TV

Per Gessle on Nyhetsmorgon interviewed by Jenny Strömstedt

by

Saturday morning Per was invited to Nyhetsmorgon, TV4’s morning show and Jenny Strömstedt interviewed him. You can watch it HERE on TV4 Play if you are in Sweden or HERE on TV4’s website if you live anywhere else or you have troubles with VPN.

Jenny introduces Per as one of Sweden’s most beloved artists. She says one of Sweden’s most beloved bands went on a farewell tour 3 years ago, but this week the happy news came about Gyllene Tider’s comeback. Here comes a little footage from previous tours and when the camera shows the studio again, Per is already sitting on the couch enjoying GT’s music that plays in the footage.

Jenny welcomes Per on the show and Mr. G thanks for that. Jenny holds up the Pop-Up Dynamo! vinyl and says Per also releases a new album under PG Roxette. She asks PG when he sleeps at all. Per replies he sleeps as rarely and as little as possible and admits he is busy with many things at once. There is always something going on.

Jenny says Per was on Nyhetsmorgon together with Micke Syd approximately 3 years ago and they talked about their farewell tour that was coming and now they reunite again. Never say never, Jenny adds. Per explains that it was really meant to be a farewell tour, but he thinks the pandemic changed everything. It brought him a lot of new thoughts. The whole new GT thing came after he bought a guitar. He bought the guitar and wrote two amazing songs that screamed for Gyllene Tider. The 5 guys met more often lately because of the upcoming GT movie and Per just asked them if they should record some new songs. Everyone thought it was a cool idea. This lead them to record a new album which is called Hux flux and a summer tour with the same name next year. The album is already finished. Jenny finds it exciting. She asks Per how he felt that those two new songs were Gyllene songs. PG says it’s a special kind of style, a sort of power pop style that sounds like only Gyllene Tider sounds. It’s very cool. Jenny is curious about what happens when the guys gather in the same room. Per smiles and says that not much happens when they just gather in a room, but a lot is happening when they play together. It’s just awesome. It’s cool to be in a band. He wishes all young people would try it, to play the same song at the same time and have a role in a little band. It’s actually a magical feeling.

Jenny says she thinks the band reunited so many times because the audience that has been following them over the years needs GT. When she saw Gyllene Tider’s last gig, which wasn’t the last one in the end, she looked around and everyone in the crowd was moved. She feels that the audience and the band strengthen each other’s life, they made this journey together. She asks Per what role he thinks a band like Gyllene Tider has in this generation. One big role is certainly what Jenny mentions, Per thinks. Mr. G says that the fantastic thing in his job, writing music and songs is that they really communicate with people, when they are getting married or meet or cry, etc. Songs mean a lot to people. That’s the power of music. So of course it’s amazing and it’s almost impossible to quit if you once started. It’s impossible to imagine that he would stop writing music or be on stage.

Jenny asks Per if he gets any kind of feedback now when he is on stage with Gyllene Tider and plays the old songs again. Per says, not really. He sings texts he wrote when he was 23, so he realizes that time has passed and he probably wouldn’t express himself the same way today. He tells he was on an unplugged tour earlier this year and played a lot of old songs in acoustic arrangment. He realized it’s very different when you are 63 and sing a song you wrote 45 years ago, because the song suddenly means something else. Even if it’s the same lyrics, it gets a different angle. For example, Ljudet av ett annat hjärta or När vi två blir en, these are songs he wrote when he was 20 or so. When he sings them now, he tells the story in a different way vs. when he wrote the song. Jenny repeats the title När vi två blir en while thinking about the next question and Per starts singing „… känna din kropp emot min…”, then he asks Jenny if she knows the song. They are laughing. Per explains the expressions in the lyrics are young, the declaration of love is young, those are young thoughts and young vibes. He thinks it’s important to find something you can stick to all the time while time goes by.

Jenny says Per goes on with Roxette under the name PG Roxette and releases a new album next Friday. Jenny heard there is a fan forum where a tough discussion went on if it’s right or wrong that Per continues without Marie. Per thinks it’s a relevant question. He tells that Marie quit Roxette in 2016 and it wasn’t obvious to Per to continue, but time passed by and he felt that he wanted to keep Roxette’s legacy alive. There are so many people all around the world who love Roxette’s music and he now tried to make a record that is kind of a sibling to Look Sharp! and Joyride. Mr. G says he didn’t try to replace Marie. He works together with the classic Roxette band and let the two girls – who were on tour with them during the „modern times”, if one can say so –, to come forward when they are needed.

