Per Gessle

Interview with Per Gessle about songwriting by Sound & Recording

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Frank Mischkowski from Sound & Recording (Germany) did an interview with Per Gessle about songwriting. Per gave some insights into the way he writes songs.

Frank informs that at the age of 10, Per Gessle’s record collection is said to have already included 100 vinyls, so his passion for music has been with him since he was a child. He learned English primarily by studying the lyrics of The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie. He earned his first record deal with Gyllene Tider at the end of the 1970s.

When he founded Roxette in 1986 with Marie Fredriksson, who unfortunately died in 2019, he had no idea how successful the duo would become: “We joked: ‘Today Sweden, tomorrow the world.’ But what we meant was small performances in Amsterdam or Germany on TV. We were probably in the right place at the right time.”

Sound & Recording: What makes a really good song for you?

Per Gessle: This changes from generation to generation. I always say the point of pop music is to reflect its times. The music of the ’60s and ’70s was much more melody driven. Today you don’t start with the melody anymore. Listen to songs like Dedicated Follower Of Fashion or SOS, they are based on melodies. That’s where I come from.

S&R: You have written so many great songs. How do you come up with these strong, memorable lines?

PG: I’m interested in words and stories. And I’m always looking for phrases – “Hello, you fool, I love you”, “Come on, join the joyride”. The first impression you get of a song is often the title. You read the title and if it sounds good, your interest is awaken.

S&R: You write in both English and Swedish. Are there ideas that you can express more easily in one language than in the other?

PG: I write very personally. Of course not something like How Do You Do!, but songs like Queen Of Rain, Perfect Day or What’s She Like? are as personal as possible. It’s easier for me to dive deep into myself in Swedish, simply because it’s my native language. On the other hand, English is a very singable language. Swedish is a pretty difficult language to sing.

S&R: Do you find it easier to write for yourself or for other artists?

PG: I prefer writing songs for my own projects. In the early ’80s, when Gyllene Tider broke up and I had a few years before Roxette started, a lot of people wanted songs from me. Especially lyrics, but also music. I never felt comfortable with it. Someone always talks you into it. I prefer to write for my own projects where I’m the boss.

S&R: But then you wrote for Marie.

PG: When I started working with Marie, I was looking for a voice that could sing my songs much better than myself. We recently listened to a live Roxette thing from the ’90s that we’re working on. Marie’s singing skills were incredible. My main talent has always been finding these people. Clarence [Öfwerman, Roxette’s longtime producer] is also a good example for that. His influence on production and arrangements changed my worldview.

S&R: Can you give us some insight into the way you write a song?

PG: Let’s say I’m sitting at the piano and I come across something special. I then record it with my phone. I date it and put a note on it; “Piano Intro” for example. Then, six months or six years later, I might be looking for something like that. I go through my archive, hundreds of fragments that have been collected over the years. So maybe I have a great chorus, but I need something interesting for a verse or intro, then I go through these files and maybe something fits. It’s like a big puzzle.

S&R – a question to mixing engineer Stefan Boman

Stefan Boman is a mixing engineer at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm and counts artists from Ghost to Avicii among his references. In a complex process, Boman transferred Roxette’s work into the immersive audio format Dolby Atmos. To do this, the original tapes were digitized and the mixes were created from scratch in Dolby Atmos.

SB: The quick and easy solution would be an upmix, but if you want to create something that lasts and leaves an impression, you have to mix from scratch. And that’s what we did. We partially baked the tapes and then carefully digitized them, divided the tracks and then, in the first step, recreated the stereo mixes. I then spent a lot of time recreating the reverb chambers and effects – not exactly, but as close as possible and in an immersive format. The Roxette tracks were recorded excellently, it was a lot of fun translating them into a new format.

Photo by Fredrik Etoall

Read the original interview in German HERE!

“You’re always 25 in your head” – Per Gessle 65 interview by TT News Agency

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Anna Hedlund from TT News Agency did an interview with Per Gessle now that he turns 65 on Friday. It was already published in Göteborgs-Posten yesterday.

