Per Gessle

Roxette – Listen To Your Heart played 6 million times on US radio

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BMI yesterday paid tribute to the top UK and European songwriters, composers and music publishers of the most-performed songs of the previous year with the 2020 BMI London Awards. Among others, honourees for Million-Air Awards were celebrated across BMI’s digital and social channels. To recognise their remarkable achievements, BMI created a special page on its website where fans can watch video messages, listen to award-winning songs and take a look back at the best award show moments throughout the years. Click HERE to reach the site.

American radios played Listen To Your Heart now more than 6 million times! That means more than 62 years if it were constantly played! Amazing, isn’t it?

Roxette reached their 2nd No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with LTYH on 4th November 1989. In 1998 they received an award from BMI for this song being played over 2 million times on American radio. Phil Graham of BMI said it was very unusual for a song to get over the 2 million mark in such a short space of time. In October 2006, helped by DHT’s cover, Roxette were awarded again by BMI for the song’s 3 millionth broadcast on American radio. Per and MP got the Million-Air Award for 4 million plays in 2008 and for 5 million plays in 2014.

Listen To Your Heart was covered by an American hard rock band, Through Fire and they put the song back on the US charts in March 2020. The cover spent 16 weeks on Mainstream Rock Billboard music chart and peaked at No. 32.

Congratulations to Per Gessle and Mats MP Persson for creating this wonderful song that never gets old and for reaching the 6 million mark! And of course, neverending love to Marie Fredriksson!

Thanks for the hint, Tina Engmann!

Nypon och ljung – new single by Per Gessle is out

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Nypon och ljung, the first single from Per’s upcoming album is now out. Listen to it on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and other digital platforms! Look at the amount and type of instruments Mr. G plays! Oh wow! And the vocals! And the melody! So catchy!

Per tells he wrote his new album’s opening song, Nypon och ljung for Gyllene Tider’s Dags att tänka på refrängen album in 2012, but they never recorded it. He thinks he didn’t even present it to the band. Later, before his Nashville trip in 2016 he made a demo, which is completely different. In the end, he didn’t record it in Nashville either. It was just lying around though he always liked it. He was sitting at home and played and it got some sort of swing that can’t really be found in his old demos. He was thinking of J. J. Cale’s old drum box stuff from the ’70s. That fits this song very well, so he made a very simple demo with a little drum machine. It turned out just fine, so he went to the studio and did an acoustic version, then added instrument after instrument. Per Thornberg came to play tenor sax, Helena came to sing, ”Gicken” Johansson plays the bass, Jens Jansson plays the drums and Per plays all other instruments. He says it was incredibly fun and unexpectedly, it became one of his favourites.

NYPON OCH LJUNG

Min dörr är aldrig stängd
Min dörr står alltid glatt på glänt
För henne

Min dörr är aldrig stängd
Fönstret står alltid lätt på glänt
Så jag kan höra henne: oooohh….

Hon hann ikapp och förbi
Hon hann ifatt och for förbi
Det är helt OK

Hon hann ikapp och förbi
Med stav och hatt, som trolleri
Och det är helt OK

Hon kom med nypon och ljung
En gammal känsla som känns ung
Ny och ung

Hon kom med nypon och ljung
En gammal känsla som känns ung
Orörd och ung: oooohh….
OK

Text + musik: Per Gessle
© Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Per Gessle
Recorded at T&A, Halmstad + Sweetspot, Harplinge July + August 2020
Engineers: Mats Persson (T&A) + Staffan Karlsson (Sweetspot)
Mixed by Mats Persson + Per Gessle

Vocals + acoustic guitar + electric guitar + clapping + pump organ + Wurlitzer: Per Gessle
Vocals: Helena Josefsson
Bass + lap steel: Fredrik ”Gicken” Johansson
Drums + percussion: Jens Jansson
Tenor sax: Per Thornberg

Lyric video HERE!

Photo of Per on the single cover is by Åsa Gessle

Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig – tracklist of the new Per Gessle album

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Per Gessle’s new Swedish solo album, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig (Old love never dies) will be available on LP and CD, as well as on digital platforms. The vinyl comes in two versions – gatefold with black vinyl and limited edition coloured vinyl (1000 copies). The release date is 6th November 2020.

