calendar to Marie Fredriksson

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You surely remember that in 2012 Marie appeared in a calendar in Sweden. Photographer Caroline Roosmark publishes a calendar each year including photos she took of women and men of the year, since 2019 only of women. At the end of 2011 she took a picture of Marie and published it in her 2012 calendar. Marie was on its May page.

In 2021 Caroline publishes a calendar of “Fabulous Women” and she dedicates it to Marie Fredriksson. Her words are written next to Marie’s photo:

In memory of Marie Fredriksson

Wonderful are the days when your music is heard so clearly. It’s hard to understand, but the perception comes one morning when the radio plays your song, of course you sing along. It helps a little to ponder like that, listen to the feeling of the song and its tone. Chords you have recently listened to or heard remind you of music and power to which the vibration belonged to then. As in Tro… or Sparvöga… it was your words, your music, tracks that will live forever… It Must Have Been Love, so strange, everything feels so normal and the same again, even though you are not there anymore, you are still here, it was such a wonderful time then, but far too short, too many and too few.

You can order the calendar HERE!

Photo by Caroline Roosmark (2011)

Per Gessle on P4 Extra

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Per Gessle was a guest on P4 Extra, Swedish Radio last Friday. Host Erik Blix asked him about his new solo album, Gyllene Tider, Marie Fredriksson, Roxette and his new project.

Erik asks Per what the album title, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig means to him. Mr. G says it means to him more or less what it says. He realized that this album is an old love that’s still there. One can say it’s a pandemic album, because he started recording it while he was isolated in Halmstad. Erik says it’s Per and Paul McCartney (who did the same). Per laughs and says there are more who did the same. Per had the idea to record acoustic songs and play as many instruments as possible himself. He didn’t have any material for that, so he thought he should dig deep into his archives from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. There are a lot of songs he thinks didn’t come out of their shadow before. He says it was exciting.

They play Ömhet here. Erik says Per sings together with Helena Josefsson. Mr. G tells Helena is fantastic and it would have been difficult to record this song without her. She is awesome. Ömhet was written right after Mazarin was recorded in 2002. The text remained the same, but he wrote new music to it for Gyllene Tider’s Dags att tänka på refrängen album, but they never recorded it. Then it was lying in the drawer until now. Erik asks how many songs Per has in the drawer. Per reacts: ”You don’t want to know!” And laughs. He himself doesn’t know it exactly either. There are tons of sketches. Before he starts a new project, he is listening to some of his old stuff to get inspiration. He has been writing songs for such a long time and he felt that slowly but surely his style is changing a bit. Erik asks if it can happen that a sketch matures, that earlier Per thought nah, it’s not good for anything, but now it seems to work. Mr. G says it can happen, for example that the text in a verse has a good idea, but it doesn’t reach the goal or you couldn’t make it in 1986, but maybe now you can get your teeth into it. On GKRA it happened that Per corrected verses he thought were clumsy. And there is also the fact that if you write a song when you are 25 and sing it when you are 61, it gets a different meaning. Erik asks if it was the case with Ömhet. PG says not really, because there the lyric is straightforward, but Tända en sticka till is a good example. It was released on Per’s first solo LP in 1983, he wrote it in 1982, so when he sings it today, there is a sentimental, nostalgic feel to it. It changes the text’s angle.

Per tells he works together with Helena since Mazarin. She came to sing backing vocals on 1 song and ended up singing on 10. He knew he wanted a female voice and they did a little audition at the studio in Skåne. Helena was the first he heard on the audition and he said he doesn’t want to listen to the others. She was the one he wanted.

Erik asks Per why he decided to make this album an acoustic one. Mr. G says he wanted to make it personal and organic and he wanted to play as many instrument as possible himself. There is mainly piano and acoustic guitar. He also tried playing bass and drums, but he realized his limits. Erik adds Paul McCartney plays all instruments himself. Per says he knows it. He is very curious about Paul’s new album. He is amazed that at his age, Paul is so sharp and he is doing this recording in his home studio alone.

Erik asks Per if he rewrote any of the lyrics for the album. Per tells he rewrote certain verses. There are songs in the drawer that have a text Per was not satisfied with, but now he has the capacity to make them relevant.