With GT there were two most intense years, with Roxette eight. Per tells Roxette started in 1986 and ended in 2016, so it was altogether 30 years. It’s not more than half of his life, but almost. So all his adult life he lived with Roxette. Gyllene Tider ended actually in the mid ’80s and it became project-based. So it’s Roxette Per worked with the most. Jenny is curious what has shaped Per the most. PG says the success and the opportunity he got through Roxette in life has shaped his whole life and the whole life of his family. It became his destiny in a way.

Jenny asks Per if he sometimes can look back and reflect on all the huge success he had. If he allows himself to do that. Per says he doesn’t do that, he doesn’t like to sit and look back that way. Of course, sometimes when he talks about it, he reflects on it, but he doesn’t sit at home and looks at the golden records, for example. It’s the future that counts. It’s that he is a songwriter first of all. He started writing songs when he was a teenager.

Jenny asks Per where he gets the driving force from and that he can’t help it. Mr. G says he wanted to enter the pop world when he was a kid – 6-8 years old –, because the pop world was much more exciting for him than the real world. He thinks it’s still a bit like that. He likes to live through his songs. It’s tragic but true.

Jenny closes the interview with mentioning the GT tour next summer and she asks Per about the upcoming GT album. PG tells it will be released next spring, PG Roxette album is out next Friday and tickets for the GT tour go on sale on Tuesday.

Jenny thanks Per for coming on the show and wishes good luck with everything. Per says it’s always a pleasure and sends his greetings to Niklas [Niklas Strömstedt, Jenny’s husband].

Stills are from the morning show.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

Per Gessle on Carina Bergfeldt’s talk show on SVT

by

Per was a guest on Carina Bergfeldt’s talk show on SVT on 21st October. Actresses Lena Olin and Tora Hallström were the first two guests on the program, then Mr. G was the fourth, right after opera singer and actress Marianne Mörck.

You can watch the episode online HERE all around the world! Per’s part starts 27m 37s in.

Carina introduces PG as a music icon and before he enters, there is footage from his career shown, starting with him singing Flickorna på TV2 cut from Parkliv! 1981. Fun fact is that Parkliv! was directed by Tora’s father and Lena’s husband, famous director Lasse Hallström. Then comes a shortcut to an old TV report where the reporter tells Per „your lyrics are very much about sex” and Mr. G’s reaction is „well… are they?” Then comes a little Roxette and part of the news from 1989 that they became No.1 in the US. Per says „one of our dreams was to become No.1 in the US. That we have achieved.” From Sweden only ABBA and Björn Skifs succeeded with that before Roxette. Then comes a snippet from PG Roxette’s The Loneliest Girl In The World video.

Carina welcomes Per and the audience is very happy to have him on the show. Earlier on the program they talked about riders, lists of requirements. Carina is curious if Per can beat bathtub and Thai food. Mr. G says he is bad at riders. He doesn’t have any riders anymore, but rather anti-riders, what shouldn’t be in the dressing room. There shouldn’t be candy, because he would eat it up. He has no requirements at all, really. In the past, he tested the organizers a bit, if they could obtain expensive wines, but only one of them could do that, in Switzerland. Mr. G is still good friends with him. [Everyone laughs.] Carina says that considering them being world stars with Roxette, they could have asked such things as Madonna, e.g. repainting the dressing room. PG says they didn’t ask for such unnecessary things. „We came from small towns”, he says. Marianne pats Per on the shoulder and says „good boy”. [Everyone laughs.] Carina asks if Gyllene Tider had any list of requirements. Per’s reply is a no.

Carina informs that Gyllene Tider goes on tour again and asks Per how many times they will retreat. Mr. G tells 2019 was the last time, but then came this terrible pandemic and he had some second thoughts. It felt natural to go on with this band. He missed them. Per started writing songs and felt they sounded like GT songs. It’s a fantastic, lovely band. „I’m so happy that we are still alive and kicking. It’s wonderful.”

Carina says GT is a „democratic band” and is curious what it means. „It means that everyone agrees that I decide.” [Everyone laughs.] Carina says „so you are the president” and Per says „exactly”. Per says they have been working together for so long and they try to make decisions together. No one can be replaced and everyone has to have their say.

