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News Archives: November 2002

Per Gessle’s web design company lays off employees

Written by tevensso on November 27, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - The web design company Famestudios, owned in part by Per Gessle along with Bonnier, “IT-Guru” Christer Sturmark, and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, has fired their project managers and programmers. The reason is, according to the company’s CEO, Ludvig Werner, an isolation of core business.


 “We won’t manage the web productions ourselves anymore but outsource it to other companies. We will focus entirely on digital events,” says Ludvig Werner to Dagens Media, a trade publication.


 In this area of digital events, Famestudios offers, among other things, consultative services for interactive events that can be connected to physical events.


 Famestudios earned a modest 1.5 million Swedish crowns last year, while they, at the same time, lost 6 million.


 Among their clients are the record companies behind Roxette and ABBA, whose official sites are designed by Famestudios.

Per gets bugged by Finnish reporter

Written by roxeteer on November 22, 2002 to .

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.

Per Gessle doesn’t consider himself to be “romantic”

Written by PeterGm on November 19, 2002 to .

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.”

Read more…

Gyllene Tider’s 25th Anniversary?

Written by tevensso on November 18, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen reports today about a possible Gyllene Tider comeback.


  In 1996, over 250,000 fans attended Återtaget. And now Gyllene Tider is thinking of another comeback. “We have met and discussed a couple of items,” explains Gyllene Tider’s guitarrist Mats Persson to Expressen.


  In 1996 the Återtaget tour was a success, a phenomenon. Expressen tells that the band members met again in Stockholm to discuss a comeback.


  “Gyllene Tider turns 25 years in two years, if there ever is a time to do something it will be then. That would definitely be something to celebrate. A 24th anniversary may be a bit odd. But one never knows, it may happen something unexpected then,” says MP.



Read more…

Jöback’s album with Gessle-penned song hits stores today

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 18, 2002 to .

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.

Read more…

Unreleased Marie demos surface at Dutch record fair

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 17, 2002 to .

UTRECH - Eight unreleased demos by Marie Fredriksson, recorded in English and therefore presumably intended as possible Roxette songs, have appeared on a bootleg CD being sold by a Swedish trader at the Mega Record and CD Fair taking place this weekend in the Netherlands.


   The bootleg, called “Marie Fredriksson: Duets, Demos and Odd Live Tracks,” contains 17 songs. Nine of the tracks are from various live performances, but what really has drawn attention are the eight previously unreleased demos that appear on the CD.


   As we go to press with this article, The Daily Roxette has been unable to determine with certainty how it is that these demo tracks were obtained. However, one can clearly see that most were recorded by Marie before the release of “Have A Nice Day” (1999) and her solo compilation, “Äntligen” (2000), since demos for “Beautiful Things” and “Waiting For The Rain” are featured in the CD, as well as “Always The Last To Know,” later released as “Det Som Var Nu,” a duet with Patrik Isaksson.

   “I don’t think they were stolen, I definitely think they were given to him,” says Cathy Carlier who occasionally does freelance graphic design and also heads the Roxette fan club in Belgium. It was she who designed the front and back covers at the request of an acquaintance named “Jan” in Sweden.

Read more…

Roxette makes VH1’s top 100 love songs of all time

Written by Surrealistic69 on November 17, 2002 to .

Roxette and love, what a combination, don’t you think! Well VH1 does! The music channel has placed Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” from the “Pretty Woman” soundtrack at #95 of the top 100 love songs of all time, in a program conveniently hosted by Jennifer Love Hewitt.

  On the first installment of this five part show, they showed the entire Roxette music video and included various interview clips with Per and Marie.

  While VH1 did not mention anything about Roxette’s current plans, they did state that the band was not getting any attention in the US before that video was put out and it is truly the one that made Roxette a household name.
Vixter and Geytenbeek contributed to this article.

Read more…

New power pop songs finished

Written by roxeteer on November 16, 2002 to .

HELSINKI - As we reported in October, Roxette is releasing a power pop hits compilation as a follow-up to their “Ballad Hits” album. In an interview with the Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, Per says that the release is planned for March of next year. He also says that Marie joined him in the studio a couple of weeks ago [also previously reported]. They spent three hours together and finished the recordings of the two new songs which will be released on the pop hits album.

  “The album is now ready for release,” Per told the newspaper.

“The Look for Roxette” - the discography and more

Written by tevensso on November 15, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - After eight years of hard work, Robert Thorselius’s Roxette and related discography book “The Look For Roxette - The Illustrated Worldwide Discography & Price Guide” will finally be published during the first week of December.