Mr. G tells now he is making an English album and he’s got a kick doing it. Erik asks when it will be released. Per says when it’s ready. They laugh. Erik says it sounds like a good startegy.

They play Du kommer så nära (du blir alldeles suddig) here. It’s a duet with Uno Svenningsson. Erik asks Per when he wrote this song and what it is about. He wrote it for En händig man in 2006. First it was mostly just an observation that sometimes things get so close that they get really blurred and you can’t really take it in. Per tells he didn’t know Uno too well. He called Per in summer and asked if they could meet and have dinner together. Per said sure, just he has to sing on one of his songs first. Then Per quickly changed the key in the song so that it suits Uno’s and Per’s voice. Mr. G thinks Uno is a lovely person and he has a fantastic voice.

Erik tells Per is more acoustic during these recent years and his music is softer. He asks if Per became softer over the years. Mr. G laughs and says he doesn’t know. It’s hard for him to answer this question because he thinks he is the same as he has always been. PG says he is lucky that he has a big tree with a lot of branches: Gyllene Tider, Roxette, solo in English and in Swedish, Mono Mind. Many different things. His classic singer songwriter side is reflected in this new album.

Erik asks Mr. G about Gyllene Tider and says he opened the door to a comeback. Per smiles and says: ”That I can never keep quiet…” They did their last tour last year, but who knows. There is nothing planned. He loves the guys in GT and he loves playing with them. When the five of them play together, the outcome is always something very special.

The guys start talking about Roxette. Erik asks Per to describe his friendship with Marie. Per says it’s hard to describe it shortly, but they got to know each other when they were teens, at the end of the 70’s. They shared a rehearsal studio in Sperlingsholm, outside Halmtad. Per was in Gyllene Tider and Marie was in Strul. So they have been friends since then. That friendship became a musical partnership in which they could develop their good sides. The basic idea with Roxette was that Per writes the songs and Marie sings. Marie could sing fantastically and Per could write OK songs. Sometimes it felt like 1 and 1 makes 3. Per says he is incredibly proud of the journey they were on together and feels honoured to have worked together with Marie over so many years. Erik tells Roxette started out as a game with a friend. Per tells they had the ambition and dream to succeed outside Sweden. They loved pop and rock music and they liked the same bands and artists, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles. When they were sitting and chatting in Per’s apartment in Halmstad, they were talking about Germany, Norway, Denmark or Belgium. To succeed in the US and play there and in South America and Roxette being global surpassed their dreams. They had their heydays between 1988 and 1995. Then Marie had her second child and wanted to have a break, so they had a break after the Crash! Boom! Bang! tour. During those 8 years they were together 24 hours a day and worked. Erik adds they travelled around the world, but probably didn’t see anything. Something like that, Per confirms. They were constantly travelling to another city, another country or were locked in their hotel rooms, spent their times at airports.

Erik asks Per how much he misses Marie. Per says it’s difficult to talk about it. It’s almost a year ago that she passed away. There is emptiness. When you lose someone very close or your family member, there is emptiness. It’s difficult to deal with it. Even in Marie’s case when they were kind of prepared, because she was sick for a long time. But still, when it happens, you know that you can’t get prepared for that. Erik asks if Per misses the partnership as well, to work together with someone the way they worked together. Mr. G says of course he misses it, however, the last albums they recorded in a different way than they recorded before Marie’s illness. It wasn’t such an intensive cooperation as during the years before her illness. But there is something special when you are working together with someone or with a band like GT. There are things that only they can share, something only Marie and Per could discuss, Roxette’s success, since it’s them who achieved it with a lot of people’s support around them. There was an enormous tightness between them, so of course he is missing it. He misses calling her and chat and fight and joke around. Erik asks if they did that often. Per says maybe not as often as they should have, but one thinks about it only now. After Marie got ill in 2002, she of course became much more private and he respected it.

Erik asks Per about his musical partnerships, how those work. Per says he is much of a lone wolf, mainly in the creative part of his work. He writes alone and he doesn’t take orders easily if someone wants to tell him how this or that should be. It’s hard for him to write music for someone else. It’s difficult to keep the balance. But then he of course needs other musicians and other singers and other producers who help him on the way.

As an end to the conversation, Erik asks Per to pick a Roxette song to play. Mr. G chooses Let Your Heart Dance With Me that was released recently. A leftover song from their last recordings. He says it’s so nice to hear Marie on it again.

