HELSINKI - As we reported in October, Roxette is releasing a power pop hits compilation as a follow-up to their “Ballad Hits” album. In an interview with the Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, Per says that the release is planned for March of next year. He also says that Marie joined him in the studio a couple of weeks ago [also previously reported]. They spent three hours together and finished the recordings of the two new songs which will be released on the pop hits album.

  “The album is now ready for release,” Per told the newspaper.

• Ilta-Sanomat article

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - After eight years of hard work, Robert Thorselius’s Roxette and related discography book “The Look For Roxette - The Illustrated Worldwide Discography & Price Guide” will finally be published during the first week of December.


  With a preface written by Per Gessle, the hardcover book has 592 pages. It includes a full worldwide discography and videography of items released by Roxette and Gyllene Tider along with any others related to Per Gessle’s or Marie Fredriksson’s work. Extensive biographical information is also included, as well as a ’tourography’ that covers all solo and Roxette tours, plus specific single performances. The text portion of “The Look For Roxette” is written in English.



Where did the title come from?

  “The publisher wanted something that was both catchy and sounded like a Roxette title. So I came up with ’The Look For Roxette’ as the title. as it’s sort of a word play on ’The Look’ as a single… and looking for Roxette records. I do realize that it’s not totally correct English,” Robert says with a smile.


  As Per revealed to The Daily Roxette during our exclusive interview with him, the first edition of the book (3,000 copies) will include an EP with the four previously unreleased tracks listed below:

   1. Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, July 1995. Micke Syd on “live drums”!

   2. I Do Believe - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, July 24th, 1999.

   3. Looking for Jane - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, February 15th, 2000.

   4. Waiting for the Rain - demo recorded at Studio Vinden, Djursholm, 1997. Recorded by “Marie and friends”.

  “When the idea for a bonus EP came up, I talked to Per to see if this would be possible,” Robert grins, “and to my surprise he was all for it!” So when the first suggestion came from Per the EP contained Gyllene Tider’s “Henry, Dansa Inte Disco!” and Roxette’s “7Twenty7” demo, among others. “Of course, ’7Twenty7’ was already published as a B-side of ’Stars’… Then Per came up with this suggestion. I think it’s a pretty decent EP, wouldn’t you say?” The important thing about the EP, according to Robert, is that the material was previously unreleased and new to all fans.

• Premium Publishing’s website
• Pre-order the book here

Read more…

OSLO - Continuing on with his promotion tour for the upcoming compilation album, Per Gessle will be in Norway tomorrow, November 15th.

  In addition to meeting with various journalists including a reporter from Aftenposten, he will be a guest on Norwegian TV channel NRK1’s program “Først & sist.” The program is shown between 21:25 and 22:15 CET.

  Marius Ellingsen contributed to this article.

• NRK’s website

LOS ANGELES - According to a Reuters report yesterday, EMI has taken further steps to allow for registered downloading of its artists’ music from the Internet. In addition to the service offered by PressPlay that we reported about earlier this year, nine contracts have been signed with service providers, which will allow access to music online.

• Full story (As published on Yahoo UK)

Continuing to visit European locations in support of the “Ballad Hits” release, Per Gessle will be doing promo in Helsinki this Thursday, November 14th, and in Oslo on Friday, November 15th.

STOCKHOLM - After only being on the market a week, “The Ballad Hits” have reached gold status (30,000 copies) in Sweden.

  To promote Gold and Platinum awards in Sweden, the sales limits were lowered a few years ago. The previous limits were 50,000 and 100,000 respectively.

• Dagens skiva (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle was the featured guest on Swedish TV4’s “Nyhetsmorgon” program this past Saturday, November 9th.


 The interview segment, which was really personal, started by showing shots from old Gyllene Tider videos, followed by Roxette ones, from older to newest; of course, Per and the program host, couldn’t help laughing about the look both Per and Marie had 15 years ago. When asked about how long he will keep on doing his thing Per says “I’ll be standing on a stage in Gävle when I’m 75, singing ’Flickorna på TV2’!”


