COPENHAGEN - Per Gessle was on the sports news this evening.

  Having spent the entire day in Denmark doing promotion (such as interviews with different newspapers like EkstraBladet and BT), Per met with a Danish former (almost) Formula 1 driver (he was in an accident and became paralysed from the waist down). They drove around in some high-performance car, and the segment was shown on Danish TV2.

STOCKHOLM - Swedish tabloid Expressen reports that Per Gessle’s, Björn Ulvaeus’, Tomas Ledin’s, Peter Jöback’s and Meja’s IT company, Fame Studios, continues to have financial problems. Per and the others are partners in that company, which still has to pay taxes and is fighting with sinking income.

  Fame Studios is responsible for websites such as ABBA, Chess, Tomas Ledin, and Roxette. The companies subsidiary, Fame Development, has tax debts amounting to 15,000 SEK.

  Neither Ledin nor Jöback wanted to comment on the situation according to Expressen’s article.

FRANCE - Per Gessle’s collaboration with Swedish singer/songwriter Lisa Lindebergh resulted in a song called “Rainclouds” which received a French lyric and the title “Depuis La Nuit des Temps.”

  This song has been recorded by the French group “What For” and has just been released. “What For” are the French winners of the TV-show “Popstars,” and the song is included on their self-titled debut CD.

Lindebergh, who goes by the name “Lisa L,” is a TomBone/Jimmy Fun artist who in 2000 released her second album, “Sparkling,” on the Sony Music label. She is a busy songwriter and two of her recent songs appear on the
Peter Jöback album “Only When I Breathe.”

• Jimmy Fun’s Lisa L page (In Swedish)
• Sony’s Lisa L page (In Swedish)
• What For on Popstars (In French)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle has contributed the music to one of the songs featured on Rikard Wolff’s upcoming album.


  Marie Dimberg, Per Gessle’s manager, tells The Daily Roxette that “En Enda Natt” was written for one of Rikard’s previous albums, but it didn’t really fit in then. Now, however, they felt it was the time to include it.


  The album, “Du Får Mig (Om Jag Får Dig)”, will be released on March 17th and besides the song written by Per, it will also include songs written by Ola Salo, Lisa Ekdahl and Mauro Scocco. Together with the album release, Rikard Wolff will tour Sweden in April. The tour dates are as follows:




March 30 - Göteborg, Lorensbergsteatern

April 5 - Örebro, Hjalmar Bergman Teatern

April 6 - Gävle, Konserthuset

April 9 - Malmö, Kulturbolaget

April 10 - Lund, Mejeriet

April 14 - Stockholm, Cirkus

May 9 - Västerås, Konserthuset



  Rikard, who is signed with Tom Bone Music/Jimmy Fun Music, has previously released two albums for which he has written the lyrics and well-known Swedish artists have written the music. Marie could be counted among these artists, since she wrote the music for “I Den Vita Staden” which is included on “Pojken På Månen” (1995) and “Kärlek”, included on “Stjärnklara Nätter” (1997), which was also released as a single.

• Rikard Wolff’s official website
• Kristianstadbladet’s article

STOCKHOLM - Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reveals today that Per Gessle’s hotel made a profit of 27 million kronor ($3.2 million) last year. Per owns a major part in Hotell Tylösand. The turnover was 110 million. “We’re more than pleased!” Gessle’s partner Björn Nordstrand says.

  The hotel was bought by Per and Björn 8 years ago, and both the profit and turnover has risen ever since.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

HELSINKI - Per was interviewed recently by Nyt, a weekly Finnish newspaper (The name means “now” in Finnish), and the article appears in their latest issue. They are known for asking stupid questions and many times in the past, they have managed to upset their subjects. Per seems to have stayed calm, though. Here are some interesting facts that are revealed in the article:

  If Per were to be one of The Beatles, he would be George, because “he has the best haircut.” If he met aliens from outer space, he would give them Abba’s “S.O.S.” single. “It’s a pity I didn’t compose it,” says Per.

  Per’s favourite scent is the scent of his son; he thinks “Lady In Red” is the worst ballad ever made; and Per would never wear a bicycle helmet, because he thinks they are ugly.

  The name “Love Peas” (the initial name of “The Ballad Hits” album) was changed because they learned that it means “testicles” in British slang.