  With a preface written by Per Gessle, the hardcover book has 592 pages. It includes a full worldwide discography and videography of items released by Roxette and Gyllene Tider along with any others related to Per Gessle’s or Marie Fredriksson’s work. Extensive biographical information is also included, as well as a ’tourography’ that covers all solo and Roxette tours, plus specific single performances. The text portion of “The Look For Roxette” is written in English.



Where did the title come from?



  “The publisher wanted something that was both catchy and sounded like a Roxette title. So I came up with ’The Look For Roxette’ as the title. as it’s sort of a word play on ’The Look’ as a single… and looking for Roxette records. I do realize that it’s not totally correct English,” Robert says with a smile.


  As Per revealed to The Daily Roxette during our exclusive interview with him, the first edition of the book (3,000 copies) will include an EP with the four previously unreleased tracks listed below:

   1. Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, July 1995. Micke Syd on “live drums”!

   2. I Do Believe - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, July 24th, 1999.

   3. Looking for Jane - demo recorded at Tits & Ass, Halmstad, February 15th, 2000.

   4. Waiting for the Rain - demo recorded at Studio Vinden, Djursholm, 1997. Recorded by “Marie and friends”.

  “When the idea for a bonus EP came up, I talked to Per to see if this would be possible,” Robert grins, “and to my surprise he was all for it!” So when the first suggestion came from Per the EP contained Gyllene Tider’s “Henry, Dansa Inte Disco!” and Roxette’s “7Twenty7” demo, among others. “Of course, ’7Twenty7’ was already published as a B-side of ’Stars’… Then Per came up with this suggestion. I think it’s a pretty decent EP, wouldn’t you say?” The important thing about the EP, according to Robert, is that the material was previously unreleased and new to all fans.

Read more…

Per to appear on Norwegian TV channel

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 14, 2002 to .

OSLO - Continuing on with his promotion tour for the upcoming compilation album, Per Gessle will be in Norway tomorrow, November 15th.

  In addition to meeting with various journalists including a reporter from Aftenposten, he will be a guest on Norwegian TV channel NRK1’s program “Først & sist.” The program is shown between 21:25 and 22:15 CET.

  Marius Ellingsen contributed to this article.

EMI takes bigger steps into Internet downloads

Written by onlywhenidream on November 14, 2002 to .

LOS ANGELES - According to a Reuters report yesterday, EMI has taken further steps to allow for registered downloading of its artists’ music from the Internet. In addition to the service offered by PressPlay that we reported about earlier this year, nine contracts have been signed with service providers, which will allow access to music online.

Per to visit Finland and Norway this week

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 12, 2002 to .

Continuing to visit European locations in support of the “Ballad Hits” release, Per Gessle will be doing promo in Helsinki this Thursday, November 14th, and in Oslo on Friday, November 15th.

“Ballad Hits” turns Gold in Sweden

Written by Jud on November 11, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - After only being on the market a week, “The Ballad Hits” have reached gold status (30,000 copies) in Sweden.

  To promote Gold and Platinum awards in Sweden, the sales limits were lowered a few years ago. The previous limits were 50,000 and 100,000 respectively.

Listen to the interview with Per on TV4 online

Written by tevensso on November 9, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle was the featured guest on Swedish TV4’s “Nyhetsmorgon” program this past Saturday, November 9th.


 The interview segment, which was really personal, started by showing shots from old Gyllene Tider videos, followed by Roxette ones, from older to newest; of course, Per and the program host, couldn’t help laughing about the look both Per and Marie had 15 years ago. When asked about how long he will keep on doing his thing Per says “I’ll be standing on a stage in Gävle when I’m 75, singing ’Flickorna på TV2’!”


 They went on talking about Marie’s illness, life and future. “I can’t really say now what the future will bring,” he says, “we have to wait some months and see what Marie will decide for her future”. In the last part of the interview, Per talked mostly about two of his favorite vinyl albums and about the music business world. “It certainly has changed a lot during my 20 or so years in the business,” he says. He also mentions that “The Look” is still his favorite Roxette song. “It’s hard to write something that sounds so simple.”

Despite Roxette’s the successful career, Per is a bit disappointed with the fact that they never got the kind of acknowledgement they would deserve from the Swedish media: Roxette has only won one Grammy (’Grammis’), and so has Per, as best songwriter, but Clarence hasn’t even been nominated, “I believe that if we would have been an English band, the treatment would have been different, and Clarence would be Sir Clarence by now,” adds Per, half serious.


