Marie Fredriksson

Roxette on German TVs

by

When Per was in Berlin, he got interviewed by the press, also by German TVs. The RTL stuff was rather a joke with a less than 1-minute-long coverage, even misspelling Per’s name, but Das Erste did it oh so right. You can watch 2 videos online, 6 minutes altogether. You can choose if you want to watch it with Per’s original voice in English or the one with German overdubbing. Among other things, Per talks about the last 30 years, if it was better in the ’80s than now, The Look, their brother and sister relationship with Marie and Marie’s illness, as well as how Marie is doing now and that he thinks it’s the leg thing what bothers Marie the most these days. Ms Effe was doing photo sessions in Stockholm for her upcoming book while Per was in Berlin. He also tells Party Crasher would have probably been a Roxette album if he knew Marie would come back. To the question if he sings along when he hears a Roxette song on the radio he said he just turns up the volume to hear how it sounds in the car, but doesn’t sing along.

This was a lovely interview with him with great questions and even more interesting answers. Check it by clicking HERE. It’s really worth watching! There was a report broadcast on TV /Das Erste/ (different vs. what you can find in the mediathek). Check this one, too.

PG_on_Das_Erste
Screenshot is from the Das Erste interview

Thanx to all the German Roxers who kept an eye on their TV sets!

 

Update on 20th March: There is one more video interview with Per at Süddeutsche.de. Overdubbed, but still lovely. Watch it by clicking HERE.

PG_suddeutsche.de
Screenshot is from the Süddeutsche.de interview

 

Vox.de shows the RTL report with correct spelling of Per’s name and in a slightly longer version.

Biography about Marie Fredriksson out in autumn

by

As Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter wrote today, IMG_01762a biography about Marie Fredriksson will be published in autumn by Piratförlaget.

The initiative for the (auto)biography came from Marie Fredriksson herself and Helena von Zweigbergk, the author of the book, has been visiting Marie at her place for the past one and a half years to talk about her life. “She really wants to tell things in a very touching way. About her childhood, which was not always easy, about her illness and how she managed to come back so strong”, tells Helena von Zweigbergk to DN. “I think she is one of Sweden’s greatest singers. She speaks to you when she sings. It’s one of her special skills, to bring forward an emotional story in her music.”

Helena attended some concerts of Marie’s solo tour last year and talked to some fans about Marie, and followed Roxette to Australia during the 30th Anniversary tour.

It will surely be one of the highlights of the year!

Got tickets for a Roxette concert? Read carefully..

by

It’s crazy – at least for a fan like I am – how there are still people on this planet who don’t know about the illness Marie Fredriksson (lead singer/Roxette) suffered from, just recently I experienced that on Twitter, during the Auckland show. Yes, she had a brain tumour. And yes, she is healthy again. She had to fight a lot for several years, but she made it and she did even though she only had a 5% chance to survive. And now she feels good enough to perform again. Roxette just kicked off their second world tour since 2011. And no, her condition isn’t serious. So in case you got tickets for a Roxette show for the upcoming world tour, please take some advices:

bild-179-e14234933342681.) Don’t wonder about Marie not walking, dancing and jumping around the stage – she simply can’t. She suffers from long term effects which include problems with her right leg (yes, it might be that she struggles with it and touches it all the time), she can’t see properly on her right eye and has problems hearing with her right ear. She has problems walking due to the effects the tumour had on her body.

2.) In case Marie sings wrong lyrics or none at all – don’t worry. It’s only a line or two, she’s back faster than you can think about the correct lyrics yourself. Just let her sing what she wants to. She’s a survivor, a hero, true inspiration for everyone who is seriously ill.

3.) Don’t say that she shouldn’t be on stage in a condition “like that”. She is healthy, really. She is totally fine and all she ever wanted to do and wants to and probably always will want to do is being on stage, perform, sing for and with her fans, enjoy the audience’s response and be what she is: a performer. You have no right to say that she should stay at home, because being on stage is what makes her happy. You can clearly see that in her eyes.

4.) Don’t tell your friends that she looks much older than she is. She’s through a lot lot lot and you wouldn’t look much better if you had survived a 5% survival chance illness. You know – she had to learn reading, counting and TALKING again – not to mention singing. Just show some respect.

How you show her respect?

– Put away your smartphone, don’t wonder about her, don’t worry about her, just ENJOY the show, SING ALONG with her and most of all: show her that you are there for her, your full support and affection.

– Sing as loud as you can, shout her name and make the people around you do the same. Simple as that!