  Per says that it’s not possible that he could’ve killed Olof Palme, because he was attending Marie’s concert at the time. Reporter Ilkka Mattila also asks if Per ever plays air guitar. “I do it quite often, especially when I’m drunk,” he answered. “’Hate To Say I Told You So’ by The Hives is a great air guitar song,” Per tells the reporter.

  The last question is if Per has ever bought one of his own records from a store. “Yes,” says Per. “I’ve bought a record as a gift when I’ve visited a friend. And you have to support our record company EMI. They’re having hard times.”

  Mari contributed to this article.

• Nyt article

MADRID - The Spanish national weekly university newspaper, “Gaceta Universitaria”, published an interview this week with Per Gessle. The interview took place earlier this month when Per was visiting Spain to promote “The Ballad Hits”. They managed to avoid the usual questions and therefore it’s a very interesting interview:


 Roxette have just released “The Ballad Hits”. However, Per Gessle doesn’t consider himself a romantic person. “If you asked my wife, she would say ’No’.”


 When asked if he has changed his way of living, going now to the gym, he answers, with a laugh, “I try to go twice a week. No main target, I just do what I like. Not to show off muscle on the beach: just do it to relax myself. I never go to the hotel gyms.”


 Per thinks that Hotel Ritz in Paris has the best room service (as “Room Service” was Roxette’s previous album) he has ever seen, “I was there two years ago visiting a friend for his birthday.” But he also agrees that there are very good hotels in Asia, like Japan or Bangkok. Even if he likes this good service, he says he doesn’t ask for strange things, “but during promotion you do need swift and fast service.”

• Gaceta Universitaria’s article (in Spanish)

Read more…

NEW YORK - Per Gessle, as we previously reported, has written a Christmas song for Peter Jöback’s Swedish holiday album, “Jag Kommer Hem Igen till Jul,” that is being released today.


  The song, “Varmt Igen” (“Warm Again”), was composed by Per in Halmstad last June, while he was working with some other songs in Swedish.

  “Fate had it that Ms. Dimberg visited the Tits&Ass studio while I was recording the demo and she obviously fell in love with the song,” Per tells The Daily Roxette. “She asked if Peter could get it for his upcoming album.” He is referring to Marie Dimberg, whose company – d&d Management – manages the careers of both Roxette and Jöback.

  “I hesitated as always when inquiries like this occur, but realized very soon that Peter was working with Lars Halapi, who I consider to be a brilliant producer. And knowing Peter a bit, I knew he definitely was more than able to deliver this tune,” which Per assures he did, and that the song “sounds great.”

  Ever playful, Per laughingly says: “So… everyone goes home in a limousine!!!”

  Meanwhile Jöback, who TDR reached while in rehearsal for his upcoming tour, says that “When I heard the song, I thought it would make the perfect ending to my Christmas album. Ending with ’Varmt Igen’ gives a promise of brighter days when everything is re-born after a long winter.”

  “Per is one of the world’s greatest songwriters,” the singer and musical theater star proclaims, “and I’ve always wanted to work with him. I’m honored to receive this song for this album. The fact that it’s in Swedish makes it even more special.”

  Judith Seuma contributed to this article.

• Peter Jöback’s official website
• Dahlgren-Attling.net

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - According to an article in today’s Dagens Nyheter, Hotel Tylösand is the best hotel in Sweden.

  The newspaper tested 42 hotels and Per Gessle’s Hotel Tylösand received 22 points out of a possible total of 25 – the best result ever!

LONDON - It’s now a period of anxious waiting for Stephan Malmsted and Per Gessle. Closing arguments were heard yesterday in the “stolen record” case. A decision from the judge is expected next week.

  If Malmstedt were to win, he could receive a very large monetary award and it would place into jeopardy the further release of any Roxette album that contains “Sleeping in My Car.”

  Malmstad appeared quite satisfied after his closing comments in which he again claimed that the Roxette hit is a copy of his song “Jenny and I”.


  But Per says he is not worried.

  Manager Marie Dimberg says “We guess that the decision of the judge will go according to what is the truth – that Per never heard that demo. Music experts have testified that the there isn’t any likeness.”

  After four days in the High Court of Justice, it is expect that the judge will take Roxette’s side, writes Expressen.

• Expressen’s article