Marie Fredriksson was a singer who became famous because she was the lead singer of the Roxette band.
Marie Fredriksson was a famous singer who left an important mark in the global music industry. Let’s find out more about her life!
- Her full name was Gun-Marie Fredriksson, but she was famous as Marie Fredriksson.
- She was Swedish.
- She was born on the 30th of May 1958.
- She was born in a small Swedish town named Össjö.
- Her father was a postman and her mother a factory worker.
- She was the youngest child among the five children of the family.
- She lost her oldest sister when she was really young, due to a car accident.
- She learned how to sing at a young age, while her parents were at work.
- She was a Swedish pop singer and songwriter.
- Except of singing, she was playing the piano and she could paint.
- She was influenced by the music of The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, and Deep Purple.
- She graduated from music school in 1977.
- Before she starts working in the music industry she was a bit involved in theatre by playing music.
- She became famous through her participation in the duo band named Roxette.
- But she was a pretty successful artist before her global recognition through Roxette.
- Before forming Roxette she was a member of a punk group.
- The band’s name was Strul.
- Strul created its own music festival in 1979.
- Following Strul’s dissolution, she created the next project which didn’t last for along time- MaMas Barn.
- Then she started releasing solo work.
- Her first solo album was Het vind and it was released in 1984.
- Roxette consisted of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle.
- They were globally recognized in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- One of their most famous songs was the song “Listen to your Heart”.
- Their international breakthrough came with the song Look!, which was ranked into the Billboard Hot 100.
- Roxette didn’t have a contract in the U.S.A. so it came as a shock to them.
- In 1990 Touchstone Pictures approached Gessle to compose a song for the upcoming film Pretty Woman.
- He did not have time to compose a new song because of Roxette’s recent international tour.
- A new edit of their 1987 single “It Must Have Been Love” was created, and featured prominently in the movie.
- It became their 3rd hit in the Billboard Hot 100.
- In general, they had 6 top 2 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
- These are the following songs: “The Look”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “Dangerous”, “It Must Have Been Love”, “Joyride” and “Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)”.
- After recording the 4th album for Roxette named Tourism, Marie started working solo again.
- Her solo career was inactive while she was having the big international recognition with Roxette.
- She has also collaborated multiple times with her husband, Mikael Bolyos.
- Their first collaboration was in November 1994.
- Her fifth solo album was recorded by Marie and her husband in their home studio.
- Its name was Swedish and it was named I en tid som vår,
- Fredriksson and Gessle collaborated on a new Roxette album throughout 1997 and 1998.
- Album’s name was Have a Nice Day and it was released in February 1999.
- In 2001, Roxette released their seventh album, Room Service.
- After that Roxette was disbanded.
- In 2002 she collapsed in the bathroom and was transferred in the hospital.
- She was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
- Following the diagnosis, she had surgery to remove the tumor.
- After that, she had chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
- In January 2003, King of Sweden Carl Gustaf XVI awarded Roxette the ‘Royal Medal with Blue Ribbon’ award.
- It was the first ceremony the singer attended after the surgery.
- The tumor left her blind on one eye.
- She also had hearing and mobility issues.
- This is why she couldn’t write or read.
- In 2004 after her treatment came back on track with a new album.
- The album was named The change and it ended as the 18th best selling album in the country.
- This period of her life was when she started drawing and painting again, despite the problems she had after the tumor treatment.
- She had drawn the cover of her own album The change.
- She also held an art exhibition.
- In May 2009, she joined Gessle on-stage at the Melkweg in Amsterdam to perform acoustic renditions of several Roxette songs.
- Roxette had a small reunion at the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling at Stockholm Palace on the 18th of June in 2010.
- After that, they had a 7 date European tour during the same summer.
- In 2011 they had their 8th studio album named Charm school.
- In March 2012 they released another album as well named Travelling.
- In June 2016 Roxette also released their 10th album named Good Karma.
- Her husband is a keyboardist.
- They met during a tour in December 1991.
- They got married in a private ceremony in May 1994.
- They only invited close family members to their wedding.
- Gessle was not invited.
- She had 2 children.
- Marie Fredriksson died on the 9th of December in 2019.
- She was 61 years old.
- The cause of death was a brain tumor.
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