Very sad news today to hear about the passing of the Swedish singer, Marie Fredriksson, only 61 years old.I was an enormous fan. I think she was the first artist singing in Swedish that I ever saw in concert here in Stockholm.
If you know of her, it will probably be as one half of per Gessle’s Dressed for Success Hitmakers,
Roxette were a perfectly decent pop band, with some very catchy songs that were Big In Brazil and many other countries.
However,on her far more personal and introspective solo albums, and in general when she sung in Swedish, she was sublime and reached a very special level of intimacy and intensity.
One of the greats.
Neela says
Very sad news indeed.
When she suffered her brain tumour, the doctor told her husband only one percent of the people with Marie’s diagnose survived for more than one year. That was 2002. She must have been one hell of a fighter. Rest in peace.
Kaisfatdad says
Marie featured prominently on this tribute album to the great songwriter Cornelis Vriiswijk.
I think it was the first Swedish album I bought. It sounds very 80s now but is still a cracker.
Kaisfatdad says
This song was a great favourite of mine back in the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuEOpLmUJg0
Kaisfatdad says
I didn’t realise that this Roxette song from 1987 began life as a Xmas record. And then it found its way onto the Pretty Woman soundtrack…
Per Gessle certainly can write a fine pop song.
Kaisfatdad says
Roxette were very big in the Spanish speaking world.
https://www.abc.es/cultura/musica/abci-muere-cantante-roxette-marie-fredriksson-61-anos-201912101313_noticia.html
They even did whole album in Spanish. Marie’s accent sounds pretty reasonable.
Neela says
A personal favourite of mine.
Kaisfatdad says
When the death of a pop singer eclipses the Nobel Banquet on the front page of Dagens Nyheter, you realise what an impact she made.
Kaisfatdad says
@Neela and maybe a few others will find this interesting.
https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/nils-hansson-hon-hade-rost-som-en-diva-utan-att-vara-en/?fbclid=IwAR1GOjVQ7sLXG4l_wazSsVC_2QDU8z8T3wTIaDa4HR9_o4SlTL-Ik7NRLiQ
Neela says
Yes. Very true. Thanks for the link!
You seem to be quite a fan. Have you read the biography that came maybe three years ago?
I don’t think us Swedes understand how big they still are abroad.
Kaisfatdad says
Not read the biog but am most certainly a fan.
They were a big hit in Spain and Latin America.
That is s lot of people!!
Neela says
Per once said about Argentina (or Brazil, not sure) that a Roxette concert was broadcast live on television during the Joyride tour. Meanwhile, the only other national channel was broadcasting a concert from the Look Sharp! Tour. Thus Roxette were the only thing showing on national television for an hour or so.
Kaisfatdad says
Sounds like a bit of hyperbole there, but they were muy grande in Latinoland.
Billybob Dylan says
I don’t think I’d ever heard the word “Roxette” before the Dr. Feelgood song. Was there a connection or was it sheer coincidence?
Neela says
That’s where they got the name, yes.
It was first used when Per Gessle’s previous (and then on and off until this summer) band Gyllene Tider were looking for a name when trying to go international with songs in English in ’84. Golden Times didn’t cut it, so Roxette it was. That first Roxette failed as much as the second Roxette made it.
Billybob Dylan says
Thanks for that, Neela.
Kaisfatdad says
Candles for Marie….
Waiting on the platform at Skärmarbrink this afternoon, I saw that there were candles outside the old EMA studio. There is now a threat that the building will be demolished and I thought they were a protest about that.
Later the penny dropped. Roxette recorded several albums there and the candles were in memory of Marie Fredriksson.
Interesting to talk to the chairperson of our film club this evening, who was a big Roxette fan bacl in their heyday. Like me she was very cut up about the news.
She saw Roxette live at Globen in the early 90s. I saw Marie touring Efter Stormen at Draken.
For her, they were a kind of Swedish Eurythmics. Sophisticated, sexy and Swedish and conquering charts the world over.
I just saw this on Instagram. I think I may need a hankie.
First Aid kit are the Queens of Covers and they do not disappoint.
Sitheref2409 says
If that lassie in the middle invited you outside, you’d be worried that you’d either have a great time or you’d get panned.
Magnifico!
Neela says
The American directing this video allegedly found it hard to believe the castle was an actual castle and not just built for the video.
The overblown arrangement and production of the song was slightly tounge in cheek, almost a parody of the power ballad era. Thinking a Swedish band would not stand a chance in the US anyway, they decided to at least fail gloriously and have some fun with the formula while at it. It became their second US no 1.
Freddy Steady says
Hats off to you Swedes. I like the fact she is being remembered very fondly whereas I expect most of us see here as a bit civilian.
Neela says
Well, yes @Freddy-Steady. Good point.
I think what makes her (and Gessle) so beloved in Sweden (apart from having a ridiculous amount of hits, which also helps) is the fact that all that success didn’t go to their heads. Remaining ‘a bit civilian’ after all that is pretty impressive.
Gessle became one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars when he was 20-21, Fredriksson a couple of years later. When Roxette started, he was a has been and she was making it big. Her management famously advised her against attempting an English career.
Look Sharp and Joyride both sold something like 800 000 copies in Sweden, a country with a population of – at the time – 8 000 000.
duco01 says
Did I ever mention that I had the seat behind Per Gessle at the Leonard Cohen gig at Globen in 2010?
Kaisfatdad says
Next table to Robyn at the restaurant, same Systembolaget queue as the Prime Minister, Behind Mr Gessle at a gig….Is there any Swedish celeb you have not rubbed shoulders with, DuCool?
Cards on the table now! Let’s hear about the time you were in the same moshpit at an Ebba Grön gig as @Locust.
Neela says
Impressive! I once had the seat behind Leonard Cohen at a Per Gessle gig. Not true.
Kaisfatdad says
Very amusing, Neela! In DuCool’s case, it probably would be true.
Come up to Stockholm and come to a gig with us! Who knows? You could find yourself sitting next to Crown Princess Victoria or Lord Buckethead.
Neela says
Wifey mentioned Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at the Globe in May. Not sure if she suggested it because SHE wants to see it or because she knows I want to.
Kaisfatdad says
Neela is right. They were real local heroes. Blue Swede, Ace of Base, Abba and Roxette are the only Swedish artists who have ever topped the US charts. Of course their Swedish fans were proud of them.
I prefer Marie doing her solo stuff in Swedish. Here she is in 1987, performing on @DuCo01‘s favourite TV quiz show. It has changed a bit since then.