Gun-Marie Fredriksson, known as Marie Fredriksson is a Swedish pop
singer-songwriter and pianist, best known for forming one half of the pop
rock duo Roxette, which she created together with Per Gessle in 1986. She
and Gessle achieved international success from the late 1980s to the early
1990s with a total of six top 10 US hit songs such as "It Must Have Been Love",
"Listen to Your Heart", "The Look", "Joyride" and "Dangerous". In 2002 after
fainting at home she was diagnosed with cancer of the brain. During her
rehabilitation she continued to make music, resulting in the album The
Change. She later reunited with Gessle to record more Roxette albums and
embarked on worldwide tours. Early life
Marie Fredriksson, who was born in Össjö, was the youngest of five
children. The family later moved to the small Swedish town of Östra Ljungby.
Being poor, both parents were forced to work, often leaving the children on
their own. Together with her siblings or neighbourhood children, Fredriksson
began to play music and sing. She was often asked by her mother to perform in
front of friends who were impressed by her Olivia Newton-John-like singing
voice. Her interest grew stronger in her teens
as she discovered artists such as Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and Deep Purple.
At 17, Fredriksson enrolled in a music college and performed in local theatre.
However, she found it incredibly boring, instead longing for the thrill of an
audience. As she put it – "I wanted to perform. I'm a performer." She became
involved in theatre, and after moving to the town of Halmstad, she found herself
involved in the local music scene. Joining her boyfriend Stefan's band
Strul, they played local gigs and even recorded a single. After that group
split, Marie and a new boyfriend, Martin Sternhuvsvud, performed as MaMas Barn.
They recorded one album together. Per Gessle, lead singer of the famous
Swedish group Gyllene Tider, shared a rehearsal studio with Fredriksson, and
they became friends. Per believed Fredriksson was far too talented to be
hiding behind keyboards in local pub bands and got her an audition with his
producer, Lasse Lindbom, who was extremely well known in Sweden. Lasse
was suitably impressed with her voice and offered her a contract.
Going solo: Het vind and Den sjunde vågen
Lasse Lindbom asked Fredriksson to record a duet with him, "Så nära nu",
which lead to her joining his group "The Lasse Lindbom Band." Gessle started to
encourage her to start a solo career, but she was too nervous and lacked
confidence. Fredriksson finally accepted, and she recorded her first
solo album, Het vind, produced by Lindbom. "Ännu doftar kärlek" was the
first single. Lindbom, Fredriksson, Per Gessle and
Mats "MP" Persson started a new band called "Spännande Ostar". That same
year, Fredriksson and Lindbom went to the Canary Islands to write songs for
Marie's second solo album. They returned to Sweden for the recording. The album
was released in 1986, under the name Den sjunde vågen. "Den bästa dagen" and
"Silver i din hand" were released as singles, and she toured as a solo
artist. Start of Roxette and Efter stormen
Gessle and Fredriksson had talked about working together for many years.
Fredriksson had done backing vocal work for Gessle's band Gyllene Tider, and
they had worked together on Spännande Ostar and other projects, including an
attempt by Gyllene Tider to release an English language album in America.
Fredriksson's career was soaring in Sweden, but Gessle – a former boyband
member whose solo career was not doing as well. Friends and people in the
industry were skeptical towards the idea of Marie collaborating with Gessle. His
idea was to form a duo, singing in English, and try to have some success in
Europe. However, during the 1980s, it was uncommon for Swedish artists to
perform in English. In 1986, she decided to team up with
Gessle under the name Roxette – the name Gyllene Tider had used when they tried
to release their album The Heartland Café in the US. Their first single
"Neverending Love" was a hit in Sweden, and Roxette's album Pearls of Passion
breathed new life into Per's flagging career, and cemented Marie as a major
artist. After the 1987 "Rock Runt Riket" Swedish concert tour with Roxette, she
recorded her third solo album Efter stormen. In February 1989, she recorded
a song for a TV Series called Sparvöga. Her song, the title theme of the show,
became one of her most beloved and best known songs. Fredriksson was now one of
the most well known singers in Sweden. Roxette's international success
In 1988, Roxette went back to the studio and recorded a second album, Look Sharp!
which once again returned them to the charts in Sweden. However, Roxette then
had an unexpected number one hit in the USA with "The Look" in April 1989.
