TYLÖSAND - Norra Västerbotten newspaper publishes today an interview lead by the journalist Mikael Forsell, where Per explains, among other things, that he is not the “summer type.”

Gessle’s music has been, during the past 25 years, a soundtrack to the Swedish summer. Everything from “Sommartider” and “Gå & fiska!” with Gyllene Tider to his new album “Mazarin”. “I don’t know what it is about. I have tried to develop my music style, but it ends up with the fact that I can’t. I sound as I sound,” he states with a smile.


 Per is a synonymous to summer and especially Tylösand and Halmstad where he co-owns a hotel with the nice Laholm bay in the background. An inspiration? “I have never been the summer type. Actually I have never bathed here at Tylösand…” he says surprising the reporter, and goes on explaining “I was over there,” he says pointing some kilometers to the right to the beach called Frösakull, “my dad and mom had a summer house there, which was sold when I was born. But my dad and grandad have laid all the plumbing there.”
  “Then when the Gyllene thing happened one couldn’t be here. It was a myth crushed,” he laughs.


  Gessle has written many of the most loved melodies about the Swedish summer. His last album “Mazarin” was released just at the right time for Midsummer and it went directly to the top of the pre-order charts. The first single “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)” was embraced as the perfect summer of 2003-song - even though it is clearly mentioned in the lyrics that the story takes place during winter.

• Norra Västerbotten’s article (in Swedish)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Per Gessle is golden right now, the single “Här kommer alla känslorna” is the most played song in Sweden at the moment, and it’s at #1 on the radio show Svensktoppen. The gap, in points, between #1 and #2 has never been bigger.

  And now “Mazarin” shoots directly into the top of the official album charts in Sweden. “I’m speechless, I’ve never ever received such a unified response on an album before!” says Per to Aftonbladet.

  The superstar doesn’t take anything for granted, even though he’s had all his success with Gyllene Tider and Roxette. “Success like this is not common for anyone anymore. The climate is a lot harder and you don’t sell as much.”

  What are the expectations before the tour?

 “It feels like it’s gonna be demanding…” he laughs.



  “Mazarin” is still #1 in Sweden. Per is also #1 on the Aftonbladet “What’s in and what’s not” list. “Här kommer alla känslorna” enters the singles charts at #2 after Sertab from Turkey.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)
• Innelistan (In Swedish)

HALMSTAD - Next summer, when Gyllene Tider celebrates their 25th anniversary, the Halmstad museum plans to mount a major Gyllene Tider exhibition. The members of GT met with the curators the other day to brood over what should be placed on display.
They were all very positive about the future exhibit.

  Bosse Eriksson, antiquary at the museum, came up with the idea and he tells Sveriges Radio Halland that he expects the exhibit to be well attended – and by a slightly younger crowd than what the museum usually gets.

• Sveriges Radio (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - It was only one week ago when Per Gessle received a platinum award during his appearance at SVT’s Allsång på Skansen for selling over 60,000 copies of his new solo album “Mazarin”.

  Today we are glad to announce that, precisely two weeks after the album release, 120,000 “Cupcakes” have been sold, meaning Per sums up another platinum award to his collection.

  According to Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, the current #1 song in Greece has a special relation with Per Gessle. The song, “All The Woman You Need”, was written by Finnish songwriters Macke Granberg and Patrick Sarin. They both work for Tom Bone Music - a publishing company owned by Per - and the song was written during a 3-day songwriting session in Per’s hotel last year. Per had invited musicians from different countries to Hotel Tylösand to create music together. “The song was written in the sunshine on the beach,” Macke Granberg says.

  “All The Woman You Need” is performed by Hi-5, the first band in Greece that was formed in the Popstars reality TV show. Their album has sold platinum (50,000 copies) during its first two weeks.

• Ilta-Sanomat article (in Finnish)
• Tom Bone Music
• Hi-5 (in Greek)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Earlier tonight Per performed “Här kommer alla känslorna”, and the classic Gyllene Tider-song “Kung av sand” from 1996, on the TV-show Allsång på Skansen. Per was also awarded a platinum award (60,000 copies) for almost 100,000 sold copies of “Mazarin”. Per looked very surprised and pleased. On being asked about the audience tonight he exclaimed “The best! The best!”


  Per Gessle has been Allsång på Skansen’s dream guest for many many years. This time around Per felt that he had something to contribute to the program.