From stage fright to stage intoxication. Hitmaker Per Gessle’s pop journey is not just music history. It has also been a journey of development for him personally. Now he turns 65.

Nothing is as cool as having 10,000 people sing along to your own song. That’s why Mick Jagger & Co. never stop. You can’t get that energy in any other way, says Per Gessle.

His own desires don’t seem to be diminishing either. In the summer of 2023, he again toured the country with Gyllene Tider – even though the band actually had their farewell tour in 2019. Last year he released Roxette material in a new costume, under the name PG Roxette.

Although it has been 45 years since his career took off, it is still unbelievable that he turns 65.

You’re always 25 in your head. But I certainly notice that I am getting older, physically. This energy you used to have all the time now you have it for shorter periods.

It all started when, as a little boy, he fell for pop music through his older brother. From The Beatles to David Bowie’s music, Per absorbed everything: the style, the hair, the chords, the English language. But it was a pop journey that began rather introspectively.

In my teens, I was very closed in on myself and music, and didn’t have many friends. Music opened a completely new door.

When Gyllene Tider was formed in 1978, Per Gessle already had the habit of putting together pop songs – but not of being on stage.

When we started with Gyllene Tider, we were rookies. Then it was all about daring to stand on stage and survive. To do it and do it well.

To understand how great Gyllene Tider was in those years between the ’70s and ’80s, you can say this, for example: when Per Gessle turned 21, he received three mailbags with 3,000 congratulatory postcards delivered to his home.

And it often happened – much to his mother’s disappointment – that fans would come to his parents’ home and steal small souvenirs, such as clothes from the clothesline or license plates and antennas from the car.

In the years 1979-1982 I lived in a constant state of shock that it became so big.

After that, nothing would be as usual again. After the golden years with Gyllene Tider, followed the international success with Roxette, that took him and bandmate Marie Fredriksson on world tour after world tour during the ’90s.

A reality quite far from the small-town life Per Gessle grew up in. Apart from when he weighed mushrooms at Fammarp’s mushroom farm or packed boxes at Ica as a teenager, he has never had a “regular job”. But he loves to work.

During the noughties, he released several solo albums, both in Swedish and in English.

I never thought I had time to party and have girlfriends. And my life probably still revolves around work. Åsa, my wife, says that I “give birth” when I lock myself in my room for 14 days and work. But that’s in my personality, I can’t do anything if I don’t do it one hundred percent.

Per and Åsa met in 1985. They married in 1993 and have a son, Gabriel, who is now 26. Combining a family life with life as a touring rock star took some planning, but it worked. The family often accompanied them on tours, and Gabriel spent more than a semester travelling with a teacher with him.

But he has not followed in his father’s footsteps.

He works as a computer programmer. He’s been given free rein and we have supported what he has wanted to do. For a year he was a professional e-sports player too, but it wasn’t for him and now he’s got it out of his system.

Being Per Gessle is also being the brand “Per Gessle”. Posing for selfies with fans at the petrol station and in the grocery store happens everyday and is part of the package when you are recognized by everyone. Or, maybe not exactly everyone.

I know that when I leave my door I’m public property, which I have lived with most of my life. But when I was walking in town once, a girl came and wanted to take a selfie, and afterwards a little guy came and asked: “Are you a celebrity?”. “I’m Foppa!”, I replied then. Haha.

[Peter “Foppa” Forsberg is a Swedish ice hockey player. /PP]

There is no sign that “reaching the retirement age” means a quieter life for Per Gessle. This year he will release a new solo album in Swedish and in the summer there will be a premiere for a film about Gyllene Tider. Next autumn will also offer a musical at Malmö Opera which builds on Roxette’s song catalogue. Are there any other dreams still?

No. I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I slipped into this and sometimes I have to pinch myself when I see that it has worked all my life.

Facts about Per Gessle

Turns: 65 on 12th January.

Profession: musician, songwriter. Owns Hotel Tylösand.

Family: wife Åsa Gessle and son Gabriel, 26 years old.

Lives: in Halmstad where he grew up.