Almost overnight, Fredriksson and Gessle were catapulted from being minor
celebrities in Sweden to major artists internationally who suddenly found
themselves traveling all over the world, selling millions of records, and
receiving awards. Look Sharp! was a massive hit, producing two US No. 1 hits
including "Listen to Your Heart" in November 1989. A third song from the
Look Sharp! album, "Dangerous", spent two weeks at the No. 2 spot in February
1990. In 1990, Gessle was approached by
Touchstone pictures to write a song for the upcoming film Pretty Woman. As he
did not have time to create a new song, he re-edited an old Christmas song and
gave them "It Must Have Been Love". The song was included in the movie, topped
the music charts for 2 weeks in June 1990 in America and became one of
Roxette's best selling and most well known songs. In 1991, a third album,
Joyride was released which gave them another number one hit in the US in May
1991 while another song, "Fading Like a Flower", reached the No. 2 spot in the
US music market in July 1991. They followed it up with a major Join the
Joyride world tour in over 100 cities during 1991 and 92. However, after the
tour, Roxette's future songs failed to enter the U.S. top 10 list again,
whereas in Europe and South America, Roxette continued their international
success with Gold and Platinum albums until the beginning of the new
millennium. Further solo albums, marriage and family
In 1992, Fredriksson returned to her solo career, recording the soul
searching Den ständiga resan. The album was her musical self-portrait and was
written like a diary, containing very personal songs about her life, feelings
and relationships. "It mirrors a four to five-year period of my life," said Marie
about the album. "It was a crisis, with hellish side effects. But I'm glad I
went through it." While touring in Australia in 1992 to
promote Joyride, Fredriksson met Mikael Bolyos, a Swedish singer-songwriter,
pianist and guitarist. They became engaged; Fredriksson gave birth to a
daughter Inez Josefin on 29 April 1993, and married Bolyos in May 1994. In 1996,
she recorded a ballad album in Spanish with Roxette and a new solo album I en
tid som vår. Her second child Oscar Mikael, was born on 26 November 1996.
In 1998 and 1999, Fredriksson worked with Gessle on the new Roxette album
Have A Nice Day. In 2000 Fredriksson released a greatest hits album under the
title Äntligen – Marie Fredrikssons bästa 1984–2000, followed by a summer
tour, later released as a live CD/DVD package called Äntligen – Sommarturné,
which has sold more than 350,000 albums; two more singles were released from the
album, "Äntligen" and "Det som var nu". She released all her albums in a box
set, Kärlekens Guld, which featured previously unreleased songs as well as
new packaging. Cancer
On 11 September 2002, Fredriksson fainted in her bathroom, hitting her
head and receiving a concussion. Scans indicated that Fredriksson had a brain
tumor in the back of her head. The diagnosis led to the cancellation of
Roxette's planned performance at the 2002 Night of the Proms concert series.
After waiting several weeks for the concussion to subside, she underwent
successful surgery to remove the tumor. It was malignant and she endured months
of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She had difficulties
reading, writing and counting for a period of time, and is now blind in her
right eye. In January 2003, Roxette were awarded the 'Royal Medal with Blue
Ribbon' by King of Sweden Carl Gustaf XVI. The ceremony was the first event at
which Fredriksson appeared after her operation. This was one of very few
public appearances she made during her illness. She withdrew from the public
eye for almost two years. On 21 October 2005, Fredriksson stated, "It’s been
three very difficult years", but in an interview with Jens Peterson published
in Aftonbladet, Fredriksson says she has won her fight against cancer. "I’m
healthy", she says. "I’m not receiving treatment any more."
Return to music About 6 months after Fredriksson's
cancer diagnosis, she and her husband Mikael Bolyos began to work on her first
ever English solo album. She called the album The Change which entered the
Swedish chart at No. 1 The first single, "2nd Chance", entered the Swedish
singles chart at No. 1. Soon after its release, The Change achieved gold status
in Sweden, according to IFPI. In conjunction with the release of The
Change, Fredriksson started a new publishing company together with Bolyos.
MaryJane Music was mainly created "as a home for Marie's solo albums", states
the label's website, "but as the musical collaboration between Marie and Mikael
continues and expands, don't be surprised if you find other exciting
projects with some of their musical friends released on this label."
During her illness, Fredriksson rediscovered her love of drawing.
Although she could no longer read or write, drawing was one thing she could
still do and she found a real passion for it. She had always been very private
about her artwork but for the first time she exhibited a collection of her
drawings in a gallery show entitled "After The Change". The vernissage at
the Doktor Glas gallery in Kungsträdgården featured 24 of her
charcoal drawings and ran from 21–30 October 2005. Later she released a book,
After the Change, featuring reprints of all 24 sketches.
In 2006, Fredriksson returned with a new CD of Swedish cover songs called Min
bäste vän in February. The first single released from this cover album was the
song "Sommaräng" by Swedish artist John Holm. "Ingen kommer undan politiken" was
the second single outtake off the album later that year.
Roxette reunion On 23 October 2009, Fredriksson
performed with Gessle as Roxette at the Night of the Proms. This was only the
second Roxette performance since the cancer treatment. The first one took
place on 7 May 2009 in the Melkweg in Amsterdam during Gessle's European tour.
In 2010 Roxette returned with a mini euro tour. After the successful
concerts, the band announced the first full Roxette World tour in 15 years
which began in March 2011. A new Roxette single "She's Got Nothing On" was
released in January 2011, and the new Roxette album Charm School was released
on 11 February 2011. Because of the worldwide success of Charm School,
Roxette continued their World Tour throughout 2012. In March 2012,
Roxette's new album Travelling was released coinciding with the new music
video and single, "It's Possible". In 2013 she released another solo album,
Nu. Discography
This is a listing of releases by Marie Fredriksson.
= Albums= Compilation albums
Joint albums = Singles=
See also List of Swedes in music
References External links
Official website MarieFredriksson.net
Marie-Fredriksson.com Official Roxette website
Marie Fredriksson Marie Frederiksson on Europopmusic.eu
Marie Fredriksson discography at MusicBrainz