Roxette is a Swedish pop rock and soft rock duo. The lead singer died recently!
Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this Swedish duo!
- Roxette was a Swedish pop rock and soft rock duo
- Consisting of Marie Fredriksson, vocals and keyboards
- And Per Gessle, vocals and guitar
- They were formed in 1986
- The duo became an international act in the late 1980s
- Then they released their breakthrough album Look Sharp!
- Their third album Joyride, which was released in 1991, became just as successful as its predecessor
- Roxette went on to achieve nineteen UK Top 40 hits
- And several US Hot 100 hits
- Including four US number-ones with “The Look”, “Listen to Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, and “Joyride”
- Other hits include “Dressed for Success”, “Dangerous”, and “Fading Like a Flower”
- Before coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and Gessle were already established artists in Sweden
- With Fredriksson releasing a number of solo albums
- And Gessle being the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider
- They had three No. 1 albums
- On the advice of the managing director of their record label, they came together to record “Neverending Love”
- It became a hit single in Sweden
- After the release of Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus
- They return with the albums Have a Nice Day (1999) and Room Service (2001)
- They continued to chart in other territories
- Mainly in Europe and Latin America
- There they earned various Gold and Platinum awards until the beginning of the new millennium
- In 2002, the duo took a break from recording and touring
- Then Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour
- Gessle went on to release solo albums
- Reunited with Gyllene Tider before Roxette took to the stage together again for the first time in 8 years, in 2009, during Gessle’s European Party Crasher tour
- In 2011, they released Charm School, their first studio album in ten years
- It was followed by Travelling in 2012
- Their final studio album, Good Karma, was released in 2016
- Although the duo planned to release more studio material after Good Karma, Fredriksson’s health proved to be too detrimental
- And her death on December 9, 2019 ended the possibility of any further Roxette work
- Their songs “It Must Have Been Love” and “Listen to Your Heart” continue to receive wide radio airplay
- With both singles recently receiving awards from BMI for achieving five million radio plays
- They have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide
- With over 10 million in certified units from Germany, the US and the UK
- Achieving gold and platinum certifications for Joyride and Look Sharp! in all three regions
- Marie Fredriksson died on December 9, 2019, at the age of 61, following a long battle with a brain tumour
- The day of her death, the music video for “It Must Have Been Love”, which featured in the film “Pretty Woman”, had over 450 million views on YouTube
- Paying tribute to Fredriksson after her death, Gessle said she was “an outstanding musician, a master of the voice, an amazing performer”