On turning 65: “I don’t think about it too much, it’s just a number.”

This is how he celebrates: “Very carefully with very few people, only the nearest and dearest to me.”

Staying in shape: “I try to walk at least an hour every day and work out, because I got a frozen shoulder last year. I also do 15-20 minutes of exercises every day.”

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – January 2024

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Per Gessle and Sven Lindström wish you a happy new year with the January episode of Nordic Rox. PG is curious if Sven had a great New Year’s Eve. Sven thinks so and wants to know if Per had a great one. Mr. G says he can’t remember his NYE, but it was probably good. Haha. Obviously, they had recorded this show much before.

The guys chose to kick off Nordic Rox 2024 with a trip to their brothers in Denmark. Danish band The Raveonettes has it’s special this time. It’s one of Per’s personal favourite band, he thinks they are really cool. Sven thinks they had a base in the States for a couple of years and were produced by pop legend Richard Gottehrer. Per adds Richard produced so many amazing records over the years, e.g. The Go-Go’s debut album and also My Boyfriend’s Back by The Angels. [Here Per sings a line: My boyfriend’s back and you’re gonna be in trouble.] That’s a wonderful song, he thinks. Richard formed a record label Sire Records with Seymour Stein. He also produced I Want Candy by The Strangeloves. Sven says they are going to end up talking more about Richard Gottehrer than they speak about The Raveonettes and that’s an insult, so they are going to restrain themselves and get the show started.

The first track on the program is a brand new song, All Day Long from a Swedish band, The Royal Concept. The next one is Unseen Footage From A Forthcoming Funeral by Nicole Sabouné. A good and long song title it is, according to Per. It’s written by Nicole and Ola Salo from The Ark. A good track.

Then comes Fool by Roxette. Sven jokes that Per is sitting right beside him trying to remember this song. Mr. G laughs and says it’s from the Room Service album, which they recorded in 2000 at the old ABBA studio in Stockholm, the Polar Studios that doesn’t exist anymore. It was the last album they did before Marie got ill in 2002. Per remembers it fondly. It was a great album, a fun album to make. Still sounds good today, Sven adds. PG says they worked with an amazing engineer and a mixing guy called Ronny Lahti, who he has been working with so many times ever since. He is still around and he is just doing amazing work all the time. He made this album sound terrific, Per thinks.

Before The Raveonettes special is coming up, there comes a favourite track of Per. The guys play the Deportees who made a song together with Sarah Klang, who is one of PG’s favourite Swedish singers. This song, Lost You For A While is just amazing according to Mr. G. It’s fom the Deportees’ latest album People Are A Foreign Country. The band is from the north of Sweden, but they are… Sven finishes the sentence: „they are good anyway”. Per laughs: „You said that, I didn’t”. The guys are laughing.

The next song is Dead Of Night by the Dead Express from the album Brain Damage from 2019. It sounds amazing according to Mr. G. Garage rock always makes you get your vibes together, Sven says.

Now the guys get down to The Raveonettes. A great little band, according to PG, quite heavily influenced by The Jesus and Mary Chain. You hear that once in a while. Per thinks they are really cool and they have done some great songs. They kicked off in the early noughties. Sven and Per play one of the tracks from the first album called Whip It On, just to give a taste of what to expect. Attack Of The Ghost Riders.

The second Raveonettes song is Per’s favourite, She Owns The Streets. It’s from a later album called Observator, released in 2012. Mr. G shares the info if you don’t know it, The Raveonettes is a duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner on vocals and guitar and Sharon Foo on vocals and guitar. One guy and one girl. Sven says they have an amazing background. They were recording stuff and then they heard about the Rolling Stone editor David Fricke that he was going to visit a Danish music festival and they decided to go there to play the festival in order for him to see them and possibly write about them, which he did. That sort of opened a few doors for them. They got Richard Gottehrer, the pop legend to produce them. Per thinks it’s a great band and he longs for listening to She Owns The Streets. Sven says it’s a slightly different area they are moving into, some hazy, wonderful pop dreamy stuff. Per loves that song. It sounds like a mix between the surf sound and Link Wray. They could be in any Quentin Tarantino movie. Sven agrees and says they could as well cover for The Everly Brothers if they got sick and somebody had to go on the road to replace them, especially in this upcoming song Here Comes Mary. It’s taken from their second full length album called Pretty In Black. It came out rather early in their career, in 2005. Per thinks it’s a great album produced by Richard Gottehrer. It’s amazingly Everly Brothers sound alike, the harmonies are sort of similar.