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

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

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

Per tells El Universal:

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

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

Per says:

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

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

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

Per says on El Universal:

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

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

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

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

Photo of Roxette by Jonas Åkerlund

Per Gessle interview in Aftonbladet – ”Writing songs is my way of existing and taking care of myself”

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The interview for Aftonbladet was done by Håkan Steen in October in Live Nation’s office in Stockholm. Håkan tells Per is sipping on coffee which doesn’t seem to be the first one during the day. Per informs him that in the past he was able to do 15 interviews a day, now he is done after three.

Per talks about his new album, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig which consists of newly recorded songs from his archive. He says it’s a kind of result of the pandemic. He had started working on an English record when suddenly the song Pappa popped up this spring. This led to another song, Mamma and a double A side single was released on Mother’s Day. Then came the idea of making an entire record while he was staying at home in Halmstad and playing almost all instruments himself.

Per tells Aftonbladet:

I didn’t want to write new music, because I wanted to focus my songwriting on the English record. So I realized that I have a lot of songs that would be great fun to record again.

So he started digging in his archives and found a little Gyllene Tider, some solo songs from the 80’s, some others that he gave away to other artists. Ömhet was also found in the drawer:

It was written a week too late to be included on “Mazarin”. Now that I had recorded it, it first felt a little too commercial, too much pop song for this record. There is always such a song that you hesitate over a bit. But then it’s always the one that gets the most streams in the end.

Per tells Håkan that then he actually wrote two more songs, even though they were very much Gyllene Tider. They are really fast, playful songs. So he thought he would save them for something else.

Regarding Gyllene Tider, Per says he has mixed feelings about their farewell last year. It was Micke Syd’s idea to close this chapter while everyone is still healthy and in good shape and they all agreed to that. But Per thinks it’s a shame too. Because GT is a great band. They have grown up together and have the same love for the same kind of music. Gyllene Tider is a kind of homemade beer in a way, he says.

We’ll see if we live in four, five, six years, what can come out of that.

Besides Per’s new solo album, last week the first of four volumes of Roxette rarities was released on streaming services. Demos, songs in Spanish, odd single tracks and remixes. Bag of Trix is the name of the project, which will also be released physically as a box, just in time for Christmas.

Håkan asks Per if it was difficult to go through the Roxette archives after Marie’s passing. Per says:

It was. There are several professionally recorded Roxette concerts that have never been released and it’s awesome to listen to them. You are struck by what an amazing singer Marie was.

Håkan supposed it was a difficult period for Mr. G last winter when both Marie and his mother-in-law passed away almost at the same time.

It was hard. Marie had been ill for so long, so one had in a way prepared for it to happen sooner or later. But you can never really be prepared. There is enormous emptiness. In the end, Marie and I often talked about the past, the amazing journey we had been on. And it’s really something that only the two of us can share. A lot of moments. Like when we were playing in a giant arena somewhere and looked at each other and I knew we were both thinking “is this really true?”. It’s clear that you miss that. But that’s life.

Håkan asks Per about Around The Corner (The Comfort Song). If songwriting is therapeutical for Per.

Yes, that’s probably what makes you do this. Writing songs is my way of existing, somehow. My way of expressing myself and taking care of myself. “Around The Corner” I didn’t write to Marie, but when it was finished I felt that it must be a song about this situation. And then I added “The Comfort Song” in the title, because it became a kind of consolation song for me.

Håkan realized that Per’s songs became more personal during the past years and he asks if it has to do with what happened around him. Per tells:

Could be. I also think it’s an age thing. It’s not possible to write “Dansar inte lika bra som sjömän” and that kind of lyrics now. At the same time, it’s a very good question, because sometimes I think why should it always be so fucking serious just because you get older? That’s a bit why I want to make this English record now, a kind of uptempo pop record, because no one of my age makes classical pop music anymore.

Per hopes the album can be released next spring.

Mr. G says when they formed Gyllene Tider and then Roxette, he always wanted them to be the biggest and make the best records, the best videos and win win win. But he doesn’t feel like that today. There are other things that trigger his creativity today. Per explains that nowadays he is mainly driven by restlessness and the desire to realize ideas. That’s why first he is jumping in an electronic project with Mono Mind then into Nashville-country.