Carina asks if Per is as democratic at home as in the band. PG first thinks and then suddenly says of course he is. Haha. „When does your wife get annoyed with you?”, Carina asks Mr. G. Per says „often, I think”. He is quite busy and obsessed with his work. He works a lot. He is in his own little bubble and Åsa says he is giving birth all the time. He carries on his songs and projects and he is his work in a way. It has always been so.

Carina asks Per if he is fond of order and tidiness. Mr. G says he is, it’s good. Marianne asks Per if he is virgin. Per replies no and asks back if she is. Marianne explains she meant Virgo in astrology. Per laughs and says he understood that [everyone laughs] and says he is a Capricorn. Marianne thanks for the answer and explains it’s a sign of Virgos that they are cleaning and cleaning and deal with theatre an music. Marianne is a Virgo. Tora is Gemini, a typical Gemini according to her mom. Marianne asks for changing topic. Carina asks Per how we should imagine order in his home. PG explains he has always liked order and tidiness around him. Vinyls are in alphabetical order, photo books are here, music books are there, magazines are over there, in order. Yellow shirts are here, white shirts are there. Carina asks if Per is cleaning all the time. „Absolutely”, he replies. He always checks if there is a ring left by the glass on the table and he cleans it. Marianne asks Per if he has her number. Per says he got it earlier. [Everyone laughs.] Marianne also explains what order means to her. While she says she can find Christmas greetings from 1997 under her dining table, because she never sets the table (because she doesn’t have guests) and she eats in bed or in the bathtub, Per is not impressed. Haha. Marianne shares the info that on the other side, she prepares the tax declaration in advance and she makes notes of taxi bills with date, how long the way was and to where she went and why she was using a taxi. Here Per nods approvingly. Marianne says she shouldn’t share this info, but she has a collection of almost 40,000 Kinder egg figures and she will sort them out when she gets old. She thinks it’s fun. [Everyone laughs.]

Carina asks Per about what he is collecting. Mr. G says he is not a collector, but over the years there has been a lot of stuff and he has a collection of everything from records to guitars. He is getting old, he says. Carina is curious how many guitars Per has. He replies „way too many”. He doesn’t know, maybe a hundred. Carina says a little bird told her that he has exactly 125. „Was it my wife?”, Per asks. Carina tells she knows they are sorted in a very well organized way with photo and text. Per confirms. He says you have to keep track of your stuff. [Everyone laughs.] Guitars mean a lot to him. Some of them mean more than the others. He has written a lot of songs on them. Each guitar has its own personality and sounds in a special way. He has his favourites of course, which he plays every day, but others he doesn’t even know they exist.

Carina says she has understood that Per knows his life through his records, so she has prepared a test with some single sleeves. She wants to know what year it was released and what guitar was played on it. Per is happy to do the test. First is Joyride. It was released in 1991, recorded in 1990. It wasn’t Per playing the guitar, it was Jonas Isacsson and he played a red Arvidson guitar. Carina asks how life was in 1991. Per tells they had their first big world tour in 1991-1992. Those were crazy times, an 18-month long tour, 2 million people came to see them. Years 1988-1995 for Roxette were absolutely amazing. They travelled around the world several times and it was awesome to be part of the success.

The next sleeve shown is Neverending Love. It’s 1986, the first Roxette single. It’s not him playing the guitar, it was MP from Gyllene Tider and it was certainly a Stratocaster. Per explains he doesn’t play that much on the albums. [Everyone laughs.] Carina is curious about the story behind Neverending Love. Mr. G tells he was asked to write a song for Pernilla Wahlgren who had just been signed by a new record label and he wrote a song called Svarta glas. The record label refused to use it, which then felt tough, but Per translated it into English and that became Roxette’s first hit. Everyone is impressed and cheers Per. Mr. G thanks for that.

Carina asks the others if they have a special favourite Roxette or GT song. Lena points at Per and says they are approximately the same age. She says one of her favourites is „Jag vill känna din kropp emot min” [När vi två blir en]. It hits right in one’s romance and heart. Lena tells when she and Per once met in New York, Lena told Per she loved Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång). It also hit her right in the heart and it really touched her. There are many other songs, but these two are her favourites. Marianne asks Per if it was him who wrote a song that he wants to sleep with the girls on TV2. [Per’s facial expression is priceless here. Haha.] Carina corrects Marianne: „turn on” the girls on TV2. Marianne says she said it in an older way. [Everyone laughs.] Per also laughs and confirms it was him. „What were you thinking when you wrote that?”, Marianne asks. „It was kind of nice”, Per replies. „Maybe you meant to turn the TV on?”, Marianne asks. „Yes, that was the case.”, Per replies. „Is that a post rationalization?”, Marianne asks. Per replies: „Absolutely not. It’s your fantasy that carries you away.” [Everyone laughs.] „Is that right? You’re getting a little shy, I see.”, Marianne says. [PG’s facial expression is priceless here too. Everyone laughs.] Per says „it’s tough”.