The last song from The Raveonettes is from an album Per can’t pronounce, Pe’ahi. That’s Hawaiian for you, Sven says. It’s a big surf break also called Jaws, the Jaws beach, Sven informs. He has been there, just looking, not surfing. He did surf on Hawaii 10 years ago or so, but that was absolute beginner’s surf. Per asks Sven if he was on the water. Sven says yes and laughs, because Per looks so impressed. PG laughs too and says he is stunned and shocked. PG thinks this last song, Endless Sleeper is a good example of what The Raveonettes is about. It’s sort of darkish, Doorsish combined with surf music. A very interesting and creative combination. The intro always makes Sven think of Break On Through by The Doors.

After The Raveonettes special Per sneaks in another song of his. It’s just because it was just released. This is the B side of a vinyl single that PG made a couple of weeks ago. It was an homage to a very big Swedish artist called Pugh Rogefeldt, who unfortunately died a couple of months ago. The B side is in English, so that’s why he thought it was cool to play it on Nordic Rox. It’s a song he always liked. Per recorded it the first time in 2006. It was released 2007 in Swedish, but then PG did an additional version a couple of years ago in English. The single is available on Spotify and everywhere, but Per’s intention was to make a vinyl single anyway. He likes vinyl singles. Sven says they are still having a market, but if you are going to buy a vinyl album today, you really have to fork it up. Per agrees, it’s very expensive, but it’s worth it. Mr. G belongs to that generation who really miss the album sleeves. The face of the music is the cover, don’t forget that. Sven says they are sitting in Per’s library and there are some vinyl albums here, but he doubts that it’s all of Per’s collection. PG says it’s most of his collection. He got rid of a couple of thousands albums a couple of years ago. Gifts from record labels and friends and stuff, records that didn’t really mean anything to him. So he kept only the stuff that he really likes, which is about 1500-2000 albums. Sven asks Per if they are going to follow him down into his grave. Per laughs and says most likely, he thinks so. Then, like in 3000 years, they are going to dig up the grave and find the vinyl albums and Per’s teeth. Sven says it’s an interesting thought. The guys are laughing. The song they play is If I Knew Then (What I Know Now).

The next song is Bang-A-Boomerang by ABBA, then comes Primitiv by Wilmer X, Nothing Out There by Alberta Cross and Shoreline, a great song by Broder Daniel from Gothenburg.

That wraps up Nordic Rox and the guys say goodbye. Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Still is from a Sirius XM video recording a couple of years ago.

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – December 2023

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Per Gessle and Sven Lindström say hi in the December episode of Nordic Rox from Per’s garage. They are in garage rock mood. Sven says the difference between normal garage and rock garage is that here they are surrounded by Ferraris. Per laughs and asks Sven what kind of car he drives. Sven drives a more humble car, a Volkswagen. He doesn’t know if he can get paid for mentioning the brand name on radio, because this is a commercial free station. PG says Volkswagen is pretty good, his first car was a Volkswagen back in the ’70s. An orange Passat. Sven says he saw some pictures.

Getting back to the garage rock topic, Sven says they are celebrating the return of The Hives. Per thinks they are an excellent band. The guys will have a closer look at their new album, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons and play a few songs from that one. It’s the first album in 11 years so it’s a blast, but before that they play some other good looking music. They start off with Planet Earth Through A Stethoscope by Ebbot Lundberg from his new EP.