 Per is also sorry that they had to cancel the Night of the Proms. The host asked if millions of kronor wouldn’t have to be paid back to disappointed fans. Per replied that he assumes so, but that Roxette has been replaced by another act, as TDR previously reported.


 The TV channel has made the interview partly available in stream format on their website. To watch it click the links below.



Vivien contributed to this article

Per calls Roxette fans “extremely loyal”

Written by ngriffioen on November 8, 2002 to .

COPENHAGEN - It’s a Danish newspaper this time that has published an interview with Per. He was in Denmark on the return leg of his Roxette promo tour.

  The journalist starts out the interview by asking Per about the day he found out about Marie’s illness. As reported previously, he was riding in a cab on the way to the airport when his mobile phone rang and he learned the horrible news.

  He says that it’s still hard to understand that this is for real and that he thinks of Marie as a sister.

  Per also says that Marie was in the studio this week. “It was fantastic to see her being able to work,” says Per. “She did a good job,” he says, “but it will still take many months before she will really know what she wants for the future.”

  He went on to say that even if they’ve both given interviews on their own before, it’s still better when they are together. The circumstances make it worse.

  “Our fans were very shocked [about the news], but after getting themselves together, they’ve sent thousands of e-mails. Something that Marie thinks highly of”. “Our fans have been amazing. They are extremely loyal. We have a special communication with them,” he says with a smile.

  He ends the interview by saying that this is not the end for Roxette.

Per visits Swiss radio and TV programs

Written by lonely_girl on November 8, 2002 to .

ZURICH (UPDATED) - As we previously reported, Per Gessle is on a promotional tour and today, he met with Swiss journalists and appeared on both VivaSwizz, a music TV channel, and a Swiss national radio station program.

  Asking questions in English, and then translating the responses into German, the DRS3 radio host (see webcam pic at left) covered a variety of topics in a short time… from ballads to touring to solo projects.


Q: How do you decide who sings each song?

Per: We let the song decide if the lyrics are meant to be sung by a girl or guy. Most of songs are written for Marie to sing.



Q: Roxette is famous for the ballads, but you also have a rock-side.

P: It’s one side of Roxette. Most people recognise Roxette for the ballads, Marie’s voice is very sensitive, vulnerable, and fits the melodies. It’s a great combination. But we also have a power-pop side, and actually we have an up-tempo compilation coming in March next year. It’s great to mix our voices and to have such a band, that’s able to sing both kind of songs.



Update: You can listen to the full interview in DRS3 website, you just have to follow the links below.

Read more…

Swedish paper puts Marie at top of their “in” list

Written by tevensso on November 8, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - Tabloid newspapers and entertainment magazines often publish “in” and “out” lists. The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet is no exception, and this week, they’ve put Marie Fredriksson at the very top of their “who’s in” list.

  In today’s edition, they write that Marie is Sweden’s hottest personality: “Marie Fredriksson: the blonde who is an international star and front figure in Roxette. She’s had a successful Swedish solo career, but she is In right now with the new album ’The Ballad Hits’.”

“Ballad Hits” copy protection fails to fulfill its mission

Written by roxeteer on November 8, 2002 to .

Even before “The Ballad Hits” compilation’s official release date, there were early reports that the album’s controversial copy protection was a failure. While it’s true that you can’t play it with normal Windows CD player software, you can definitely make high quality MP3s from the songs on the album.

  On a PC, all you need is a copy of EasyCD Creator, a software program that is distributed with many CD burners. On a Mac it’s even easier: you can use iTunes which comes bundled with the operating system to either play the CD or encode MP3 files from it.

  The record label isn’t completely surprised. “We are aware the copy protection is still not 100 percent developed,” said Li Eriksson of EMI Capitol Records to The Daily Roxette. “We are also aware of other problems… for example some car stereos can’t play it, et cetera. However we are in constant contact with the developers of the copy protection system and there will be a new version available at the beginning of next year.”

  New Media Manager Anders Livag of EMI Capitol told TDR that “Cactus 200”, which was used on “Ballad Hits”, has been a success, even though the technology is only six months old. “Out of 200,000 units we’ve only got 50 complaints so far, mainly about car stereos.”

  “Cactus 300 will be finished next year and we have high hopes for that. The new version will hopefully include DRM, Digital Rights Management, which means that you can make one digital copy for yourself,” Livag says. “Cactus 300 will be incorporated to Roxette’s “Pop Hits” compilation, and it should be a lot better than 200, both problem wise and protecting wise.”

