NEW YORK - In an article about about “10 fantastic items uncovered,” the editors of Instinct magazine (a gay magazine with the largest circulation in the United States) have chosen to feature Marie’s new album. “Look what we found in the import bins this month,” they write on page 19 of their current (January) issue. Along with an image of the cover art, here’s what they had to say:

Album: Marie Fredriksson, The Change (MaryJane Music)

You might be asking who Marie Fredriksson is and why we care? She’s actually the female half of Roxette (you know, “that Swedish band from the early ’90s”). Pull the curtains back and you’ll find that Roxette is still very much alive, yet on hiatus due to Marie’s battle with cancer. Since her victory over the disease and the removal of a brain tumor, she has released her first solo international album in English. Getting back to her roots in blues, R&B and even gospel, the album has been the therapy she’s needed for her fight. Marie delivers each song with the strength, the anger and the pure lust for life she has gained from her recovery.” —Steve Espinosa

Order The Change from www. skivhugget.com.

The other import item mentioned is Kylie Minogue’s new single, “I Believe In You.”

STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson is the celebrity that Swedes would most like to wish a Merry Christmas to.

  In a survey conducted by Telia, the Swedish telephone company, 10,500 Swedes were asked who they would must like to phone to wish a “God Jul.” Marie was the clear first choice with 23 percent of the vote.

  While popular across the country, Marie had an especially strong appeal with women and those who live in
Mälardalen and Västra Götaland.
  In the survey published on the Telia Sonera website, the company reveals that Henrik “Henke” Larsson comes second with 15% of the votes. This well-known first division soccer player has been signed with Fútbol Club Barcelona since the beginning of this season and suffered an injury in the field which will keep him from playing for some months.


  Other personalities in the list are His Majesty the King of Sweden (4th; 10%), the princess Madeleine (6th; 8%) and Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson (9th; 3%).


  Surely it is not only Swedes who wish to send Marie their best holiday wishes. The Daily Roxette, on behalf of all her fans, wish Marie and all her family all the best for this Christmas and for the new year.

Additional reporting by Judith Seuma.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

RIO DE JANEIRO - Marie’s new album “The Change” has been released in Brazil, and can be found in the Brazilian music shops. The album appears on the front page of EMI Brazil´s site and Marie has a place on the “artist” section of their site.

  Many fans around the country who intended to buy it for Christmas have told The Daily Roxette that they are having some difficulties finding the CD in the shops until now and only one internet retailer (CD Point) has it listed.

  Several stores located in shopping malls, when questioned by TDR’s Lars-Erik Olson, who was vacationing in Brazil, said that they expected their copies to be delivered soon. A chain called “CD|Company” had multiple copies available in several of their locations with a price of R$26.90 (about $10 USD).

• EMI Brazil (In Portuguese)
• Brazilian Fan Site (RoxOn.org) (In Portuguese)

STUTTGART - Marie Fredriksson’s song “2:nd Chance”, which hasn’t been officially released as a single in Germany, entered the listener’s charts of SWR3 at #10 tonight, being this the highest entry of the week.


  “2:nd Chance” was introduced to the listeners last Sunday and these have had time to vote for the song via Internet the whole week. SWR3, one of the biggest radio stations in Germany, presents the 33 songs that get the most votes during the week on Sundays from 19.00 to 22.00 CET.


  In addition, “2:nd Chance” entered at #3 in Jump Radio listener’s chart last week and moved up to #2 this week.


  Kiwein1 contributed to this article

• Jump
• SWR3

STOCKHOLM - A week after the documentary about Marie was broadcast on Swedish channel TV4, “The Change” climbs to #5 from #17 in the official Swedish album charts and sells gold.


  On the other hand, Gyllene Tider’s live DVD “GT25 Live! - En scen vid en plats i en stan” goes straight to #1 (on the music DVD chart, “only” #9 on the normal DVD chart) while the “GT25 Live!” CD enters at #28.


  Kiwein1 and daniel_alv contributed to this article

• Hitlistan.se

“A Second Chance”, a documentary about Marie and her illness, was aired last week in Sweden and Finland. In the documentary, Marie and her husband Micke Bolyos are interviewed in their home and video clips shot by Micke are shown. The documentary also shows Marie in September performing songs from her new album live in a small club.

