Interview with Helena von Zweigbergk – “I’ve never met anyone who has had the strength of Marie Fredriksson”

24.hu in Hungary did an e-mail interview with Helena von Zweigbergk in connection with the Hungarian edition of Marie Fredriksson’s biography (Listen To My Heart – Hallgass a szívemre) and published it yesterday, on Marie’s birthday.

The interview has a nice intro. Referring to the book, it says that the positive attitude to life and the spiritual power shines through the biography. By reading it, we can understand how Marie was able to defeat cancer and win almost two decades so she could see her children grow up and even be on stage again, even though years ago it seemed utterly unlikely.

Journalist Bence Inkei’s first question to Helena is if she stayed in touch with Maire after finishing the book in 2015. Helena says she visited Marie many times in her home. They had coffee and ate her favourite cinnamon rolls while they were talking and laughing a lot. And of course they were crying too. They became very good friends while they were working on the book. Afterwards, unfortunately, they couldn’t meet as often as they would have liked, as Helena had to work and Marie lived far away from her. But they stayed in a very good relationship.

According to 24.hu, the end of the book seemed pretty optimistic: it was spring, Marie was preparing for Roxette’s summer tour, but from the epilogue it turns out that the band stopped touring not long after, because of Marie’s condition. They ask Helena if it was unexpected that Marie’s condition got worse. Helena doesn’t really know. She says that for Marie, touring was a huge effort already back then. All the stress, the tight tour schedule, the travelling would have worn out anyone who was in a condition like her. She had constant problems with her legs, she could only perform while sitting. Everyone knew how hard it was. She loved her fans and being on stage, but it was too exhausting for her by then.

24.hu is curious about how Marie spent her life after publishing the book. Helena tells she spent it at rest. She loved being at home and living by her own rules. So whenever she could, she was at home. She loved her garden and spending her time with her family. She could hardly walk and that caused her a lot of sadness. On the other hand, it was a relief that she was no longer under any pressure.

To the question if Marie had any unfinished plans Helena replies that Marie was a very creative person who could express herself in many ways. She talked about writing a book of poems and writing even more new music. She also wanted to write something about her mother’s life, to express her love for her and tell her story.

24.hu asks if Marie’s traumatic childhood due to the tragedy that happened in her family helped her to fight against cancer for so long. According to Helena it probably helped. She has never met anyone who has had the strength of Marie. She seemed very shy in a way, but she was as stubborn as a mule and had the power of a tiger. Neither as a child nor as an adult was she pampered. She always knew she had to fight for what she wanted to achieve.

Based on the book, it’s not entirely clear for 24.hu whether Per and Marie were real friends or just co-workers. Helena thinks they were good friends. They made this incredible journey together and had known each other for a very long time. As Helena saw it, their relationship was pretty close, but it’s also true that outside of working together, they didn’t meet too often. They lived far away from each other and Marie had to live a very calm life to be able to go on tour and get enough rest.

One of the most shocking part of the book for Bence Inkei was that a tabloid provided false info about Marie’s condition, but they could get out of it without any consequences. Helena confirms that there were no legal consequences. Marie might have been able to get them punished, but then they would have had to go through that hell again and that would have occupied their thoughts. That would have placed a heavy burden on the family when they were going through a difficult period anyway.

24.hu asks if it is a coincidence that ABBA appears only once in the book. If there was any rivalry between Roxette and them. Helena doesn’t think so. They were popular in different times and in different styles. They respected each other.

According to 24.hu, Roxette still has a very strong and active fan base in Hungary. They ask Helena where she sees the band has the most fans. Helena many times wondered how much love Marie and Roxette had received from all over the world. For example, when Helena and Marie had a book signing session together in a store in Stockholm, a South African family was the first in line. They travelled just to meet Marie and ask her for an autograph. Helena knows Roxette has a big fan base in South America and of course in Hungary too.

Marie described herself as a kind of “rock and roll personality”. As a last question, 24.hu asks how Helena saw it. Helena tells Marie loved this attitude. She didn’t want to look kind and harmless. She loved wearing black leather stuff and partied a lot before her illness in real rock and roll style. There was some kind of raw power in her voice through which she could express her true self.

You can order the Hungarian edition of Marie’s biography HERE.

CONTEST – Win Marie Fredriksson’s biography in Hungarian!

As we already informed you earlier, Marie Fredriksson’s biography has been published in Hungarian. Title of the book became Listen To My Heart – Hallgass a szívemre. A longtime Hungarian fan, Zoltán Dúl decided to translate the book from Swedish into Hungarian and fortunately, a publishing company, G-ADAM Könyv- és Lapkiadó Kft. (in cooperation with SzépKönyvek Kiadó) was interested in releasing it. Thank you, Zoltán, for the initiative and your work!