The next song is Joyride by Roxette and then comes Young, Handsome & Fast by Teddybears. After these songs, Sven and Per talk about the Roxette musical. Per says they just announced that there will be an opening of the Roxette musical called Joyride – The Musical in September 2024. Sven is curious if Per can say anything already now about what to expect. PG says it’s a musical based on a book written by an amazing English writer called Jane Fallon. The book is called Got You Back. It’s a feel-good sort of musical and Per is very proud to be part of it. It’s a great legacy of the Roxette songs. Mr. G feels very optimistic and positive about the whole thing. It’s been in the can for a couple of years actually, he says. Lots of people have approached them over the years to do musicals, but it always ended with they didn’t like the script. But this time around, since it’s based on this book and the book is really cool, it just fits the whole thing. PG: „I think. I hope. I wish.” He laughs. It premieres in September 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Sven says there is gonna be a rush of Roxette fans entering Malmö. Per says it’s gonna be 74 shows in Malmö and after that they move to Stockholm probably and then of course they try to go international. Mamma Mia needs some competition, the guys are laughing.

The next track is Conquer Or Suffer by Nicole Sabouné from her Must Exist album. Let The Good Times In by The Royal Concept is next. Normal Bias by Love People is also played. A brand new, excellent track, Sven thinks.

The guys are ready to go deep down into the garage. To The Hives’ new album. But before playing anything from that album, they kick off with an older track to get you in the right mood. Sven asks Per if he remembers hearing The Hives for the first time. The first song PG heard from them was Hate To Say I Told You So. It was just amazing. Since Per is an MC5 fan, it can’t go wrong. What really sort of knocked you out is when you saw The Hives live, PG adds. Pelle Almqvist is just an amazing performer and the band looks really cool. They are one-of-a-kind. Still are. They took everything a bit further than anyone else you’ve seen or heard, Sven adds. As soon as they got strong material they got some hits and they got some really great records. And they made it basically everywhere in the world where anyone remotely is interested in rock’n’roll. They guys kick off with Walk, Idiot Walk from the Tyrannosaurus Hives album released in 2004.

Taking a look at the new album, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons, Sven is wondering who Randy Fitzsimmons is. Per doesn’t know, but if you check out the copyrights of The Hives records, he has written all the songs, so he must be someone. Or maybe it’s just fake. The guys are laughing. Sven says he is rumored as well according to The Hives mythology to have started the band. He is a mysterious, fantasy figure we could guess, but if we had a closer look at today’s songwriters of The Hives, Per realized that there were four Fitzsimmons, four persons with Fitzsimmons as the last name. It’s 11 years since the last album they made, so things change in a decade. It’s still a riddle surrounded by a mystery wrapped up in an enigma, this Randy Fitzsimmons, Sven says. Per thinks it’s a great album. Talking about the music, it’s very much The Hives. Raw, funny, direct and inventive as well. Trapdoor Solution is a one minute and three seconds long song. That makes you think of Ramones. Close to the edge. Per thinks it’s a fun track and it sums up The Hives in the modern age.

Before the guys continue with the second part of The Hives special, they take a short break with some mellow sounds from Gothenburg, Sweden. Midnight Prayer by Bad Cash Quartet is next, a track from 2003.

Digging deeper into the new album of The Hives, Per says his favourite song from the album comes now. It’s called Countdown To Shutdown. Great bass playing, a great song and a great attitude. The countdown to shutdown has begun, which means the guys keep quiet and listen to the song.

Per asks Sven if he is still alive. Sven says he is getting electrocuted by The Hives. A fantastic title is coming up, Rigor Mortis Radio. Per thinks it’s a very cool song from the new album. The Hives are actually touring South America and next summer they will be touring the States supporting Green Day and Foo Fighters. They are busier than ever. They are gonna play the big stadiums, so check them out if you can because they are one of the best bands ever on stage in Per’s opinion. Sven believes PG is right. They are really getting it together in the studio as well, but it is something else to see them live.