  EMI Capitol first wanted to use Sony’s copy protection scheme, but they were reluctant to license it and the record company chose Cactus Data Shield by Midbar Tech instead. Midbar Tech was recently aquired by Macrovision, a company which developed the industry standard protecting system to retail VHS cassettes and DVDs.

  TDR has also received reports that some high-end CD players have been unable to play the record without audio errors.

  Thomas Evensson and Lars-Erik Olson contributed to this article.

SPUN’s premiere delayed in Sweden

Written by daniel_alv on November 8, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - Jonas Åkerlund’s first full-length movie, “SPUN,” will have its premiere in Sweden after the new year. There had been plans to begin screening the film on November 22nd.

  Åkerlund is in Los Angeles at the moment shooting a new video for Christina Aguilera.

  SPUN has already been premiered at the Las Vegas and Toronto film festivals, but distribution is still uncertain.

Per in Nyhetsmorgon on Swedish TV4

Written by vivien on November 7, 2002 to .

SWEDEN - Per is going to be a guest in Nyhetsmorgon (morning news) on Swedish TV 4 this Saturday. The program is going to be broadcast between 9.00-11.10.

Marie’s recovery continues to go well

Written by tevensso on November 6, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish tabloid Expressen publishes an article today where it states that Marie continues to feel better and better.

  Yesterday she even took a short walk together with her husband, Micke Boloys, in the nice fall weather near their home in Djursholm just outside Stockholm. During the walk, Micke held his arm protectively around Marie, who was wearing a warm coat and a knitted cap.

  And she has begun recording again! Marie Dimberg told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Marie has been working on one of the new up-tempo songs for a week now.

  In their report, they referred to Marie as “the entire Swedish population’s songbird.” What everyone longed for, the paper reported, was for Marie to sing again.

  There is no date set for the new album yet.

  Always according to Expressen, Marie Dimberg refuses to talk about the tumor or about further treatment. “It’s too private, but Marie is on sick-leave until after Christmas,” she said.

UK court rules in favor of Gessle

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on November 4, 2002 to .

LONDON - Stephan Malmstedt’s claim against Per Gessle and EMI Records UK was dismissed by the High Court today. The judge also dismissed Malmstedt’s immediate appeal.

  “I am of course very pleased with this judgement,” Per says. “It did not however, come as a surprise. Malmstedt has tried to pursue this matter for almost 10 years and has failed in Sweden. Now he has also failed in the UK. I trust this will be the end of this episode.”
 

Per says promo tours are lonely without Marie

Written by Roxcat on November 4, 2002 to .

BRUSSELS - Per visited the Belgian radio station Radio Donna this morning where he was interviewed on their morning program “Vrouwentongen.”


  Leen Demaré, the program host, welcomed Per with the already typical question, “How is Marie doing?”. Of course, Per repeated that Marie is doing fine and recovering from the surgery.

  As readers of The Daily Roxette are aware, the Night of the Proms tour was to take Roxette to Belgium, but it was cancelled due to Marie’s illness. Per hopes to join next years edition, “but we haven’t decided yet because of Marie; she doesn’t want to make any promises yet but we are looking forward to doing it.”


  Today “The Ballad Hits” compilation is released all over Europe. The decision to release an album with all their ballad singles was made last year during the “Room Service” tour. “We have already released about 40 singles, we are really getting old. We have had a lot of hits so this is like an statement to do this, to be able to release a ballad hits followed by a power-pop hits,” says Per.

Read more…

Gessle to appear on Radio/TV in Belgium today

Written by Pascal on November 4, 2002 to .

BRUSSELS - Continuing on with his promotion tour for the upcoming compilation album, Per Gessle will be in Belgium today, November 4th.


  While there won’t be a press conference, he will meet various reporters and visit the Belgian radio station Radio Donna’s program “Vrouwentongen.”


  The program – which is also shown on TV – runs between 10am and 12 noon CET and can be followed through the station’s webcast videostream.

Hotel Tylösand is rated the best hotel in Sweden

Written by vivien on November 3, 2002 to .

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!

Marie to be back in studio soon

Written by Jud on November 3, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson is on her way back. Sometime before Christmas, she will sing for Roxette’s new single.


  “She feels better and better every day,” says Per Gessle.


  “She has to do some additional singing for one of the songs for the next album. And we will try to do that before Christmas. Marie has a studio in her home, so that makes things easier,” says Per.


  Last week Marie and her husband Micke invited the Gessle family for dinner.


  “It was great and just as always. What’s nice about Marie is that she is so positive and optimistic. This is a really hard thing that she has had to go through,” he says.