At the same time, I think it would be incredibly fun to have a new hit. But I don’t know how to make it, because today’s music rarely has anything to do with the music I really like.

Per also comments on 5 photos from the Aftonbladet archives.

  1. Aftonbladet interview with Gyllene Tider 1980: “Look at this, damn, how cool. ‘MP’ has his little mustache, he looks really tough. And there I am, my God. A little spotty (laughs). And then a TV of course, because we had just released ‘Flickorna på TV2’. This was in the very beginning. Later, we tried to learn how to look like in order to have good pictures.”
  2. The “Joyride” hairdo 1991: “This is my lovely ’91 hairdo. A completely obvious hairstyle at the time. Damn, how young I was. And a little dumpy too. In fact, I have never seen this picture before.”
  3. Recording of the video for “June afternoon” 1995: “Jonas Åkerlund made that video, wonderful. Marie had a little wig party. The song was actually written for the album ‘The World According to Gessle’, but when we released our first compilation with Roxette, it ended up there. We did the ‘Återtåget’ tour with Gyllene Tider then too, so it’s actually Gyllene Tider playing on that song.”
  4. Per and Marie on the Great Wall of China 1995: “It was great to play in China. And very strange. We calculated that it was 17 meters to the front row of the audience. As soon as someone stood up in the crowd during the concert, the room was lit. You did not get that. When we played “It Must Have Been Love” the whole arena lined up. The guards could do nothing. In addition, banners appeared with the text “one world, one unity”. Afterwards we went out to the dressing room and all cried.”
  5. Press photo for the album “Mazarin” 2003: “An Anton Corbijn picture taken down in Italy. I met Anton when he was going to make the video for ‘Stars’ with Roxette in 1999 and we still have contact. When we were in Nashville recording my country records, he called, ‘I’m in New Orleans shooting Arcade Fire, shall I come by and take the next album cover?’ (laughs) He is a fantastic photographer who manages to do a lot with simple means. He has been here and took photos of my family several times as well.”

Check out the 5 photos in the original article HERE!

The Bag of Trix is a bag of kix!

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Blog post written by Kirsten Ohlwein

Volume 1.

There it is: Bag of Trix, Volume 1. The music from the Roxette vaults. And while in the past, this was hardly music from the vaults, because I knew 95% of the songs already – this time I got surprised, like, really surprised.

Before I share some loose thoughts about the songs we got, I just want to add that my heart is torn regarding this release. On the one hand, it is a lovely „hi, we still think of you“ towards Marie. I fully get that Per doesn’t want to sit on these songs for the rest of his life – and our lives, too. And I am pretty sure Marie would have loved to share her music with us as well.

It’s a present, a gift, it’s an homage to Marie, a huge one. On the other hand, it certainly leaves a bad taste in my mouth to release this albums almost exactly on the date of her death. But, of course, that’s again just me. In general, and overall, I welcome this release, certainly.

When I saw the tracklist some weeks ago, I already was positively surprised. Volume 1 offers 12 tracks of which I only knew five. That’s not even 50% and so different from earlier „rare stuff“ releases. Yes, I know, I am a hardcore fan and certainly shouldn’t be compared to nostalgic Roxette fans who didn’t follow every release up and down every road. But collections like this one also should provide something to the hardcores.

So, of course, I remembered both Abbey Road Session songs, „Help!“ and „Listen to your heart“ that are the opener of Volume 1 pretty well.

No. 3, „Let your heart dance with me“, came as brand new, as it was the first single off the album. The „Waiting for the rain demo“ has been leaked on some shady bootleg that turned up on a record fair in October or November 2002. I will never forget that day, because the songs on that CD are so special, so good, so Marie. This demo is very special to me, but not as good as the final version, even if the demo is much rockier. I prefer the full orchestral sound of the album version and I am still happy it got this treatment and has been made faster as well.

And, don’t hit me, but I don’t listen to any version of „Joyride“ anymore. This is probably a mix I have never heard before, but I won’t be able to tell you, because I just can’t listen to that song anymore. And, I am sure, as I have listened to perhaps a trillion versions of Joyride, there is nothing there that I haven’t heard before.