If you can’t, there is another option: If you only have negative things to say, say nothing at all.

Photo: Kirsten Ohlwein

2014 – two tours, a box, two books … and lots of good memories

by

I started to think about this article on the plane back home from two incredible concerts in Finland. It was still a month to go to finish the year but my guess was that the “Rox year” would be over at that point of time, meaning not many more events left. And December is a month of reflection for me anyway and many things happened in 2014, so let’s better start on time and enjoying going through the happenings of the year.

This time I chose to write the summary month by month.

PLECtionary_600x407January was the month of the plectrums. Or was it the year of the plectrums? You’ll see plecs have showed up a few times this year. The PLECtionary, done with the help of Sandra Knospe, opened its doors on January 12th, on Per’s birthday, and what a better way to open it than with an interview with him? Who would have known back then that we would end the year with more plecs (go on reading…)… Also Roxette’s official Facebook page reached 1 million likes and Roxette fans did a digital flash mob to celebrate and congratulate Roxette.

Marie started her long-awaited solo tour on February 19th in Helsingborg, which went on for two months until April 19th. Marie gave a total of 19 concerts all over Sweden. Many people had the chance to meet Marie during this tour, either in meet & greets organised via contests or directly with the management or after the shows or hotels. We have reviews for all of them, for which we also got many “thank yous” from the band and Marie herself. This tour left a big impact on me and many other fans, many things happened during these two months and probably shaped me a little bit more, like all important events in one’s life. Some things were good, some bad, but what I will always keep in my heart and mind are Marie’s looks to the audience, her smiles, her strength and the willpower never to give up. And the fact that fans, supporters, can be ONE when we want to. Those paper hearts will be a symbol for ever. And who doesn’t feel like standing up when “Mellan sommar och höst” starts to sound? Here we collected messages from fans to thank Marie and the band for the tour. IMG_01762

March and April were mostly all about Marie’s tour. We interviewed Marie and Jokke Pettersson, who played guitar on Marie’s tour. Kirsten had met Jonas Isacsson in 2013 and wrote a very nice article about him. April also saw the releases of a special limited edition of “The Look” 7″ vinyl to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the single reaching #1 in USA and “The Per Gessle Archives” 7″, both released for the Record Store Day in Sweden. Thanks to Roxette’s management we were able to give away a copy of each of these special releases. Also in April we got to know that Per would release the box “The Per Gessle Archives” containing tons of demos later in September and that the volumes would be gradually digitally released before reaching the release date. And when we thought we could start saving a bit again… the next Roxette world tour was announced! And almost without noticing that so many years have passed by… Roxette Blog turned 5.

In May, Per revealed that, in addition to the box, two books would be released in Autumn: “Songs, Sketches and Reflections” containing his English texts and “Texter, klotter och funderingar” with the Swedish ones. “You Don’t Want Love”, a single by Finnish DJ Heikki L. featuring Per was released this month. We also started a poll to find out which songs Roxette fans would love to hear live during the upcoming tour. The poll ran until September and the results were published October. Our interview with Christoffer Lundquist, done during Marie’s tour, was published.

The first two volumes of Per’s box “Demos & Other Fun Stuff” were digitally released June and we could get an idea of the treasures this box would contain. The video (directed by Jens Jansson) for Per’s cover version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” finally saw its light. Roxette’s official Facebook page reached 1,5 million likes. Per collaborated with another DJ, Kill FM from Sweden, and wrote the lyrics and composed the melody (topline songwriting it is called, as Per explained) to “Don’t Go Dark“, which is sung by Helena Josefsson. The PLECtionary was updated with some more plecs and we gave away one 2010 Roxette plec, a GT plec and a PG plec. And last but not least, Per finally got his LaFerrari!

On July 23rd Gyllene Tider‘s live DVD was released, just one year after the amazing tour in Sweden. The DVD entered at number 1 on Swedish DVD charts and remained there for three weeks in August. Towards the end of August Per was busy signing thousands of pre-ordered boxes.

TPGA_box_final_designIn September we could finally hold the box and the books in our hands. And even get them signed by Per at the Göteborg book fair; many fans travelled to Göteborg to be able to hear Per speak about songwriting and get the box and the books signed. We also got two books signed by Per for a contest. A non-alcoholic wine (white and rosé – this one only available at Per’s hotel) was added to the The Per Gessle Selection; its initial name was Klunk, but had to be changed due to copyright issues to Fru Nordin (a better name if you ask me!). The website The Per Gessle Archives was launched just on time for the release and volumes 3 and 4 of “Demos & Other Fun Stuff” were also digitally released early this month.

