JOHANNESBURG - Three weeks ago, “Centre of the Heart” entered the Coca-Cola Top 40 chart on 5FM in South Africa at position #20. This was the highest new entry for the week, and the presenter commented that it is very seldom that a song enters straight into the Top 20. Last week, it climbed to #15 and this week, it climbed another six positions to #9.

  Interestingly, the station’s website lists the song as “Centre of the Earth.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Obviously, we’re not able to publish an article about how “Centre” - or any other single - is doing on each and every radio station around the world. We’re leaving that to Jim Greulich and the few other individuals who follow chart activity. However, when there’s something exceptional, or when what’s happening at one radio station indicates potential success in an entire country (as is the case here), we’ll publish the story. TDR is happy to have a worldwide “staff” of reporters. Be one of them by using the “Submit Article” button if and when you become aware of any solid news item. - LEO

• Radio station 5FM

“Room Service” was released by EMI in Australia today, along with “The Centre of the Heart” as a single.

  Many fans have reported widespread difficulty in actually finding the album in stock, but that problem is expected to be resolved quickly.

  Graham Ashton, a spokesman for EMI Australia, reports that the company is optimistic the album will sell well, now that Roxette is getting exposure on radio and TV.

• EMI Australia

Roxette are preparing to shoot the video for “Milk And Toast And Honey” in the Stockholm archipelago on May 2nd and 3rd. This will be the third single release from their latest album “Room Service”.

  The second single, “Real Sugar” is expected to be released in early May. Per has said at Roxette.se that “Fool” is a strong candidate to be the fourth single.

NEW YORK - Roxette is at #3 with “Room Service” on the CNN World Beat Top 10 Album Chart, the first ever weekly rundown of the world’s best-selling albums.

  Hosted by Brooke Alexander here in New York, the half-hour program offers in-depth profiles and interviews with artists from around the world. World Beat airs on all feeds of CNN International, Domestic, and Airport.

HELSINKI - The next single from “Room Service” will be “Real Sugar.” Per told The Daily Roxette today that the video for the single has already been shot and that it will be something totally new - at least for Roxette.

  “We’re using puppets,” Per said. “Me and Marie are the only real people in the video. We have a puppet band looking like The Ramones. The video starts with two puppets watching ’The Centre Of The Heart’ video from TV.”

  The “Real Sugar” single is expected to be released as soon as early May. The director for the video is Jesper Hiro, who works for the same video production company as Jonas Åkerlund.

HELSINKI - (TDR EXCLUSIVE) Christoffer Lundquist, an all-around musician on Roxette’s two latest albums and in the band Brainpool (“discovered” by Per’s company Jimmy Fun Music), was playing bass in Roxette’s band here today. Speaking with The Daily Roxette at the end of their mini-concert here, he said that he has enjoyed working with Per and Marie. “They are really nice people,” Lundquist said.

  It doesn’t bother Lundquist that Per and Marie grab all the attention of fans. He was able to walk out from the studios without being surrounded by autograph hunters. “That’s the way it is,” he said laconically.

  At the press conference, when asked about a tour, Per only revealed that they are going to have a big meeting about it tomorrow. But when we asked Christoffer if he knew anything about tour plans, he said that the decision to mount another major Tour has already been reached. “They want to have a proper tour,” he says. “And I’m in the band.”

  Christoffer also told TDR that Brainpool is working on a new album. “It’s a rock opera and it will sound something like our previous album,” Lundquist said. That album, “You Are Here”, was their first without Janne Kask, who left the band’s lead singer position in 1997. The album was a flop, but Kask is not going to be back in the band. “We don’t want to work with him anymore,” said Lundquist.

HELSINKI - As you probably already know, Roxette doesn’t have a record deal for the US. They had a deal with Edel America Records (EAR) that was supposed to have included the “Room Service” CD out now, but it only lasted for one album - a Greatest Hits compilation. So, what went wrong?

  “We’re not used to working with small record companies,” said Per at a press conference held here today in response to a question from The Daily Roxette. “They are always like ’We have to move in 6 months’ and things like that. We’re not used to that. We are a big record company band.”

  Roxette has their entertainment lawyer in the States attempting to talk with bigger companies, but without success so far. The reason may be that Roxette is reluctant to lower their price. “If we’re going to have a record deal in the US, it will be on our terms,” said Per.

HELSINKI - Per and Marie were here in Finland today to promote their new album and The Daily Roxette was in the center of the action.

  The band had a very tight schedule. They arrived around 11am, held a press conference at 2pm, ate lunch after that, and then had a brief meet & greet with fans at 3:30pm. A live performance was recorded at 5pm and, after that, they rushed to the airport for a flight back to Sweden.

  The band was supposed to have done a live interview for TV-show Jyrki (a daily music program broadcast live), but because they were running late, the interview had to be cancelled at the last minute.

  Roxette was backed by Clarence Öfwerman on keyboards, Pelle Alsing on drums and Christoffer Lundquist on the bass. Per played the guitar. They also had a Finnish string section of four people. They played “The Centre Of The Heart” (twice), “Milk And Toast And Honey”, “Wish I Could Fly” and “Real Sugar”.

UPDATED Per has answered to new questions at the Roxette.se site. Here are the highlights:

• “Room Service” sheet music is coming.
  
• Roxette does have plans on releasing a compilation of b-sides and unreleased tracks.
  
• They are working on an US contract. “But nothing will be happen until later this year at the earliest,” says Per.
  
• About paying 200,000 SEK for driving Formula 1 car, Per said: “Don’t believe the media.”
  
• The album is out in the UK, but the first single there is likely to be “Milk And Toast And Honey” later in the summer. After the single release, Per and Marie are going to do promotion there.
  
• As discussed here earlier, Roxette is planning to release a DVD compilation before Christmas. “With lots of forgotten and unseen goodies,” says Per.
  
• “Room Service” has sold better than expected, 700,000 copies so far.
  

• Roxette.se (the official Roxette site)

UPDATED Sonera Plaza Kaista, together with a couple of radio stations and Iltalehti newspaper, has a competition in which you can win and meet Per and Marie in Helsinki, Finland on Thursday this week. Roxette will be then on a short promotional visit in Finland.

  At 5pm, Roxette will have a live show in the studios of the TV show Jyrki in the very centre of Helsinki, in Lasipalatsi. Roxette is going to play 5-6 songs that are recorded for a TV special shown probably in early May. Jyrki will also make their own interview which will be shown next week.

  Radio Nova will have a special Roxette day on Thursday. No further information on its content yet.

  As a sidenote, “Room Service” entered the Finnish album chart’s Top 10 this week, on its 3rd week on the chart. The album is now at #10.

  (Mari contributed to this article.)

• Roxette competition (in Finnish)