STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson is not satisfied with the apology the tabloid Expressen published last Monday. Therefore, she will now start a legal process against Expressen.

  “She is very angry about the treatment she’s got from Expressen,” her laywer Leif Silbersky says.

  To win this case Silbersky will summon doctors who can testify that the information published by Expressen January 31st, is totally faulty. “Expressen won’t get away with this simple apology. We want this tried on two levels now.” Silbersky says to Aftonbladet. One thing is filing a complaint with the press ombudsman, for ethical reasons. Part two is a formal lawsuit in about a week. As reported earlier, they will demand 500,000 Swedish kronor in damages, which will go to the Cancer Fund.

  “If Expressen is convicted, we will demand that the sentence is published by Expressen,” Silbersky states.

(Big-little-girl contributed to this article.)




(The news bill to the right says “MARIE Fredriksson FIGHTS NEW lump that is believed to be TUMOR!”)

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - “We’ll sue Expressen if Marie has the energy to,” states Silbersky in an article published today in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

  Peter Danowsky, Expressen’s legal ombudsman, answered Marie’s letter yesterday. The tabloid feels the apology published last Monday is enough.

  “Personally I feel it’s the height of impudence,” Leif Silbersky says to Aftonbladet. “Marie is in Thailand now, but I’m in continuous phone contact with her. I will recommend her to sue [Expressen]. It has been her intention from the start,” Silbersky continues. “The problem lies in her being in a delicate phase of her illness. But if she says she has the physical and psychological strength, then there will be no doubts.”

  This kind of personal slander is protected via the new EU rules. Silbersky will quote both Swedish and EU legislature.

  “It’s a deep violation of the personal integrity to publish false information of her illness like this. This is a crime of integrity,” Silbersky says.

(Camillarox contributed to this article.)

• Aftonbladet’s article

STOCKHOLM - Marie’s spark is back! According to an article in today’s Aftonbladet, Marie Fredriksson and her family are on vacation in Thailand.

  “That is correct. She feels a lot better than before,” Marie’s manager Marie Dimberg confirms.

  Marie left with her family, husband Micke Boloys and children Josefin and Oskar, for Thailand last Sunday, to relax and to be with her close ones. Their plan is to stay there for two weeks.

  “These last few weeks Marie has been a lot perkier. And her eyes have that spark no one can mistake for anything else.” one of her friends says.

  Friend and colleague Per Gessle stated yesterday in Svenska Dagbladet that “…compared to November-December, it’s like day and night…”

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Roxette is rushing up the charts again. At the moment Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson are #11 on the U.K. album chart. But there will be no tour.


  “Marie may decide to take it easy for a few years, and that may well be,” Per Gessle says to Svenska Dagbladet, one of Sweden’s major morning papers.

  It’s been eight years since Roxette was on the U.K. album chart with “Don’t Bore Us - Get to the Chorus!”. This time it’s the new collection “The Ballad Hits” which is a sudden success.

  “I grew up with British music so it feels a bit different compared to being number 11 in Holland,” Per Gessle laughs.

“Is there a new Roxette wave coming?”

  “I can feel that we’ve been doing this for so long and that it’s a circle being closed. Our songs start to feel right and great, very eighties.”

“Do you still get as happy as before, when things go your way?”

  “You never get tired of success, but you get sick of the [record] business. It’s not as fun doing 42 interviews in Frankfurt.” Per states to Svenska Dagbladet’s Harry Amster.

• Svenska Dagbladet (In Swedish)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Expressen has published today, [very small] on their front page, an apology for having written in an article in January that Marie Fredriksson is “fighting another lump that is believed to be another tumor” and that the doctors suspected that this [tumor] was only one of several additional tumors.


Expressen’s Editor in Chief, Otto Sjöberg, writes:



  “Sometimes we make mistakes. Expressen’s article published on January 31 about Marie Fredriksson’s illness was one of them.


  When two weeks after the publication Marie Fredriksson let us know that she had reacted with anger and consternation over the article, I thought I’d review the article again.

  I then decided that the article shouldn’t have been published. It contains, as Marie Fredriksson has pointed out, speculations and it was a mistake to publish them. And the responsibility is mine.


  I want, therefore, to apologize to Marie for having published the article and I regret having caused all this trouble to Marie.”




Otto Sjöberg


Editor-in-Chief and responsible for the publication.”



  Otto agrees that Expressen was refering to tests and test results that weren’t concluded yet.


  On the other hand, site “Journalisten” publishes that Marie’s lawyer, Leif Silbersky, claims that this apology is not enough and that “…Expressen shouldn’t think that they will get off this easily…”.

  Leif Silbersky, just arrived to Sturup airport in Malmö, hasn’t seen the apology yet. So when he gets the article explained to him he says immediately that it’s not enough. “We’ve gotten the ball rolling but only ever so slightly.” Silbersky says. He is surprised that Expressen has published the apology without discussing it first. He adds “We have received no official response to our demands. And it’s apparent that that this isn’t enough. If they think they will get away this easily they’re badly mistaken.”

  Silbersky is relieved that they have published an apology though, this means they’re admitting their guilt.

• Expressen’s article
• Journalisten’s Article

LONDON - Roxette continues the crusade of Europe; EMI UK confirms today that the UK version of Roxette’s “The Ballad Hits” has gone silver, which is more than 60,000 units sold.