 They went on talking about Marie’s illness, life and future. “I can’t really say now what the future will bring,” he says, “we have to wait some months and see what Marie will decide for her future”. In the last part of the interview, Per talked mostly about two of his favorite vinyl albums and about the music business world. “It certainly has changed a lot during my 20 or so years in the business,” he says. He also mentions that “The Look” is still his favorite Roxette song. “It’s hard to write something that sounds so simple.”

Despite Roxette’s the successful career, Per is a bit disappointed with the fact that they never got the kind of acknowledgement they would deserve from the Swedish media: Roxette has only won one Grammy (’Grammis’), and so has Per, as best songwriter, but Clarence hasn’t even been nominated, “I believe that if we would have been an English band, the treatment would have been different, and Clarence would be Sir Clarence by now,” adds Per, half serious.


 Per is also sorry that they had to cancel the Night of the Proms. The host asked if millions of kronor wouldn’t have to be paid back to disappointed fans. Per replied that he assumes so, but that Roxette has been replaced by another act, as TDR previously reported.


 The TV channel has made the interview partly available in stream format on their website. To watch it click the links below.



Vivien contributed to this article

• Listen to the interview - Part I
• Listen to the interview - Part II (In Swedish - Real Audio required)

COPENHAGEN - It’s a Danish newspaper this time that has published an interview with Per. He was in Denmark on the return leg of his Roxette promo tour.

  The journalist starts out the interview by asking Per about the day he found out about Marie’s illness. As reported previously, he was riding in a cab on the way to the airport when his mobile phone rang and he learned the horrible news.

  He says that it’s still hard to understand that this is for real and that he thinks of Marie as a sister.

  Per also says that Marie was in the studio this week. “It was fantastic to see her being able to work,” says Per. “She did a good job,” he says, “but it will still take many months before she will really know what she wants for the future.”

  He went on to say that even if they’ve both given interviews on their own before, it’s still better when they are together. The circumstances make it worse.

  “Our fans were very shocked [about the news], but after getting themselves together, they’ve sent thousands of e-mails. Something that Marie thinks highly of”. “Our fans have been amazing. They are extremely loyal. We have a special communication with them,” he says with a smile.

  He ends the interview by saying that this is not the end for Roxette.

• Berlingske Tidendes’s online article (In Danish)

ZURICH (UPDATED) - As we previously reported, Per Gessle is on a promotional tour and today, he met with Swiss journalists and appeared on both VivaSwizz, a music TV channel, and a Swiss national radio station program.

  Asking questions in English, and then translating the responses into German, the DRS3 radio host (see webcam pic at left) covered a variety of topics in a short time… from ballads to touring to solo projects.


Q: How do you decide who sings each song?

Per: We let the song decide if the lyrics are meant to be sung by a girl or guy. Most of songs are written for Marie to sing.



Q: Roxette is famous for the ballads, but you also have a rock-side.

P: It’s one side of Roxette. Most people recognise Roxette for the ballads, Marie’s voice is very sensitive, vulnerable, and fits the melodies. It’s a great combination. But we also have a power-pop side, and actually we have an up-tempo compilation coming in March next year. It’s great to mix our voices and to have such a band, that’s able to sing both kind of songs.



Update: You can listen to the full interview in DRS3 website, you just have to follow the links below.

• Listen to the interview - Part I
• Listen to the interview - Part II (Real Audio required)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Tabloid newspapers and entertainment magazines often publish “in” and “out” lists. The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet is no exception, and this week, they’ve put Marie Fredriksson at the very top of their “who’s in” list.

  In today’s edition, they write that Marie is Sweden’s hottest personality: “Marie Fredriksson: the blonde who is an international star and front figure in Roxette. She’s had a successful Swedish solo career, but she is In right now with the new album ’The Ballad Hits’.”

• Aftonbladet’s list (In Swedish)