STOCKHOLM - The Swedish tabloid Expressen published a short interview with Bengt Gessle, Per’s older brother, today. According to Bengt, Per writes poor, uninteresting lyrics and Per admits it himself.

  “I mentioned this to him last year and he simply said that he can’t write any other way, so he sticks to what he can write,” explained Bengt to Expressen’s reporter Tony Kaplan. On the other hand, Per’s brother, who is a lawyer in Helsingborg, believes that Per has improved - a lot! - as an artist throughout the years. “He has learnt his routine on stage and that makes him more confident.”


  “I’ve seen Gyllene Tider twice this summer and will see them again in Göteborg,” Bengt said, “but I am not a real Gyllene Tider fan.” Bengt revealed his favourite artists are Tommy Körberg, Eva Dahlgren and Helen Sjöholm with Benny Andersson’s orchestra. “And among the international artists, my favorites are John Lennon, the Beatles and the Stones.”

• Expressen’s article (in Swedish)
• Tommy Körberg
• Eva Dahlgren
• Helen Sjöholm

STOCKHOLM - A sold out Ullevi; 120,000 copies sold of “Finn Fem Fel” in 23 days; 412,000 sold tickets to see Gyllene Tider this summer. But success also has a negative side. “My head feels really tired right now,” said Per Gessle to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.


  Per confesses that it’s really tiring to write, record an album, go on tour.. and then start the process again. “I don’t think I will do this again,” he said to reporter Ronnie Sandahl. “It is simply too stressful to get involved in such big projects every year,” explained Per. “It was possible to release an album every year and be constantly on tour, but now this doesn’t work anymore.”


  The pressure for Gyllene Tider’s tour is really big as Ullevi is sold out, Stockholm’s stadium will be full twice and 412,000 tickets have already been sold. But the shows won’t be cancelled as Per explains that even if he is very tired right now, he feels a great energy “because it’s very fun to play with Gyllene Tider.”


  Per plans to go on a vacation after the tour and doesn’t think he will get involved in anything else in the near future. “It will take some time till the next project. I have to find time to start to write songs again. I have to give myself time to gather new strength so that what I do has substance,” he said.


  Crashroxer contributed to this article

• Aftonbladet’s article

STOCKHOLM - A grand piano currently owned by Per Gessle is going to be auctioned later this month by Lilla Bukowskis Auctions. The instrument is manufactured by Steinway in 1896-97. Per bought it seven years ago.

  “Since then it has been in my studio in Stockholm and been the mother to all the material I’ve written between 1997 and 2004,” writes Per in a letter attached in the auction.

  The starting bid is 50,000 SEK (€5,470). It is believed that the price will go higher than that.

• Per’s grand piano in Lilla Bukowskis catalogue
• Expressen article (in Swedish)

HALMSTAD - Beda Hallberg, the woman who came up with the idea almost a hundred years ago of selling small paper flowers on May Day to raise funds to fight tuburculosis, was declared the ’Halland Resident of All Time’ last night in a contest in which Per Gessle had also been a finalist. The contest, sponsored by the Museum of Halmstad, was designed to draw attention to a special exhibition that opened yesterday.

  This museum is the very same that will mount the Gyllene Tider exhibition this summer.

STOCKHOLM - “Mazarin” climbs to #3 again this week and has been awarded a fifth platinum award! That’s over 300,000 albums sold. Also on the Swedish record industry’s own chart: “Tycker om när du tar på mej” falls to #19 from #17.

STOCKHOLM - Last night, at Bern’s in Stockholm, Per Gessle collected four Grammis awards (the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy) out of seven nominations. He got the heaviest award; “Artist of the Year”, and also “Song of the Year” with “Här kommer alla känslorna” (the only category that wasn’t voted by a jury - Per got 65% of the votes), “Male Pop of the Year” and finally “Composer of the Year”. “I’m gonna party now, Åsa and I have even gotten a baby sitter!” Per says in Aftonbladet. “I’m so happy,” he continues, “I’m going to keep the awards at home for a while, just to look at them!”

  Pop group Kent holds the record by getting seven Grammis awards at the same time.

  The Swedish Grammis Award is, according to the record industry, the grandest prize an artist can get. According to the artists themselves it has a rather low status, since the nominations and winners usually are “politically” appointed. One record company can’t get too many awards.

  The other three categories Per was nominated in were won by these acts: “Lyricist of the Year” rapper Timbuktu, “Producer of the Year” Jocke Berg and Simon Nordberg, “Album of the Year” The Cardigans.

  The show was broadcast on TV4.

• Aftonbladet’s TT article (In Swedish)
• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

HALMSTAD - As reported earlier this week, Per Gessle has been nominated as “Hallander of All Time” (Tidernas Hallänning). This contest-of-sorts is being promoted by both of the newspapers serving the Halland region. It is designed to create interest in a new exhibition on the cultural history of the region that will open at the Museum of Halland on February 29th. This is the same museum the will house a Gyllene Tider exhibit this summer.

  The six nominees are:

• Bockstensmannen (1300’s, first half) A man who lived in Halland in the 14th century. His well-preserved corpse was found by a farmer in Varberg in 1936.

• Olof Von Dalin (1708-1763) Journalist, historian, poet and illustrator.

• August Bondeson (1854-1906) Doctor and writer who portrayed the lives of common people.

• Beda Hellberg (1869-1945) Created the May Day flower campaign to benefit tuberculosis treatment and research.

• Ernst Wigforss (1881-1977) Politician, professor and writer.

• Per Gessle (b. 1959) Artist and songwriter.

  Among the finalists nominated, Gessle is the only one still living, while the nominee who dates back the furthest is “Bockstensmannen,” a man who lived in the early 14th century and whose well-preserved remains were discovered in a local bog in 1936 by a father and son out on a hike.

  Ballots have appeared in the newspapers, with readers encouraged to mail in their selection to the museum. The winner will be revealed at the opening reception.

  When Mårten Samuelson, Hallands Nyheter’s reporter contacted Per just over a week ago, he was involved with the recording of Gyllene Tider’s new record and in a very good mood.

  “He he he, what a gang!” says Per when informed as to who the other nominees were. “It is of course flattering to be named along with the Bockstensman. The others I’ve heard about, but who is Beda Hellberg?”

  Ted Holgersson and Judith Seuma contributed to this article.

• Museum of Halmstad (Limited content in English)

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STOCKHOLM - Per got one out of four nominated awards at Radio NRJ Awards in Stockholm tonight. He won “Best Swedish Male Artist” but lost “Best Swedish Song” to Lisa Miskovsky and her “Lady Stardust”, co-written by Jocke Berg of Kent. Both of his “Nordic” nominations went to The Rasmus. Per also performed a lip-sync version of “Här kommer alla känslorna”.

GÖTEBORG - Per Gessle was nominated in two categories in Sweden’s national radio’s “P3 Guld” awards. This time he wasn’t lucky enough to get any trophies home. The public voted Moneybrother as the male artist of the year with his “Blood Panic” album. Moneybrother also received two other awards. In the other one of Per’s categories - the song of the year - the winner was rapper Timbuktu with “The botten is nådd”.

• Svenska Dagbladet article (in Swedish)
• P3 Guld

STOCKHOLM - All of the publicity surrounding the success with Per’s “Mazarin” has propelled the album back to the top of the Swedish album charts. The album ended its 11 week run at the top in September and has remained in the top 20 since it was released in June of last year.

  Meanwhile, on the singles chart, “Tycker om när du tar på mig” is at #11 in it’s 6th week, doing much better on the charts than “På promenad genom stan.”

Daniel Alvedahl contributed to this article.