The next song is a giant step for Nordic Rox, a lesser step for the rest of humankind, Sven says. They give a Swedish lesson and play a song in Swedish by a great guy who is unfortunately not with us anymore, Magnus Lindberg. Magnus was a prominent figure in the late ’70s. He transferred himself to a new wave artist, like many others, but he was more of a singer-songwriter originally, with a little bit of a country touch. The song the guys play is from 1981. It’s the title track from the album called Röda läppar, which translates into Red Lips. That’s all the help you’re going to get for the Swedish lesson and from now on, you’ll be on your own with Magnus Lindberg, Sven says.

The next song is Belly Shots by Sarah Klang from her recent album Mercedes. Per finds it wonderful and thinks she is amazing. Sven thinks she is a very cool, great, rather new artist and Mercedes is a great album.

Now the guys go quite a distance from Sarah and play a song Ain’t Coming Home by The Sewergrooves from the album Revelation Time. It’s a really great, gross stumper, Sven thinks. Godspell by The Cardigans is next from the Super Extra Gravity album. With this the show ends and the guys say goodbye.

Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Photo by Anders Roos (2019)

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Our most diligent world star – Per Gessle portrait interview by Senioren magazine

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Per Gessle is one of Sweden’s most successful artists and songwriters. He always has something going on. This summer he was on tour with Gyllene Tider, now he is working on a new solo album. Roxette’s music is to become a musical and a movie is being shot about Gyllene Tider. Deep inside, he hopes for some more world tour as well.

Ulrika Palmcrantz from Senioren magazine meets Per at home in their large apartment in Stockholm. Upstairs, the one that counts as the “office”. When you go up here with the elevator, Per has to push the button. If you press the button in the elevator yourself, nothing happens.

We had to put up a lattice gate in the stairwell, because Roxette fans used to come here and sleep on the stairs.

he says, smiling.

He is kindness itself. If someone wants to take a selfie with him when he’s out in town or just express their love for his music, he almost always stops for a moment. Now he has set the table with coffee mugs, cookies and a box of After Eight.

I thought it might be suitable when Senioren comes to visit, he laughs. I was going to buy Bridge Blanding too, it’s actually my favourite sweets!

Actually, he has not moved to Stockholm from Halmstad, where he lives most of the time.

No, I’m only here for a couple of days, we haven’t really moved yet.

Halmstad is still what he counts as his primary residence. He and Åsa have their house there, there is the car collection with a large number of Ferraris – the largest part of it can now be admired in a side building to Hotel Tylösand of which Per is the largest owner.

And old friend Mats MP Persson has the studio where Gyllene Tider sometimes comes together and plays. Like before the Hux Flux tour this summer. Actually, they had been out on a farewell tour and 40th anniversary already in 2019. But then the pandemic came and everything became so sad and boring, Per thought. He got a new guitar and so “there were some new songs”.

That’s how it often happens. Rarely has a year or even a few months gone by without something happening with his music. First it was Gyllene Tider, which had its heydays in the early ’80s, then Roxette with Marie Fredriksson from the mid-80s right up until 2016. A huge success with 75 million records sold, world tours and four No. 1 songs on the US Billboard – to compare with ABBA that actually only had one. And in between a successful solo career. Plus he wrote loads of songs for other artists. It seems that both the words and the melodies just flow out of him.

Usually it just comes to me. It can be a word or maybe a piece of melody that pops into my head and then I spin on it.

Sometimes it happens when he’s sitting here on the sofa with the guitar. Sometimes when he’s out walking. It can be anytime and anywhere. But rarely before a set deadline.

No, I can’t have deadlines or a lot of times to fit in, it doesn’t work.

Creativity must be allowed to live its own life, which it does to the highest degree. Should things ever go slower, he has tricks to use. Like getting a new guitar. Or sit down at the piano for a while.

He cannot imagine to stop writing music and being on stage. Music is his life and always has been and when the inspiration is there he is extremely productive. For example, he wrote Joyride and Spending My Time on the same day. Joyride began with his wife Åsa leaving a note on the grand piano where she wrote: “Hello, you fool, I love you!” He had read an interview with Paul McCartney who described songwriting with Lennon as a long “joyride”. Together it became the chorus: “Hello, you fool, I love you, c’mon join the joyride”.

