The Man, the Myth, the Concept.

  “I dag är det min födelsedag…” (“Today it’s my birthday…”) Per sang on “Mazarin” and while the song wasn’t written in January, it’s his birthday 46th today. The Daily Roxette hereby extends its wishes of a great one, from the staff and all the fans!

  Per also has promised The Daily Roxette a new project in 2005, so we await that eagerly. Is it going to be a new solo album? We’ll see!

STOCKHOLM - Last year Per Gessle’s hit song “Här kommer alla känslorna” was the most successful song in one of Sweden’s popular radio charts, Svensktoppen. “Här kommer alla känslorna” reached top 15 even in 2004, at #14.


  It’s not enough that one song is in the list for the second year in a row, Per has another two songs in the top 10 - “Tuffa Tider” (with Gyllene Tider) at #7 and “Tycker om när du tar på mej” at #3.


  Even if the two first spots on the list is held by two of Sweden’s other Billboard #1:s; Björn Skifs (Blue Swede) and ex ABBA member Benny Andersson (BAO), Per Gessle is the real winner with three songs in the top 15.

• SR P4 (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Earlier this fall Per Gessle opened a door toward participating in the Swedish leg of the Eurovision Song Contest. “Why not,” he said, “that may be fun now that I’m older!” Swedish Television were overjoyed at the possibility of getting the world famous star as one of four jokers in the contest.

  Now Per has changed his mind and closed the door. “No I’m not interested. What if I write a song and don’t win? I don’t need that kind of stress,” he says to Aftonbladet. “It’s like Michael Schumacher joined a go-cart race. And lost! Everybody would think ’damn, what a loser!’.”

  Thomas Hall, project manager at SVT, is still hopeful: “I can see how he feels he has done enough this year, but maybe another year?”

  Photo: Thomas Evensson for TDR.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards have been presented for the first time ever in Sweden. More than 100,000 votes have been submitted and 14 winners were presented at EMA Telstar’s venue Circus in Stockholm yesterday. To mention a few; Best Nordic Male Artist - Per Gessle, Best Foreign Group - Westlife, Best Cartoon - The Simpsons, (which is kind of strange it being made for adults.) and also Best Fart in a Movie - Finding Nemo (also weird as the “fart” in Nemo is in fact a mine exploding.)

  NKCA has been around in the US since 1987 where 22 million kids vote every year.

  The Swedish version of the show will be aired on Nickelodeon November 6 and on TV4 November 7. Acts like Lambretta and Melody Club performed.

• Sundsvalls Tidning article (In Swedish)
• Nickelodeon.se (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF) had their annual Swedish songwriter awards in Nalen, Stockholm on Thursday. Per Gessle received two awards, for the composer of the year and for the lyricist of the year. Povel Ramel received the lifetime achievement award, a hefty 10.8-kilo glass statue.

• Sundsvalls Tidning article (in Swedish)
• Swedish Music Publishers Association

STOCKHOLM - Reading yesterday’s Aftonbladet made Thomas Hall, project leader for Melodifestivalen song contest at SVT, bounce with excitement. “It would be a breach of duty not calling Gessle,” Hall says to Aftonbladet. Gessle’s song would in that case be one of the four “jokers” - songs that don’t have to be selected by the jury.

  “It’s important to point out that the song is the crucial thing, not the fame of the songwriter,” Hall states. “We will contact Per and have a constructive meeting. It would certainly be a feather in our cap to have him participate.”

• Aftonbladet article (In Swedish)
• Eurovision Song Contest

GÖTEBORG - “Maybe the concert at Ullevi wasn’t our best one, but it had everything else: a complete experience, a fantastic audience. With some distance now, and having monitored the editing of the film, I start realizing… how big that was,” Gessle says in an inteview with Göteborgsposten.


  “We’ve found some old, very funny, odd and unique footage – like from the recordings of Teaser Japanese, for instance,” says Gessle. This will be added to the DVD.
The fans don’t have to wait until spring. One of the big TV channels will show part of the documentary (about 30 minutes worth) around Christmas/New Year’s Eve.


  Asked if there will be a live-CD, Gessle says: “There are different points of views. I think that people would like that, but not everybody owns a DVD-player. Other people say that it’s old-fashioned to release a live CD. But hey… we are old. Don’t rule it out though.”


  Over the last couple of months, Per has followed the work of his Roxette colleague Marie Fredriksson. “Her solo album sounds extremely good. Marie is a fighter. I am glad that she is active again, I know that it means much to her after all this cruelty.”
  But he can’t say what her comeback means for the future of Roxette. “Marie and I are very good friends. Roxette is our little baby. Nothing is happening at the moment and we will see if something is going to happen in the future.”

  Next year will be a quiet one for Per Gessle. “I continue to write songs, but there will be no recordings. I mean, you have to stay away for a while to be missed. So, we will see… maybe a ’Mazarin II’ in summer of 2006?”

• Göteborgsposten’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - According to an interview with Aftonbladet, Per Gessle might be interested in writing a song for next year’s Swedish leg of the Eurovision Song Contest. “Have them [SVT] call me and we’ll work something out,” Per grins. Per has changed his mind about the Song Contest as it’s more pop now, before it was just strange, Per thinks.


  Also, Per is currently working on not one, but two Gyllene Tider DVDs! The first DVD is a live recording from this year’s summer tour and it will be released in the beginning of December. The second DVD is a documentary about Gyllene Tider’s tours and it will be released in January, 2005.


  Aftonbladet meets Per at his studio/office in Stockholm. They notice that the door to Per’s apartment is barred by a locked gate. “We had to do that because German Roxette fans slept here,” Per says. He mentions that he’s writing new material, in English, and that Roxette may well use these songs if possible. “It’s all up to Marie, I don’t know if she has what it takes anymore, or if she wants to. It’s a big machine releasing an album abroad. We haven’t discussed it.”

• Aftonbladet article (In Swedish)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - The award season hasn’t even really started yet and Per Gessle still can add two more nominations to his ever-growing list: one as “Lyricist and/or Composer of the year” at the Musikförläggarnas Pris (Music Publishers Prize) and another as “Best Nordic Male Artist” at the first Swedish version of the popular Kids Choice Awards.

  Both awards will be given out in Stockholm within less than a week of each other, on October 28th and November 1st, respectively. The Kids Choice Awards program will be shown on both Swedish TV4 and Nickelodeon.

Daniel Alvedahl contributed to this article

• Kids Choice Awards (in Swedish)
• Swedish Music Publishers Association (in Swedish)

SUNDSVALL - Next year Per Gessle will disappear from the limelight. “It’s a promise I’ve given my wife, Åsa. That’s all there is to it,” Per states in Expressen. He will be gone at least a year, during which he will be doing “absolutely nothing.” This is not due to Per being worn out, he claims. “Last year I did my solo tour and I was everywhere. This summer has been absolutely crazy with Gyllene. I can feel a fear that people might get sick of Per Gessle. Hence it’s better to stop and step off for a while.”

  One thing he’s planned for the leave though… he wants to see Madonna’s European tour, either in London or in Paris. “She’s a great performer!” Per says to Expressen.

• Expressen’s article (In Swedish)