As you all probably know by now, I’m Hungarian too, so I was excited to see that the book would be available in my mother tongue. I’m a fan of reading books and watching movies in their original language and of course I read the biography in Swedish when it was published years back, but it’s a big thing that after several other countries, Hungary is the next one where this wonderful book is out. (I know, I know… still no English version. Sigh…) I was among the first ones pre-ordering it online to be picked up in the shop. The planned publishing date was 28th February and I planned to read it at the weekend, but due to a slight delay it arrived to the shops only on 4th March, so it became a birthday reading for me. What I liked to see when I went to get my copy at the shop was that among hundreds of different books waiting for being picked up by their new owners I could see several copies of Marie’s biography on the online order pick-up shelves, also waiting for their new owners. So lovely!

Reading the book for the first time in Swedish was amazing. Reading Marie’s story in her own words, her thoughts on her life and life in general, her childhood, her tragedies, the ups and downs, her illness, her fabulous family and her fantastic career was a rollercoaster of emotions. Heartbreaking and heartwarming parts are equally present in the book and Marie’s love for life and her always fighting, amazon personality shines through all her words. She won’t ever stop being an inspiration to so many people all around the world! Now reading it all again after 5 years and most importantly, after what happened on 9th December 2019, put some parts in the book in a different light. Impossible to read it without tears in the eyes.

As I can see there are only a few differences vs. the original Swedish book. There are much less pictures in the Hungarian version and there are photos that are not in the Swedish biography, but I think some pictures I saw in the books published in other languages. The leather jacket pics on the Swedish inside covers are skipped in the Hungarian version. The book is translated from Swedish, but the last chapter here is the same extra chapter that you could read in the German version. Otherwise there are no new texts. The only reference to 9th December is on the back cover of the book.

It’s very nice that the publisher decided to donate 1% after each sold copy of the book to Alapítvány a Daganatos Betegek Gyógyításáért és Rehabilitációjáért (Foundation for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Cancer Patients).

THIS site is in Hungarian, but this is the official website for the book where one can also order it with a 20% discount.

C-O-N-T-E-S-T!

The publisher of the book was kind enough to offer 3 copies of the Hungarian book for a RoxBlog contest. It’s probably most interesting to Hungarian Roxers, but maybe collector fans would also be glad to have an exotic language book in their collection. So anyone is welcome to take part in the contest.

In order to participate, answer the following questions correctly:

  1. In which year was Marie’s biography published for the first time in its original language and what was the title of it? – 2015, Kärleken till livet
  2. In how many languages has the biography been published until now, including the actual Hungarian release? – 5 (Swedish, German, Czech, Spanish, Hungarian)
  3. How many times did Roxette play live in Hungary? – 3 (1992, 2011, 2015)

Send an e-mail with your name, address and the correct answers to the questions to rxbcontests@gmail.com until 23:59 CET, 15th March 2020. The 3 lucky winners will be announced shortly after. Sok szerencsét! (Good luck!)

Contest terms and conditions:
– In order to participate, you have to send an e-mail to rxbcontests@gmail.com with name, address and correct answers to the 3
questions. We will consider all e-mails we receive until 23:59 CET on 15th March 2020.
– 3
winners will be picked randomly among those who have participated and sent the correct answers.
– You can only participate once, any attempt to participate twice or more times will lead to your disqualification.
– Prizes won’t be paid out in cash. Prizes will be sent by registered
mail only once.
– The winners will be announced on this website, on our Facebook page and will also be notified per e-mail. You’ll be required to answer the e-mail confirming your address.
– RoxetteBlog.com will not enter into any correspondence regarding the result of the contest and is not liable for any damages, loss or expenses that may result in connection to the prizes.
– By taking part in the contest, personal data (first name, surname, e-mail address and address) will be collected. These data are needed in order to run the contest, particularly in order to match participation applications to their entries as well as to identify and notify the winners. This method of processing data is therefore required pursuant to Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit b of the GDPR to fulfil contractual obligations. The personal data collected will be processed and used by RoxetteBlog.com only to the extent that is required in order to run the contest. The personal data will be stored for the duration of the contest and – in order to process any claims relating to winnings and damages – for a maximum of 6 months afterwards and they will then be deleted. By participating you agree to all above mentioned and your name being published on this website as well as on social media channels in case you win.

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE on 16th March 2020: 3 winners are picked. They are: Nikolett Házas, Gabriella Vadasi and Márton Mihályfi. The winners are informed via e-mail too.