Carina continues with Per’s new album under PG Roxette. Per goes on with Roxette without Marie. Carina asks Per what Marie would have thought about the album. Per thinks she would have liked it, because it’s kind of a cousin to Look Sharp! and Joyride. The style and the sound are very much the late ’80s, early ’90s. Marie really loved that kind of music. Carina asks how it was to make this record without Marie. „At first I didn’t want to do it, but then time passed by and I felt I wanted to go on with Roxette. But it doesn’t work to replace Marie, so I tried to find another form. I used my own voice, but also worked together with the two girls who were in Roxette’s band during the past 8 years when we were on tour. They have taken a step forward and sung when needed. I haven’t thought much more than trying to make a good Roxette record.”

Carina tells Good Karma was the last album Per recorded with Marie before she passed away in 2019. Carina is curious about how the recording session was. Per explains it was complicated. Marie was in a quite bad condition, but at the same time it was awesome that she was an Amazon in the way that she wanted to work all the time. They didn’t stop touring until 2016 and the album was recorded in 2015. It was an amazing session, but it wasn’t easy. Carina asks Per how he and Marie talked about life back then. Mr. G says when they talked about life, they rather talked about the past, the fantastic journey they did together. All their adult life they have dedicated to Roxette. They went through so many things together. They always felt like siblings, the same way as them 5 are like brothers in Gyllene Tider. When you go through so many things together, it’s like that. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to have that relationship in good or bad. Carina asks what Marie has thaught Per. Per says it’s a tough question. Marie gave him self confidence. She always made sure that what Per does gets a little bit better than it is.

A new tour is in sight, a new album is coming, as well as a Gyllene Tider movie and a Roxette musical. A lot is happening. Carina thanks Per for coming on the show.

Mr. G stays sitting on Carina’s sofa with all other 3 guests until the end of the program, so you can see him during the talk with the fifth guest, soccer player Pawel Cibicki and also watch him enjoying music while Hannes feat. Waterbaby play one song live.

Stills are from the TV show.

Top 2000: The Untold Stories – Roxette – It Must Have Been Love

by

You surely remember the Dutch TV program, Top 2000 that interviewed Per Gessle on 19th November 2019 at Baggpipe Studios (the old EMI studio) in Stockholm. In December 2019 they broadcast the story of The Look and they shared it on their YouTube channel in February 2020. Later, in August 2020 they shared an acoustic version of It Must Have Been Love. Per played it the same day they recorded the program and now it turns out there was a story behind IMHBL they recorded as well. It was broadcast on Dutch TV yesterday. You can watch it HERE (if you are in the Netherlands or via VPN).

Per tells the whole idea with Roxette was that they wanted to go international. They had success in Sweden, Marie was a successful solo artist and Per was successful with his Swedih band. Marie’s career was climbing, but Per’s heydays were over. Marie and Per knew each other since the late 70’s and they always wanted to do something together. She had an amazing voice, Per could write songs for her and they shared the ambition. Per wrote different songs for Marie than what she could write herself. There is Soul Deep for instance. She is amazing in that song. She never really wrote material like that. After the success in Sweden with the first Roxette album they were a bit disappointed because they wanted to succeed abroad. So they talked to EMI in Germany and they said they should write a Christmas song, maybe then it’s easier for EMI Germany to get them on the radio. Per went home and wrote It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted).

Per is showing the demo to IMHBL where he is singing. He says it would have been Marie who would be whispering the line they hear (It’s a hard Christmas day, I dream away), to make it more intimate, but they gave it up, it was corny. Per explains this demo was before auto tuning, it’s really out of tune and he laughs. He says it’s a really bad demo actually. They recorded the song and released it in Sweden in 1987 and it became a hit. It was a big song for them, but Germany didn’t release it, EMI Electrola hated it.