  Marie talks a lot about God in the interview. Her sister Anna-Lisa died in a car crash some years ago. “It took a long time before God and I were friends again,” Marie says. She also tells how God helped her to write the song “The Change”. “I wrote the song and the lyrics very quickly. Later it felt like someone else had written the song,” she said.

  “The Change” is a very important song to Micke, too. “There’s one song on the album I haven’t been able to listen to, and that’s the version of ’The Change’ with the symphony orchestra. The lyrics tell exactly how I felt after Marie’s illness was discovered,” he says.

  Marie is holding back tears when she thinks back to the events of September 11, 2002. “First I noticed losing vision in my right eye. The next thing I remember was Micke’s moaning voice. I had had an epileptic fit and hit my head very severely. Then I was on my way to hospital in an ambulance and the rest of the story you know already,” Marie explains.

  “The hardest thing was that I had to relearn to write and count. For a moment I thought I could never sing again, but fortunately that didn’t happen,” Marie says.

  The topic of the documentary is dark and Marie’s story is sad, but there is light. Marie says she has found strength from music, God and laughter.

  In perhaps the funniest part of the documentary, Marie’s seven-year-old son Oscar and his friend sing Per’s “Här kommer alla känslorna” in Marie’s home studio.

(UPDATED) - According to the Swedish online store Ginza.se, the second single to be released from Marie Fredriksson’s album “The Change” is going to be “All About You,” a love song that husband Micke Bolyos wrote for Marie. The new single will be in the stores on December 1.


  Update: On the left of this article you can find the cover of “All About You.” The b-side will be “April Snow (Alternative version).”


  Roxryder-V2002 contributed to this article

• Ginza.se

VIENNA - Marie Fredriksson’s album “The Change” was released on November 15th in Germany and since then Capitol Music Germany hasn’t saved any effort to promote it.


  Last week top radio stations in Germany, such as SWR3, NDR2 and WDR2, featured “The Change” as album of the week. SWR3 played a song from the album every evening and the host read a part of the lyrics in German. This radio station has also reviewed the album in an article on their website. “Obviously, it’s been worth for Marie to do without her Roxette colleague, the softly-washed Per Gessle”, the article says, “besides real rock, Marie brings all kind of sensitive songs, like in ’A Table in The Sun’”. In addition, WDR2 introduced the album in WDR “Westzeit” and WDR2 “Soundfiles.”


  Today, various German TV channels have reported about the documentary broadcast yesterday by Swedish channel TV4, showing parts of the documentary in programs like “Leute Heute” (“People Today” - ZDF), “Brisant” (“Explosive” - ARD) or “Exclusiv” (RTL). ARD will run today’s “Brisant” tomorrow at 10:03 CET.


Kiwein1 contributed to this article

• SWR3
• Brisant (ARD)

(UPDATED) - According to EMI Brasil, the new Marie Fredriksson album “The Change” will be released in Brazil. The release date is not yet set. In addition, the album will be in the stores in Spain on January 31st.


  On the other hand, we have also been informed that unfortunate to the fans down under, the local EMI has no plans to release the album in Australia.

Brett Williams and Alexandre Silva contributed to this article.

• EMI Brasil news article

HELSINKI - According to EMI Finland, the new Marie Fredriksson documentary which until now remained untitled will be called “Marie Fredriksson dokumentär - En andra chans” (“Marie Fredriksson documentary - A second chance”). The documentary will be broadcast on Swedish TV4 on November 24 at 9pm CET and on Finnish MTV3 on November 27 at 1pm EET. The Finnish title will be “Marie Fredriksson - Paluu” (“Marie Fredriksson - The Comeback”). In Finland the documentary will be in the original language and subtitled in Finnish.

  The Finnish TV guide says about the documentary: “The singer of the pop group Roxette Marie Fredriksson tells in a Swedish documentary about her fight against cancer and the story behind her new solo album. Marie’s husband, music producer Mikael Bolyos is also interviewed. The documentary features rare footage from recording sessions in Marie’s home studio. New songs ’The Change,’ ’Love 2 Live,’ ’The Good Life’ and ’A Table In The Sun’ are also played. Produced by Titan Television, 2004.”