I work well together with those I have worked with for a long time too, like the Gyllene Tider gang. We have so much fun and creativity when we beam together. Nowadays it becomes like a “project” when we do it because it’s not ongoing all the time. But we’ve known each other since we were barely twenty and know exactly how each works. We are five completely different people, yet it works so well.

He says he wishes all young people could experience the feeling of being in a band and playing music together. How magically fun it is, both with the music and with the community that arises.

But I think that those of us who grew up with ’60s-’90s music had a golden window. Then there was room for personal music. Now everything is more similar. It’s just like cars, they all look the same now. Pop music reflects its time to a great extent. Today you can’t release a Sgt. Pepper and the whole world is listening. Hey Jude, it’s seven minutes long. Nobody listens to a seven-minute-long song anymore.

Much has been written about Per’s enormous music career both as a solo artist and with Gyllene Tider and Roxette. But he has managed to keep his private life pretty well under wraps.

I keep myself quite private, that’s how it is. I’m not the type who appears on TV shows like Stjärnorna på slottet or Så mycket bättre. Above all, because I can’t imagine living with people I don’t know for six weeks on Gotland. There is no value in that. It just doesn’t suit me.

I’m actually not super social. At least not when I compare myself to some others. Like my wife, for example. She always talks to everyone when we meet new people while I sit in a corner.

As a child, he was a loner, “fat and with ugly glasses” as he himself describes it. Early on, it was music that dominated his existence. Every penny he came across he spent on records. As a ten-year-old, he already had about a hundred. He wrote his first song as a 7-year-old and became really musically active in his teens. The Beatles and Hep Stars were his big favourites. Father Kurt, mother Elisabeth and sister Gunilla, who was 14 years older, did not directly share his interest in music. But his seven years older brother Bengt liked to listen to music and had many good records in his room. He became a bit of a gateway into the magical world of music for Per.

Sometimes I had to buy a few records from him if he wanted money for cigarettes. He also had an acoustic guitar, but it was out of tune. But in 1976, my mother bought me a nylon-string guitar. It cost SEK 1,800, which was a lot of money back then.

I sat in my room and practiced and practiced. I learned chords but I couldn’t read sheet music. I still can’t.

When he turned 15, he had to choose between getting a used moped or a used stereo. An easy choice for a guy who mostly sat at home with his records and headphones, listening to music and writing lists. Lists of songs, but it could also be about sports. Who scored in the TV puck, for example.

But the world of pop attracted him the most.

In the pop world there was everything that was not in the real world. It was probably inside my head that I lived most of my life during this time.

Weeks before Per was to graduate, his father Kurt died. He was the one who was most skeptical about Per’s music.

Ironically, dad died on the same day that Mats Olsson wrote about Gyllene Tider in Expressen, the first article about us. Mom said she didn’t think he’d let me do music full-time if he lived, but I don’t know. Dad was a plumber, grandfather too. They came from a completely different world.

That you could make a living from music was not something dad Kurt believed in. Per and Åsa were almost as questioning at first when their son Gabriel, now 26 and a computer scientist, said he was going to move to Spain and compete in e-sports.

We were against it at first. Play video games? But then it hit us that we were just like our parents had been and then it was just: Let him go!

Although Per describes himself as “not super social”, he still loves when things happen. Standing in front of an audience of between 60-80,000, as it could be during Roxette’s world tours in the ’90s, gives him a kick.

When we broke through and it started to get big, I felt a big “wow!”, while I think Marie felt more a “help!” I was triggered by the success and just wanted to write more and more songs. But both Marie and I agreed that we did not want to move to the United States. The record company tried to get us to move there or at least to London, but we didn’t want to. We wanted to work with those we had always worked with here at home.

Just when Roxette was planning a major European tour in 2002, Marie Fredriksson learned that she had suffered from a malignant brain tumor. It was a long break for Roxette, where Per instead released his fourth solo record and went on tour with Gyllene Tider. In 2009, Marie was back and they set off on a world tour. Roxette’s comeback tour lasted until 2016.