Then they forgot about it. Per started writing the Look Sharp! album. They had all the success with it, with The Look and Listen To Your Heart. Then in 1989 they had a lunch with EMI in Los Angeles and they had the rights of a soundtrack to a movie called 3000. It was about a guy who hires a girl for the weekend for 3000 dollars. They said that they have David Bowie on board, Go West and Natalie Cole as well, all those EMI artists. They wanted Roxette to write a song for that movie, but Per said they had no time, they were travelling all around the planet to promote Look Sharp! But Mr. G said they have a Christmas song and he could very easily alter the lyrics to it. He got rid of Christmas day that became winter’s day. They sent it to them and they loved it. The title of the movie became Pretty Woman. Per remembers he was in this studio (the old EMI studio) when Garry Marshall, director of the movie called him to tell that he loves the song so much he had given it a great place in the movie and there is no dialogue over it, because it speaks for itself and it just gives the whole movie a certain character in that particualr scene. Per thanked and put down the phone. The movie became a blockbuster and they were surprised what happened there. IMHBL became this epic song it is today.

Thanx for the hint, Ludo van Denderen! (He also shared a screen recording of the program on his FB.)

Per Gessle at Late Night Concert

by

Late Night Concert is a collaboration between Live Nation and TV4, which premiered this spring and was recorded at an empty Gröna Lund. The format was born out of the current situation when live music has fallen silent when concerts have been forced to scale down and is based on the idea of spreading live music out into the country and home to the TV couches.

The second season was recorded at Cirkus in Stockholm without an audience and is broadcast on TV4. The program can also be seen on TV4 Play and C More.

Per Gessle’s Late Night Concert day was 16th December. You can watch it HERE (if you live in the EU or can use VPN)! When we are on tour, we expect more and more people to attend the shows and now… we can be happy for concerts where there is literally no one in the audience. How weird this 2020 is. At the same time, we can be grateful that at least this way we can enjoy Mr. G’s performance. Who knows when it will be possible to go on tour again.

Per chose to perform an unplugged set and what a great decision it was! It’s not the first time he plays unplugged. We all remember MTV Unplugged from 1993. It happened at the same place, Cirkus in Stockholm and Mr. G was wearing a similar wild cat shirt. Now there were less instruments and no John Lennon sunglasses.

Helena Josefsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and Magnus Börjeson joined Per on stage. They played 9 songs (2 Roxette, 1 Gyllene Tider, 6 Per solo).

Setlist

  1. På promenad genom stan
  2. Småstadsprat
  3. Listen To Your Heart
  4. Tycker om när du tar på mej
  5. Ömhet
  6. I din hand
  7. Segla på ett moln
  8. Honung och guld
  9. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)

All songs sounded wonderful in this arrangement. I’m a fan of rock concerts and jumping in the crowd, but hey, I want this acoustic set in real life! Not the first time I’m dreaming about an acoustic tour, but now I crave it even more. I mean Per’s vocals were so emotional and Helena was singing beautifully and Clarence, Chris and Magnus were playing so softly, all that absolutely fit the intimate atmosphere. 3 songs put me into tears. Listen To Your Heart… before you tell her goodbye… Gosh… Then Segla på ett moln for whatever reason and then of course, It Must Have Been Love. Oh well, music and its effects. It was amazing to hear songs live from Per’s latest solo album, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig.

Between Småstadsprat and Listen To Your Heart Per talked about his MTV Unplugged 1993 experience. He said he played Cirkus several times, but he remembers most of all the MTV recording. They were the first non-English or non-American band that was invited to play on the program. He remembers that he was wearing a leopard shirt back then and that’s why he is wearing a leopard shirt now, to celebrate it.

Before playing Ömhet, Mr. G talked about being isolated due to the pandemic and that he thought to record an album based on his old material written in the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. His idea was to play all instruments himself to make it as personal as possible. He tried to breathe new life into those old songs. He thinks it became a pretty cool album.

Before It Must Have Been Love, Per talked about the story of it. He says it’s a super special song. It started out as a Christmas song in 1987 and it was a success in Sweden. The story behind is that their German record label advised them to write a Christmas song so they might get airplay on German radio, because they couldn’t manage it with their debut album, Pearls of Passion. So they recorded IMHBL, presented it to the German, but they didn’t like it. Then in 1990 they were asked to cooperate in the soundtrack of a movie then called 3000. They were travelling around the world with Roxette then and didn’t have time to record a new song. They thought to use IMHBL, just changing Christmas day to winter’s day in the lyrics, recorded a new intro and mixed it differently. The title of the movie was changed to Pretty Woman and became a huge success. IMHBL became Roxette’s probably biggest hit.