Tracklist

1. Nypon och ljung
2. I din hand
3. Du kommer så nära (du blir alldeles suddig)
4. Hjärta utan hem
5. Segla på ett moln
6. Ömhet
7. Viskar
8. Lycklig en stund
9. Tända en sticka till
10. Som regn på en akvarell
11. Mamma
12. Pappa
13. Kom ut till stranden

Don’t forget that Nypon och ljung is out as a single digitally on 18th September.

You can pre-order the album at Bengans and Ginza.

Cover pic by Bruno Ehrs.

Read more about the album in the press release HERE.

Per Gessle to release a new Swedish solo album

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PRESS RELEASE – Per Gessle spent his summer down on the Swedish West Coast looking back on his 44 years as a songwriter. He wrote his first song in 1976 in contemporary new wave spirit and since then there have been hundreds of compositions.

On the new album, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig Per interprets his own Swedish favourites from the ’80s onwards. Most of it is acoustic based and Per plays almost all the instruments himself. “All of them, except the difficult ones”, as he himself says.

I wrote the songs Mamma and Pappa for Mother’s Day in May earlier this year and was reminded of how fun it is to make it easy for yourself, play the piano and guitar and just sing.

On the new album, Per often sings with Helena Josefsson, but in one song also with Uno Svenningsson. For the first time, Per has also collaborated with local Halmstad musicians such as Per Thornberg on tenor saxophone and Gicken Johansson on bass and lap steel.

Per is an old acquaintance and is one of Sweden’s best jazz saxophonists. Gicken was new to me, but he is clearly Sweden’s Duck Dunn! A fantastic bassist. And MP from Gyllene Tider is of course involved. Without him, no coffee!

I have the privilege of having a fantastically rich song catalogue. There are so many songs from different decades that I never recorded for different reasons. There are songs I wrote for other artists such as Segla på ett moln (Anne-Lie Rydé) and I din hand (Svante Thuresson).

Some songs I always carried with me and they still feel relevant. Viskar, Tända en sticka till and Kom ut till stranden were written in the early ’80s, but still mean a lot to me. Ömhet I wrote a little too late for it to catch up with the Mazarin train. Nypon och ljung was intended for my Nashville adventure, but never made it. It’s been incredibly fun to meet them again.

Nypon och ljung will be released as a single on 18th September. The album is out on 6th November.

Photo from Per’s archives.

Press release in SWEDISH.

Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle in the John Holm documentary

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When I saw there is a documentary about John Holm, I wanted to watch it right away. Det finns så många vägar – en film om John Holm was recorded between 1980 and 2017. I was interested in it to get to know more about the artist who was a great inspiration to both Marie and Per.

I expected Mr. G to appear in the docu, but never thought Marie would be there talking too. Oh my God! 1:24 into the program and the first artist who is talking about John Holm is Marie Fredriksson. My heart skipped a beat. So amazing to see her! She tells John meant so much to her and to so many people in Sweden. Marie says he was kind of divine. Right after Ms. Effe, Per tells John wrote terribly good songs and he thinks there is no one else in Sweden who wrote so many good songs for one album as John for Sordin.

At 16:20 Per tells in a 1999 SVT archive report that John’s first 2 albums are the best 2 Swedish albums of all time. They meant a lot to Per. Those and Lundell’s early albums made him start writing songs.

At 44:38 you can hear Marie singing backing vocals for John on Verklighetens afton (1988). She says John Holm was an icon for her and she always loved his lyrics. Then meeting him in real life and singing with him was enormously awesome.

At 1:04:42 you can see Per attending his first ever John Holm gig in 2016. And we all know the story didn’t end there. Per and John recorded a duet, Det är vi tillsammans in 2017 for Per’s En vacker dag album.

In the documentary there are other artists, old friends, John’s son, journalists and producers, as well as John Holm himself talking. It’s a docu that is worth watching not only for his fans. A piece of music history about one of Sweden’s biggest artists, his ups and downs, his life, his music.

At the end there is written: In memory of Marie Fredriksson and Arne Arvidsson. So nice, yet so heartbreaking.

 

Stills are from the documentary. Unfortunately, it can only be watched in Sweden.