 Besides Per, the other artists who performed at Allsång were Buddaboys (Eva Dahlgren and Mija and Greta Folkesson), who sang “Budda is a girl” and “Det var dans borti vägen”, Jerry Williams & The Boppers and After Shave.


  The program will be broadcast again on SVT1 on June 28th at 17.00 CET and July 2nd at 12.10 CET.

• Allsång på Skansen
• Buddaboys

STOCKHOLM - Per has caught a bad case of bronchitis, due to the cold and wet midsummer in Halmstad, according to a report published in Aftonbladet today.

  “I sound like Louis Armstrong, it’s really troublesome. If I can’t sing, what do I do?” says a worried Per, who is scheduled to perform tonight on the live TV show “Allsång på Skansen.”

  Whether he will perform his two songs together with his band “Mazarinerna” or not, no one knows yet. “The doctor said that this must heal itself and that the only thing that helps is a good dose of rest,” Per tells Aftonbladet.

  The show’s producer, Meta Bergkvist, says they don’t have a contingency plan. “We’ll see tomorrow” (read: today). “If he’s not better then, we’ll have to solve it somehow,” she says.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Today the tickets for Per Gessle’s summer tour went on sale at Ticnet/Biljett Direkt. Already early in the morning three of the positions of Ticnet’s “Top 5” were taken by Gessle and, at the moment, four of the five positions are taken by Per. In addition, Halmstad’s concert has already been sold out.


  The other shows that are selling the most are Stockholm, Göteborg and Helsingborg. None of which are over 90% booked yet, according to TicNet’s system.

  Editor’s note: Tickets that aren’t picked up in time (within three days) go back into the system to be sold again.

• TicNet

HELSINKI - The international free newspaper Metro published a big Per Gessle interview in its Helsinki edition last week. Per’s album was released in Finland on the same day as in Sweden, so the topic is relevant. Per tells in the interview that the album was made just for fun.

  “It’s a personal record and made by my own terms,” he says. “I didn’t want the record company to mess up things. I’m tired of everything being so planned ahead. Everything is so narrow and adjusted in music business, especially internationally.”

  “I unsubscribed from the music magazines and stopped reading charts a couple of years ago. There was too much music I didn’t like,” Per says. “Actually, I follow the F1 season more than music business.”

  If you look back on your career as an artist, are you surprised how well you’ve done?

  “That’s something I haven’t been asked before. I think I am. At the same time, I think I am good at writing songs. That’s my main operations. If I compare Roxette’s success to its competitors, I think Roxette’s place in rock history is definitely well-deserved.”

  So, what’s a typical Per Gessle song?

  “At its best it’s short. I believe that if people like the song it will be played again. 2.39 - that’s a fantastic length for a pop track.”

  You have fought against music piracy. Aren’t CDs too expensive?

  “In my opinion it’s wrong if a whole generation is raised to believe that music is free. If you don’t pay the musicians, the music gets poorer. And if you compare the prices to the ones I pay for my son’s computer games, CDs aren’t that expensive.”

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - After the huge success with the album “Mazarin” we can hereby confirm the dates of Per Gessle’s tour. The album has reached platinum (60,000 copies) in record breaking time by selling in excess of 60,000 copies so far.

  Here are the confirmed tour dates:




July 29, Halmstad, Brottet - Sold out

July 30, Helsingborg, Sofiero Slott


August 1, Skövde, Boulognersskogen

August 2, Finspång, Rockslottet

August 3, Varberg, Fästningsrundan

August 5, Malmö, Mölleplatsen

August 6, Gothenburg, Trädgårdsföreningen

August 8, Kalmar, Kalmarsundsparken

August 9, Jönköping, Rådhusparken

August 10, Karlskrona, Sparregården

August 12, Stockholm, Sjöhistoriska Muséet

August 14, Sundsvall, Park Arena

August 15, Leksand, Sammilsdal

August 16, Karlstad, Mariebergsskogen

August 17, Eskilstuna, Sundbyholms Slott



 Tickets are 275 kronor (€30, $35) plus a service charge. Tickets are released Monday June 23 and are sold via BiljettDirekt/TicNet (0771-707070) and local ticket agencies.

  The tickets to the Sundsvall gig are more expensive (307-357 kronor) and impossible to get via ATG for some reason. One may have them send the tickets via registered mail though.


 Per Gessle’s tour is sponsored by AJProdukter.

• TicNet
• AJProdukter (In Swedish)
• EMA Telstar