And wow, how good is the „Like Lovers Do“ demo?? Recorded on July 25th/26th 1986, and Marie sounds incredibly strong here. After listening to this one, I wonder why they didn’t stick to the original idea to have Marie sing the verses. The song suddenly grows after 30 years. That’s a nice new touch and I would love to hear a version with both voices together maybe?

„Pocketful of Rain“ is a different thing, though. Honestly, if I hadn’t known the lyrics of „Reaching high“, I would have never suspected that this is just a jazzy, very „den ständiga resan“ like version. I had to listen to it three times to finally recognize the song. It is so different, it is so good, it is sooo Marie, it’s not pop music. Yeah, get your priorities straight. While listening to it, it hits me the first time that I am sooo going to miss all these „first times“. The first time listening to a new song by Marie, the first time listening to new lyrics, to new nuances of her voice, to experience this first time feeling of music at all. It breaks my heart, to be honest, to be fully aware of the fact, that the Roxette vaults are not neverending, but they are empty – soon. There will never be new music sung by Marie again – ever. And yes, it sounds super selfish, it IS super selfish to say that, but I am not sure how to deal with that yet. And while she sings to me, it feels like a voice from the beyond is reaching out, like a ghost, like an epiphany of sorts.

The live version of „Wish I could fly“ sounds ultra raw, the same goes for the demo of „You don’t understand me“, which is even more raw than the live track. It’s a nice live track, because they didn’t really perform that song back then, as there wasn’t a HAND tour. I especially compared it to their live version during „Night of the proms“, which I still prefer, because Marie’s voice after her illness was more of my taste when it comes to songs like „Wish I could fly“; and the way she improvised during the Proms. So, her „Fly, oh, baby“ will never cease to exist in my heart.

Track No. 9,the demo of „Happy Together“ which is actually a b-side? I love the song, but it’s not new, right?

Which brings me to the next track, No. 10, „Beautiful Boy“. I assume this one was written for „Room Service“, as it says „Studio Vinden Demo, March 2000“. Ehrm, don’t get me wrong, but why didn’t THIS ONE make the album, but „Little Girl“ did? I am honest here as honest as I always am, and as much as I love Marie’s music, but „Little Girl“ never got me, it never never never got me, not even on the „Room Service“ album, and it’s probably the most boring track she ever wrote, because she tried so hard to make it „pop music“. She shouldn’t have tried, maybe it would have been a better Blues track, who knows. „ Beautiful Boy“ is such a beautiful ballad, and even the demo tells me a lot about how the final version could have sounded. Oh! My heart breaks a bit for never knowing how this one could have GOTTEN me. I love this track and it could have also easily made every Roxette album since „Room Service“.

The „You don’t understand me“ demo from July 1995 is, as stated before, surprisingly raw. I like that Marie doesn’t sing it perfect and gives herself and her voice room to explore the song for the final album recordings. She probably understood what to change and how and why after this demo. The way she varies her voice – I could listen to that all day and just sit and compare to the final version and find out or rather guess why she or they changed it. There are not many sequences in the demo that are different compared to the album version, but there are some parts, and they are gold!

No. 12, „Hotblooded“, the demo, I mean, it’s THE demo, right? Holy crap, where did you hide this one all those years, Per?? It blew off my shoes when I listened to it the first, the second and the third time. And it still does, after twelve rounds of listening. One of my first reactions to a friend was: „You know what? They could have recorded the whole album in that style and it wouldn’t have sold any worse.“ Okay, that’s probably a bit exaggerated, but how good is this demo? I think it’s extraordinary good for several reasons. 1.) You can already hear how good the song is, even without any production treatment, 2.) Marie’s and Per’s voice blending in the verses. Really, play it again, loud, listen how Per is singing the backing vocals to Marie’s leading vocals and understand how perfectly well they fit each other. This was so unique, and if I had a time machine I would go back to 1990 and tell them to record the album exactly that way, 3.) The fun they had together. Yes, it’s the little things. It’s the funny noise he makes at the end that makes her smile. That’s so real, so honest, so pure. Stuff like that belongs on final version, yes, it does, if you ask me. This demo is a real gem and I am happy we finally got it. Thank you, Per, for opening the vaults!

And as happy as I am about volume 1, a part of me can’t shake off the sadness that comes with it. One of the best female singers of the world with one of the purest, softest voices in the world is no longer among us, and it still feels fucking unfair.