Dea Norberg, who is doing backing vocals for Roxette on tour since 2012, released the EP “Storm” on October 1st and we took the chance to interview her in Stockholm. We also interviewed Per about the books and the box and published the poll results. The top 3 of the poll were: “A Thing About You”, “Almost Unreal”, and “(Do You Get) Excited”. None of these (nor the top 10) could be heard during the first leg of the 30th Anniversary tour, which started in Vladivostok on the 28th but some new tracks were added to the set list: “Real Sugar”, “The Heart Shaped Sea” and “Queen Of Rain”. And we are always happy with new songs! Per and Mats MP Persson attended the BMI London Awards to receive Million-Air Awards for “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love” for being played more than 5 million times each. That makes quite a lot of years of the songs being played non-stop!

In November Roxette visited Estonia, Lithuania and finished the tour in Finland. Early this month the European Tour 2015 with 28 dates was announced, so no time to get bored! The ticket sales were a bit more stressful than others, but all in all one can say that most people got what they wanted.roxette

In December, three more shows in Europe and one at the Sydney Opera House were added to the tour. The Per Gessle Selection champagnes were released as well as Kurt & Lisa 2011. And last but not least, the 2014 plectrums were added to the PLECtionary thanks to Per (and Sandra), who sent a bunch of plecs to Sandra and we also got the chance to give away 10 of them (remember you can still participate until January 2nd, 2015!).

While writing such an article you get the feeling that it’s “only” 12 months, but when you go through all the events you realise that everything is possible in this deja-vu and that 12 months is a long period of time. Once again, another year full of events and surprises and great memories one can only be thankful for.

What will 2015 will bring? Here are some open questions! Will we finally find out more about Per’s collaboration with David Guetta? How will the setlist and stage for Roxette’s 2015 concerts look like? How will the song Marie wrote for a film be like? And how will Roxette’s new material be? in which format (EP, album, …)? Will more dates be added to the existing Australia and Europe tour legs? And when will the dates for 2016 be announced? And what about new plecs?

Thank you for reading us one more year! And to the RoxBlog Team: it’s a pleasure working with you! Thank you for your work.

Cheers to a great 2015!

Update 3-1-2015: Article updated with the BMI awards piece of news after Per noted I had forgotten it 😉

Music Against Cancer – a successful charity auction supported by Roxette

by

As we reported about it earlier, Marie and Per supported Musik Mot Cancer, a non-profit organization to raise money for Barncancerfonden Väst (children’s cancer foundation) and the children’s department of the hospital in Norra Älvsborg. They signed 3 guitars and some other Roxette and solo project related things. The end of the auction was on 16th November, on Music Against Cancer Day. Anyone could bid on all items from all around the world. The organizers first hadn’t planned with fans from abroad, but it soon turned out for them that there were many who wanted to bid mainly on items related anyhow to the Rox World. Musik mot cancer was very fast replying to all the questions regarding the auction and they also translated a huge part of their website into English to help foreign Roxers understand what was going on and how they could bid on guitars and stuff.

The closure of the auction was organized as an event in Trollhättan, Sweden, where the guests could see all the items on display. The final bids could be taken in person, too, but the online platform was also available until the end of the auction. For a very long time it seemed that the guitar signed by both Marie and Per would be the one with the highest bid, but in the end it was Peter Lemarc’s guitar. Its final price was 25 000 SEK.

The second highest final price was that of the Roxette guitar, 20 000 SEK. Interesting info is that the winning bid for the Rox guitar (besides the guitars signed by Håkan Hellström and In Flames) came from Folke Pettersson, from Lilla Edet. He says he comes from a musical family, but he was bidding mainly because he finds the cause very important. The guitar signed by only Per was auctioned for 9 000 SEK, the one signed by only Marie for 7 000 SEK.

From the total of 83 items on auction 16 was related anyhow to the Rox World. Musik mot cancer collected 270 000 SEK to help the fight against cancer. 17% of this amount of money comes from items signed by Marie and Per. What a fantastic result! The final prices for each item you can check HERE.

Congrats to the organizers! Wishing them as much success with their future projects as they had with this one! Huge thanks to Marie and Per for supporting such a great cause and to all the participants who with their bids helped to raise this much money!

 

Marie_guitar_Per_guitar

Photos by Musik mot cancer