Roxette’s “Stars” remix is listed in Dee Jay Promotions’ New releases page. There you can also listen to a 30-sec clip from the remix (this is the one without children’s choir) and tell your opinion on the song. At the moment, 95 % of the voters have voted for “Hit”!

EMI Chrysalis has opened their new website. On their Roxette page you can find a link to “Anyone” sound clip which appeared the be the whole song in streaming Real Audio format. There’s also a rather good biography text on Roxette:

Roxette formed in middle of the 1980s. They have sold 38 million albums and 15 million singles around the world had four number one singles in the USA and two world tours between 1991 and 1995. The album ’Baladas en Espanol’ sold a million albums in Spain, Argentina and Brazil.

 

Roxette are Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson two voices, two hard working and determined talents, united by a stubborn vision to reach out with their own warm and melodic brand of pop music.

 

1999 saw the release of a new album ’Have A Nice Day’, the first in five years, but the band are certain they still have something to offer to the pop world. ’People are dying for songs with good melodies,’ says Marie, ’And Roxette has always been rooted in the melodic tradition.’ The self-confessed control freaks produced the album with Clarence Öfwerman and Michael Ilbert an unusual step which led to a lot of tension. ’There’s never been so much fighting during a Roxette recording,’ says Per, ’But then we’ve never made such a good album either’.

If you don’t want to go to the site, below is a direct link to the sound file.

• EMI:Chrysalis
• Listen to “Anyone” (Real Player required)

Per Gessle may soon become the owner of the first international casino in Sweden. The casino would be located in Hotel Tylösand which is partly owned by Per. In the application for a casino the hotel manager emphasizes Per’s “unique contacts around the world” and ability to bring world-famous artists and entertainment to the casino. The application has been made in associaton with the city of Halmstad.

The Swedish government will decide in autumn who gets the permission for a casino. So far 20 cities, the civil aviation administration LFV and a couple of private companies has sent applications.

Update: The other co-owner of the hotel is the former TV4 manager Björn Nordstrand. Both Per and Björn has so far invested 60 million SEK (7.4 million USD) in the hotel. According to Nordstrand, the casino would profit at least 43.8 million SEK per year.

• DN’s Swedish article
• Expressen’s Swedish article
• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article

Due to “Anyone”’s poor performance in Europe, EMI UK has apparently decided to have “Stars” as the next UK single. First the release of “Anyone” was pushed back until July 19, but now the next single release is going to be as far as September 20, when “Stars” will be out.

In Holland, EMI is going to release 3 different “Stars” singles in 3 weeks, one release each week. Here are the tracklistings and release dates:

• July 30 (cardboard sleeve)
  
  
  
  1. “Stars” (Almighty remix)
     
  2. “Better Off On Her Own”
     
  3. “Stars”
     

• August 4 (jewelcase)
  
  
  
  1. “Stars” (Almighty remix)
     
  2. “Better Off On Her Own”
     
  3. “I Was So Lucky” (demo)
     
  4. “7Twenty7” (demo)
     

• August 11 (jewelcase)
  
  
  
  1. “Stars” (Almighty 7” mix)
     
  2. “Stars” (Almighty 12” definitive mix)
     
  3. “Stars” (Almighty dub)
     
  4. “Stars” (Almighty alternate 12”)
     
  5. “Stars” (X-treme extended mix)
     
  
  

EMI Holland is seems to be really sure that “Stars” will be a major hit!

Roxette’s “It Will Take A Long, Long Time” will be featured in the movie “Runaway Bride”, scheduled to open “wide” on July 30th.

Director Garry Marshall reunites with leading lovers Julia Roberts and Richard Gere for another go at the gold (Pretty Woman made nearly a half-billion dollars worldwide). Roberts plays Maggie, a commitment-fearing woman who has left so many men at the altar that a feisty reporter, Ike (Gere), wants to do a story on her. The two don’t get along at first, but will they eventually find L-O-V-E together? Hector Elizondo and Joan Cusack add color as Ike and Maggie’s best friends, respectively. Look for Runaway Bride to do the boffo business expected of any Roberts vehicle, even though some early reviews of the movie have been negative.

The Roxette song does not appear on the soundtrack album due, in part, to the fact that it is being released by Sony Records.

• Runaway Bride

This message written by Per can be found at www.haveaniceday.nu:

Pheew! It’s hot! No, it’s not!

So far the summer has been somewhere else. Not where I’ve been anyway!!! But…I do hope everyone is having a great time no matter what, and that you’ve checked out the cool “Stars”-video. I think it’s pretty amazing and definitely one of the best clip we’ve ever done. Anton Corbijn who directed it is such a talented and nice guy.

Also, as you might know “Anyone” is still around in some countries but the “Stars”-campaign is slowly taking over.

Don’t miss the huge amount of “Stars”-remixes we’re releasing.

Perfect for the garden parties on your block!!! Or on the beach!

Thanks everyone who showed up in London at the Party in the Park recently. We did read the banners! And yes, “It will take a long long time” is in the new Richard Gere/Julia Roberts-movie “Runaway Bride” and no, it’s not on the soundtrack for numerous reasons. And yes, we have started to write songs for the new album and no, there won’t be any tour this year.

Keep it up, Have A Nice Day, Don’t drink and drive, Be nice to small children.

