CORDOBA, ARGENTINA - One of the most important radio stations here in Argentina
played the new Roxette single on Monday evening.
The announcer talked about Marie’s illness and said
that “Roxette is like love: one can’t live without the
other one”.

  Some minutes later, he presented “A Thing About You.” The funny thing is… he played the “Mix Megapol
version.”

  “We had waited for the promo but it never arrived,
so we decided to play this version, as we’ve had a lot of
requests,” he said.

• Cadena3 > 100.5 FM Cordoba (In Spanish)

STOCKHOLM - Roxette’s latest video, “A Thing About You”, is now available in streaming Real format on two Swedish news portals. The story of the video features a woman and a man living next door, longing for each other. The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.

  It seems that in the Aftonbladet version, video’s aspect ratio is a little wrong. TV4.se’s version looks better.

• Aftonbladet version
• TV4.se version (both are direct streaming video links, Real Player required)

NEW YORK - Fans around the world reacted with shock, disbelief, and immediate concern upon learning that Marie had suffered a concussion. Those feelings have only intensified since learning the reason that Marie fainted in the first place.

  “I am shocked and can’t believe it really happened… I hope she’s soon fine again,” said ’gyllene_tjej’, just one of our readers who used TDR’s SmallTalk section to share their feelings.

  Melissa-Marie wrote for everyone when she said, “Really, get well soon! We all love you so much!”

  Once it was revealed that Marie had a tumor, Both Christos Skendras and Vicky Mankelow wrote to say that they had friends who also had such brain tumors and survived. Many fans echoed those thoughts, writing to say there was plenty of room for optimism.

  “Pray for Marie please, pray for her health,” asked ’Jc-Gina’, a reader from Peru.

One fan in particular, Judith Seuma, who has long served as a TDR reporter and was one of the founders of RoxSpain, has taken the time to translate articles appearing in the Swedish papers and to also create a site to send e-wishes to Marie. Many have written to thank her for her efforts to keep everyone informed.

  But it’s the collective love and concern for Marie that seems most remarkable. People have sent cards, many handmade, via the Fan Club. Not just on the pages of TDR, but on dozens of other websites, many based in countries where English is not the native language, fans have been expressing their concern and sending messages of faith and hope in Marie’s direction.

  In an attempt to encapsulate those best wishes, Marie Davis in Australia has started a prayer circle of sorts.

  “When I initially heard about her head injury, I was
worried but I thought she would be fine. When I heard
about the tumor, I really panicked. I was so worried
about her and I was crying a lot at first, but then I
knew I had to think positively or I’m not helping
anything,” she told TDR.

  What she came up with was a “prayer chain.” Davis explained, “I got the
idea from the Oprah Winfrey (TV) show. She used a prayer chain to help a sick little boy,
and it worked. I thought that at the very least, it will give us
something positive to do rather than sit around and
worry. I really believe that positive thoughts and
energy can help a person, and it would be nice if
Marie hears about the chain and feels really good that
there are so many people who care about her.”

• Prayer site
• “Get Well” wishes site

NEW YORK - As news of Marie Fredriksson’s accident and the resulting discovery of a brain tumor speads, reports have appeared yesterday and today in newspapers, and on radio and TV programs, in locations around the world.

  In an indication of just how well-known the singer has become as a result of her amazing career with Roxette, the story has been picked up by the major international news services, including Reuters, UPI, BBC, and CNN.

  The subscribers to The Daily Roxette reside in locations around the globe, and these reader-reporters have spotted stories in locations as far away from Sweden as Argentina, Brazil and Australia.

  While it would be impossible to cite them all, we’ve selected a few representative articles that you may wish to take a look at:

• CNN (USA)
• BBC (UK)
• Laut (Germany)
• Bild (Germany)
• O Globo (Brazil)
• Folha de São Paulo (Brazil)
• Rockol (Italy)
• El Mundo (Spain)
• SkyRadio (Netherlands)
• OE3-ORF (Austria)
• Verdans Gang (Norway)
• Zene.net (Hungary)
• Billboard (AP) (USA)
• Herald Sun (Australia)

STOCKHOLM - Fans waiting to see the video of “A Think About You” will get a chance tomorrow (Tuesday) when the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet will have the net-premiere on their website.

LONDON - The Guardian has recently published an article on EMI UK and its future. In this article, published September 6th, it mentions that Roxette has the potential of being one of EMI’s biggest artists for the forthcoming year.