The concert was beautifully recorded from great camera angles. I could have lived without the ads in between the songs and it’s always better to see the support acts before the main act comes on stage, but other than that, concentrating solely on the PERformance itself, it was really a fab recording.

Dear Covid-19, don’t you dare ruin our 2021 as well! Besides many other things in a so called normal life, we need tours too!

Thanks a lot to Live Nation and TV4 for bringing Per Gessle into our living rooms and thanks Mr. G & Co. for the beautiful interpretation of these 9 songs. We want more of this! I just had to watch it again right after it ended. And I guess I will give it some more plays. Did I mention it was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.???

Stills are from the program.

Per Gessle’s opinion about the recordings:

Had a blast recording the Unplugged Late Night Concert at Cirkus in Sthlm. My favourite players and singers around me. Wunderbar.
Missed you guys out there, of course, but that’s the way it is on Mother Earth right now. Hope you liked it too and didn’t find too slow or too cozy. I wanted it to be intimate since we couldn’t interact with any audience.
If you missed it I’m sure you can catch it on TV4 Play. Love to you all! Stay safe + sound! /P.
For those outside the EU, TV4 uploaded Listen To Your Heart to their YouTube.

Per Gessle interview on Canal 13, Argentina

by

Per Gessle joined Canal 13’s morning show in Argentina via a video call from his office in Stockholm. Longtime fan, Tomas Dente interviewed Mr. G and after complimenting Roxette, Marie and Per, he asked PG how it is possible that even if they are so successful around the world, they could still keep a low profile, not having any scandals, being so down-to-earth, being always so nice and kind to the fans. Per told he thinks it has to do with the fact that they come from a small country and both Marie and he come from a small town and they’ve always been outsiders in the music industry. The music industry was America and the UK at the time, so they always remained humble and felt honoured that the world was interested in what they were doing.

Since the first hit in 1986, Neverending Love, their fans remained as much fans as they were the first day. It happens only to big bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Roxette. Why Per thinks it happens, Tomas asked. Mr. G thinks it’s because their music comes from traditional pop based on the 60’s and 70’s, being melody-oriented and those melodies continue to communicate for a very long time. Also back then, pop music had a more important role in the society than today. Today there are many more options of entertainment.

Tomas always tells every musician he does an interview with that he is a big fan of Roxette. He told 2 anecdotes. One of them is when he interviewed Bryan Adams, Bryan told Tomas he regretted giving the same title (Room Service) to one of his albums as Roxette. The other is about Duran Duran. When he interviewed them, one of the guys told him that he was mailing with Per. Tomas asked if Per has any big musicians who he is keeping contact with, if he is a friend of a big star. Per said not really. He bumps into people here and there. He has a lot of friends in the US and he was at a birthday party last year where he bumped into Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and the Cheap Trick guys. He remembers he bumped into the guys from Duran Duran. In the old days they met e.g. at TV stations. On a personal basis, he doesn’t really have such friends.

The host asked Per about Diego Maradona, if he heard about his passing away. Per said it was on the news everywhere and there was a 3-hour special in Sweden the day he died. He was a legend. Per is a soccer fan too. He comes from a small town in the West coast of Sweden and they have 2 soccer teams. Per is even sponsoring one of them.

The hosts asked Per if he remembers how he found out Marie passed away, where he was and who let him know. Per says he was at home in Stockholm and it was Marie’s husband who called him. It was a terrible news to get. Marie was ill for 17 years but you can’t be prepared for this news when it’s about someone that close to you. Per lost his family members in the recent years and also Marie. Tomas was curious how he deals with the sadness, if he believes in God. They know that Marie believed in God. Mr. G said he lost his mother, brother and sister and he is the only one left in his family. He said it’s very sad, but he thinks you have to go on with your life. He has his own family now, he has a son, you have to continue your journey. It of course affects you in many ways though. It hits you in your dreams and he is always reminded of Marie, she is still around, when he hears Roxette music for example.

Tomas shared a personal story at the end, that when his mother was dying, he had no job, no money and 2 days before his mom died, he promised he would go very far in his career and one day he would do an interview with Roxette and now his dream came true. The host and Per applauded him, they thanked each other for the interview and Per wished merry Xmas.