 

Lots of love

From P.

Read more about “Runaway Bride” from the previous article.

The Swedish movie by Lukas Moodysson, “Fucking Åmål” did extremely well in Karlsbad’s International Film Festival, in Czech Republic. The film was awarded for the viewers’ favourite and it also got Official Jury’s special prize.

Gyllene Tider’s “När vi två blir en” is on the movie soundtrack.

• Fucking ?mÂl

According to OIRFC Latin America Division, Per has told in Argentinan newspaper La Nacion that the “Salvation” single is expected for a Christmas release. The single will contain a demo version of the song with Per on lead vocals.

In the same article Per tells that the Spanish songs due to release in September.

Roxette 2000 has put online a sound clip of Roxette’s performance of “Wish I Could Fly” at Party in the Park festival. The clip is available in RealAudio and MP3 formats.

• Roxette 2000

There’s now some pictures from the scene of “Stars” video at www.haveaniceday.nu. This b/w video was shot in Stockholm and was directed by the famous Anton Corbijn.

HAND site’s brand-new “Bits and pieces” section reports:

Legendary photographer and video director Anton Corbijn was in Stockholm to direct the new Roxette video for “Stars”. The shooting took place in the Old Town of Stockholm, Solna Church and Steninge Castle. The video has a story in which Marie plays a queen desperately seeking a husband. She wears amazing clothes, sings with artificial ducks and goes bathing outside the Stockholm City Hall…among other things.

 

In the video for “Stars”, Per Gessle starts the video by being “transformed” into a Stockholm bum who gets tangled up in various adventures with the Queen of the video, Marie Fredriksson.

Thomas Evensson from Sweden reports that the video had its world premiere on the Swedish TV4 on Friday.

• www.haveaniceday.nu

Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet is looking for the best summer hits ever. One of the candidates in the foreign hit category is Gyllene Tider’s “Sommartider”. The song is actually leading in the contest at the moment (with 28 % of the votes), but go and vote for it - now!

• Dagbladet / Sommerhit

Australian Roxette fan David Di Troia has contacted EMI Australia about their plans on Roxette. Here’s their reply:

The 2nd single here is Stars. This will be out within the next 2 months. We take it to radio in a couple of weeks. Here’s the “Stars” tracklisting for Australia (the cover will be the same as the European one):

1. “Stars” (Almighty Mix)
   
2. “Better Off On Her Own”
   
3. “I Was So Lucky” (Tits & Ass demo)
   
4. “7Twenty7” (Tits & Ass demo)
   
5. “Stars” (album version)
   
6. “Anyone” (enhanced videoclip)
   

Anyone will be the third single: Can’t confirm the tracklisting. We might do an exclusive Australia-only one

As for the spanish trax: We will not be releasing these in Australia - they may be used as b-sides down the track a little. Can’t confirm anything there though.

(This message was posted to Roxette Mailing List)

“Germany’s least-serious magazine” Bravo (quote from the contributor, Roxeanne) has an article about Roxette which says that they will release a new album in August 2000. They are going to have a world tour after that release. “Everybody should decide him/herself how serious these mews can be taken”, says our contributor Roxeanne.

Official Roxette Fanclub has contacted Roxette’s management about this: “As Roxette’s Magement states, Per and Marie are considering recording another album before comitting to a tour, possibly because of their families, but nothing at all has been finally decided yet.”

Roxette will be performing “Stars” live in a German TV show Willkommen im Fußball Land (“Welcome to Soccer Country”) on July 31. The show is going to be shot at Köln Arena and it will be broadcasted live on ARD/WDR at 20.15 CET. Tickets for the show should be still available.

Official Roxette Fanclub has put online the final tracklisting of “Stars” maxi single. Here you go:

1. “Stars” (Almighty Single Version)
   
2. “Better Off On Her Own” (previously unreleased)
   
3. “I Was So Lucky” (Tits & Ass demo)
   
4. “7Twenty7” (Tits & Ass demo)
   
5. “Anyone” (enhanced video, CD-ROM part)
   

This is the European version. There will probably be a different UK release later this year. The Australian single has also a different tracklisting.

Roxette had an online chat at Party in the Park website last Sunday. Nothing special there, but check out the chat log if you want to.

• Chat log
• Picture of Roxette chatting

Roxette performed live for over 100,000 people in Hyde Park, London on Sunday. They played voice-over versions of “Anyone”, “Wish I Could Fly” and “The Look”. You can find some scanned pictures from Roxette’s show at Party in the Park website.

Aftonbladet reports that Per and Marie met Prince Charles after the show. “He was a nice guy to talk with”, says Per. “He said it was cool that Roxette played at the festival. Then he told us about his fund, Prince’s Trust.” Per also told that Roxette is currently on a PR tour. Germany and South Africa will be their next stops. (Thanks to Birgit Eichler)

• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article
• Roxette on Stage/Party in the Park

Boxman (a Sweden-based record store on the Internet) has put online the cover picture of Roxette’s forthcoming single “Stars”. According to Boxman, the release date is July 27. As you can see, Roxette’s trademark, stars, are back!

There’s also an interesting message at www.haveaniceday.nu’s Roxette conference. There you can find the tracklisting of the maxi and remix singles. Remember that these are not officially confirmed. (Thanks to Tobias Henning)