The whole trip we did with Roxette was fantastic. What Marie and I got to experience was completely unique and I’m so happy about it. Nothing has affected me like the time with Roxette. In a way, that was my destiny.

When he stands on stage today as a 60-plus years old and sings songs he wrote as a 20-year-old, he realizes that the lyrics are about exactly the same feelings he has today.

Although you choose a different language when you are younger. But a lot of the early songs are awesome and I couldn’t have written them today. But I’m a better composer and musician today. I was nervous throughout the ’80s on stage. It’s not the same today.

The constant battle for him when he performs, not least with Gyllene Tider, is that he likes to play new songs while the crowd wants all the old hits.

I think all slightly older artists recognize that. But there is of course something nice in the fact that you realize that the songs meant something to others.

He doesn’t feel any anxiety about getting older.

No, I think things will be as they are. I’ve always liked achieving goals, I’m a Capricorn! But often I have been surprised and frustrated when you reach the goal and realize that after that comes only a kind of emptiness. It won’t be any different, life is just as usual. I was quite old before I realized that this was the way it was.

He takes care of his health reasonably well, even if exercise is not very high on the list of interests.

I go for walks and since I got a frozen shoulder a while ago, I do a 15-minute exercise every day, some kind of Pilates stretching.

Otherwise, it’s music that counts, still and always.

I think it’s actually the most fun now. Gyllene Tider has never been as good as this summer.

He would actually think it would be fun to do another world tour as well. At the same time, he will start drawing a pension from next year when he turns 65.

Yes, I have to do that, isn’t it time for it?

he says, flashing one of his many smiles again.

Facts about Per Gessle

Age: 64

Family: Wwife Åsa and son Gabriel, 26 years old.

Lives: House in Halmstad and apartment in Stockholm.

What he is doing: Artist and songwriter. Has three legs in his huge career: Gyllene Tider, Roxette and a solo career.

Currently reading: Niklas Strömstedt’s biography. “It’s brand new.” A biography of Michael Caine. “I like biographies.”

Listening to: American singer Weyes Blood, the bands Cigarettes After Sex and Goldfrapp. “Then I always go back to my old favourites. Tom Petty is my house god! I have made a playlist on Spotify called Easy listening according to Per Gessle. It is growing all the time…”

Lennon or McCartney: Both! They are best when they are together.

Dreaming of: A little sense and common sense on this planet. And maybe another world tour!

Other: Has a large Ferrari collection in Tylösand, owns 17 cars. Is No. 1 on Ferrari’s Nordic list of customers.

Actualities: In 2024 there will be both a Roxette musical based on the book Got You Back by Jane Fallon (premiere in the fall of 2024 at Malmö Opera) and a movie about Gyllene Tider. In addition, a new solo album is coming…

Per’s 5 favourites from his own songs

* Vid hennes sida
* Tycker om när du tar på mej
* Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång
* Spending My Time
* The Look

Per’s 5 favourites from other artists’ songs

* God Only Knows – The Beach Boys (which I always tried to play on the guitar at home in my room)
* Here, There and Everywhere – The Beatles
* American Girl – Tom Petty (My house god!)
* Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks (Damn, how old I am!)
* Bird On The Wire – Leonard Cohen (The world’s most amazing artist!)
* But now I forgot Burt Bacharach, what a songwriter!

Manager Marie Dimberg

I first met Per in 1984. I worked at his record company then and we were introduced to each other at Café Opera. I remember that I said that I came from Jönköping and he replied that “we hillbillies must stick together”. He is a very positive person, cheerful and extremely professional. Great at writing, not just lyrics, a real language equilibrist. And dedicated in everything he does!

Mats MP Persson, guitarist in Gyllene Tider

Per and I have known each other since we were 16-17 years old. We both had a bit of a crazy sense of humor, then I played drums in a band and Per thought it sounded exciting. We started to skip school and spend more and more time on music. Even then he was a bit of an entrepreneurial guy, setting up plans and goals in a way that I didn’t. We know each other inside out and don’t always need to talk to understand what the other wants.

All text is written by Ulrika Palmcrantz for Senioren magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.