  According to him, the danger is over now.


  “Yes, as far as we know. It seems like they removed the entire tumor. What I feel is that there’s nobody that can stop the wheel from rolling now,” says Per.


  But for him this period has been hard.


  “This shock comes back all the time. One is reminded that something like this can actually happen. It’s been a very remarkable time,” he says. “But I’m glad that everything is going this good.”

Watch “Ballad Hits” TV spot online

Written by roxeteer on November 2, 2002 to .

Capitol Records has started to promote the new “Ballad Hits” album online. At least Aftonbladet.se is running a rich-media advertisement “Roxette Jukebox” which allows you to listen clips from 6 tracks on the album and from the 4 bonus EP tracks. You can also watch the a Swedish “Ballad Hits” TV spot by clicking a link in the advertisement (or by clicking the link below).

  As a side note, EMI Finland is also planning to show “Ballad Hits” TV spots before Christmas.

“ATAY” continues to soar up the charts!

Written by PerFanatic on November 1, 2002 to .

  As the fifth week of “A Thing About You” appearing in the charts draws to a close, it is becoming more and more apparent that this is a huge hit for Roxette.

  Despite the fact that sales figures for the single have been somewhat sluggish, ATAY continues to impress on radio charts throughout mainland Europe. This is evidenced by this week’s biggest jump in new chart appearances to date. Last week, ATAY appeared on some 65 charts, which is not bad for its 4th week. However, in week #5, ATAY jumped through the roof, appearing on a total of 94 charts (see full week-by-week details below).

  ATAY will almost certainly eclipse the 100 mark next week, possibly by a significant margin. Based on this data, it certainly appears that ATAY will achieve at least the success of Roxette’s last two leading singles, “Wish I Could Fly” and “Centre Of The Heart.” Read more…

Bonus ballads to be on EP in Canada

Written by roxtexanet on November 1, 2002 to .

TORONTO - The initial pressings of the Canadian version of “The Ballad Hits” will feature the bonus four-song EP along with the standard 15-track CD, just as in Sweden. The album will be released on November 12th, one week later than in the rest of the world, and not on the 26th, as previously reported.

Swedish press picks up on US release news

Written by Jud on November 1, 2002 to .

STOCKHOLM - Tobias Lindner, a reporter from the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, was at yesterday’s press conference in Spain and heard TDR’s reporter, Peter Mills, ask about the US release of “The Ballad Hits” in February. Picking up on that, he filed this report in today’s edition:



Now they try the USA – again


Hits compilation should give Roxette revenge

  Now the land in the west will be conquered. Again.

  Roxette´s compilation The Ballad Hits” will be released in the USA.


  “It’s the simplest way to come back there,” says Per Gessle.

  About 10 years ago USA capitulated totally. Per and Marie conquered the big country with hit after hit.


  Just as an example, “It Must Have Been Love” has been played over 3 million times on American radio while the album Joyride from 1991, has sold about 9 million copies in the US.

Read more…

Per visits Spain on promotion tour

Written by PeterGm on October 31, 2002 to .

MADRID - As part of the promotion surrounding the release of “The Ballad Hits,” Per Gessle is visiting Spain this week. He arrived in Madrid Tuesday night with his wife and son, and drove directly to the hotel.

  Yesterday, Wednesday, he gave a press conference at the Hotel Villamagna with about 25 reporters and photographers present.

  Walking into the room with someone carrying a poster of “The Ballad Hits” behind him, he posed for the cameras as flash after flash went off. Marie Dimberg, Roxette’s manager, and her assistant were sitting together with Åsa, Per’s wife, on chairs placed at the right side of the room.


  The reporters started to shoot the typical questions. To the “How is Marie?” question, he gave an answer now familiar to readers of The Daily Roxette.

  “Considering the circumstances, she is doing fine,” he said. “It is a very delicate situation for her and to the people around her, and we still are very shocked after the first day when we knew about her fainting. However, Marie is a very positive person, and she’ll get well soon. She’s a survivor..”



Hits since 1987

  “We started to think about this project last year when we were on tour,” said Per. “First we thought of releasing a double-CD, but in the end we decided to release it separately. First the ballads and then the power-pop songs.”


  Per isn´t sure of what the future will bring. “We are a live band and we love going on tour, but right now we aren’t sure of what will happen next.”


  When he is asked about a new solo album, he says that Roxette has always worked fine because both himself and Marie have given each other the freedom to release solo material, even in the most successful time for Roxette. “I am going to release solo albums in the future, and Marie will do so as well.”

Read more…

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