One of the organizers of Night of the Proms concert tour, Dirk Hohmeyer of PSE-Germany, has posted a statement on the tour’s web site. Here’s a translation:

As you can imagine, we too were surprised with the messages from Sweden and we’d like to wish Marie a fast recovery. Roxette had to cancel all their commitments for the near future. However, their performances at the Night Of The Proms concerts are not cancelled. Marie and Per want to perform, if possible. Marie is currently undergoing some medical tests and we’ll have more news in a few days. According to the information we’ve got already, there is certainly no mortal danger, otherwise Marie wouldn’t have been able to go home. Everything else is just speculation and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

  The first concert is in Belgium on October 25th.

(Pascal and Roxeteer contributed to this story.)

• Original German message

STOCKHOLM - In an official press release sent to various media outlets including The Daily Roxette, Roxette’s manager reports that doctors have found a small tumor in the back of Marie’s head which probably caused her fainting episode earlier this week. The doctors will perform more tests before proper treatment can be determined.

  “[It’s] clear that Marie Fredriksson will have to cancel her commitments for near future,” manager Marie Dimberg says.

 The press release was sent out to help ease the intense pressure on Dimberg and others for information regarding Fredriksson’s health. Here is the entire text:

  On September 11, Marie Fredriksson fainted in her home in Stockholm and was taken to hospital. The fall caused a serious concussion and Marie has been hospitalized ever since. Several tests and X-rays have been performed in order to establish what caused her fainting.

  The results of these tests now show that Marie has a small tumour in the back of her head. More tests have to be performed before proper treatment can be determined. Information will be given when information is available and of course we are hoping for a positive process.

  It is however clear that Marie Fredriksson will have to cancel her commitments for near future. Marie is currently at home and under the circumstances in good spirits but it is of course a delicate procedure that lies ahead. On behalf of Marie and her family we kindly ask for respect of their privacy so that Marie, with the support of friends and family can proceed with her treatment and quick recovery.



Marie Dimberg

d&d Management

EDITOR’S NOTE / UPDATE: - Since the publication of this article, The Daily Roxette has been in touch with several sources close to Marie. While — according to her doctors — she is expected to make a full recovery from the trauma to her brain and head, a close friend confirmed that “she has a very severe concussion” as a result of having hit her head on the hard floor when she fainted. Doctors today (Friday) at Karolinska Hospital have been running tests on Marie to determine the cause of the fainting spell, as it is somewhat of a mystery. Marie gets dizzy when she sits up in bed, or tries to stand, but she’s spent time on the telephone talking to her family and close friends and has received visitors. Per Gessle is among those expected to visit this weekend, although there is also hope that she will be released soon,  perhaps as early as this weekend. Marie knows that her fans are concerned about her, and received flowers today from the Fan Club on behalf of all of her fans around the world. “They’re beautiful,” she is reported to have said upon receiving the arrangement.

STOCKHOLM Marie Fredriksson, 44, has been in the world-renowned Karolinska Institute hospital since Wednesday in serious condition, having suffered a concussion as the result of a fall she took at her villa just outside Stockholm.

  Here are the few details mentioned in the accounts published in Swedish newspapers today:

  “She is really tired, but in a good mood,” says her manager Marie Dimberg. “She fell, I can’t say more.”

  She was taken to the neurology department in the hospital where doctors state she was experiencing a serious concussion. A concussion (the result of head trauma) can last for some weeks.

  “She has a really serious concussion, she is not feeling fine,” Dimberg said. Yesterday, Fredriksson was conscious and her manager could talk for a while with her. “I don’t know right now how long she will have to stay,” she said.

  Dimberg got to know what had happened Tuesday afternoon in a phone call from Marie’s husband, Micke, 45.

  Micke and Marie met in Australia, at the end of Roxette’s Joyride tour. Soon after that meeting they got engaged, and after a bit more than a year they had
their first baby, Josefin. In 1994, they got married.

  As of last night, her brother, Sven-Arne, was not really informed about what had happened. “I am shocked, it came so suddenly. I had not heard anything,” he said.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Expressen’s article (In Swedish)
• Svenska Dagbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• “Get Well” wishes (Messages will be forwarded to Marie)

ANTWERP - Marie Fredriksson, who was supposed to make an appearance at a Night of the Proms news conference, fainted in her bathroom and was taken to a hospital according to a report by Belgian radio station Q-Music.

  TDR reader Cathy Carlier, who runs the Belgian division of the Official Fan Club, heard (or read) this report and contacted the station. She spoke with Alexandra Potvin who explained that Marie was supposed to attend the press conference this afternoon, but due to the fainting spell, she could not be present. The NOTP organization said it was nothing very serious.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We at The Daily Roxette, speaking – we feel – on behalf of all of our readers, join Cathy and the OIRFC in wishing Marie all the best.

• Belgian Division, OIRFC (In English!)