  Whilst the album still looks to remain on the UK top 40 for another week (somewhere around #35), this is still the most successful Roxette album in the UK since the first greatest hits collection, “Don’t Bore Us - Get to the Chorus!”, in 1995.

STOCKHOLM - With “The Pop Hits” scheduled to be released on March 24th, in Sweden and in many other countries, the first single from the album (the “sister album” to “The Ballad Hits”) has been sent out to radio stations.

  According to Li Eriksson at Capitol Sweden, “the trend is clear - in Sweden radio producers go nuts and it is already the highest climber, the highest increase in plays and the highest increase in audience – jumping from #69 to #11 in the airplay chart.”

  Beginning this week, the video (done in animated cartoon style) is being played on Hot Rotation at MTV Nordic.

  The cover of the album, shown at right (courtesy Capitol/Roxette Recordings), fills in the popcorn star outline as expected, and adds some confetti and party glasses.

(daniel_alv, Roxmaniac and Judith Seuma contributed to this article.)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Marie Fredriksson is demanding half a million kronor in damages, and a public apology from the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen.

  Expressen’s speculations about her getting another tumor are demeaning and offensive, Marie feels.

  This January, Expressen wrote that “she is fighting another lump that is believed to be another tumor” and that the doctors suspected that this [tumor] was only one of several additional tumors.

  Leif Silbersky, a well-known celebrity laywer who is representing Marie, writes in a letter to Otto Sjöberg, publisher of Expressen, that she has reacted with anger and astonishment to the articles. According to Silbersky, the articles are a mixture of fact, speculation and pure lies which Marie regards as demeaning and repulsive.

  Silbersky also states in his letter that the speculations have “no root in reality”.

  Marie intends to sue Expressen, but if she gets a public apology on the front page and on the news bills, the newspaper can avoid a trial. She wants 500,000 kronor ($60,000) in damages, plus legal fees.

  The half million will go, in full, to Cancerfonden (The Cancer Foundation), according to Sjöberg’s letter.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Journalisten (In Swedish)
• BBC

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - After several months of indecision and delay, “The Ballad Hits” will finally be released in the United States on Tuesday, April 22.

  Executives at Capitol USA have, apparently, been encouraged by the European and UK success of the album and the ability of the lead single, “A Thing About You,” to drive sales.

  “The Ballad Hits” has sold more than one million
copies already worldwide.

LONDON - Roxette’s “Ballad Hits” has rocketed to the dizzy heights of number 11 on the UK album charts. It’s a massive jump of 12 places from last week’s position.

  Most of this success is undoubtedly attributed to the successful Valentine’s Day promotion, which has seen love struck Britons flock en masse to their local music stores in search of that special gift for the special someone in their lives. Some credit also has to be awarded to EMI UK who has uncharacteristically re-invested confidence in the band, not to mention a sizeable amount of money on some very expensive prime-time television advertising. Whatever the reasons, it’s an impressive result, especially when you consider that Per & Marie understandably weren’t able to visit the country in order to assist with the promotion of their release.

  Whether any significant meaning can be drawn from all this is difficult to predict. It will at the very least, however, send all the right signals to the other EMI franchises in other Roxette-deprived countries. Especially coming from a country that is notoriously stubborn in welcoming back what it wrongly perceives to be stars of yesteryear.

GERMANY - The German website of EMI has now put links to snippets of the new songs from “Pop Hits” online on their website. The songs aren’t there yet though.

  It’s listed for March 24th and the new songs are previously known… And the site also refers to the CD as “limited edition”.

1. Opportunity Nox

15. Little Miss Sorrow (previously unreleased)

16. Stupid (from the movie “Spun”)

17. Makin´ Love To You (previously unreleased)

18. Better Off On Her Own (b-side “Stars”)

19. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart) (previously unreleased)

• Capitol Music Deutschland (In German)

BADEN-BADEN - Roxette’s latest single, “Opportunity Nox,” has hit the #1 spot at the radio chart of SWR 3, one of Germany’s biggest radio stations.

(Nik Schönberger contributed to this article.)

• SWR3 (In German)

BUENOS AIRES - Following the successful strategy that pushed ATAY to the #6 position on one of the most important radio charts here in Argentina, members of ¡Roxette Latino! personally delivered Roxette’s latest single to the major radio stations in Buenos Aires late last week.

  Product managers at EMI Argentinia think this is a great strategy to promote the group, rather than just send the promo CD via mail, because hopefully DJs and program directors pick up on the enthusiasm – as well as gain a little extra information – from those who know it all about Roxette: their fans!


  In a country where Roxette continues to be very popular, the program director of one of the radio stations visited went totally crazy when he heard new Roxette material had arrived – even postponing a meeting to listen to it immediately. And he agreed… the song is going to be a hit.


  “Opportunity Nox” hit the airwaves today, and the feeling at EMI is that “if it hits hard there [the targeted stations], it hits hard everywhere else.”


  In addition, the “ href="http://latinamerica.roxette.org/roxattaq.htm">
href=”http://latinamerica.roxette.org/roxattaq.htm”>Roxattaq” campaign is being relaunched hoping to get
Roxette to the top – one more time.

• Roxette Latino! (OIRFC Division)
• FM Hit
• La 100
• Radio Disney (All links in Spanish)

AMSTERDAM - “The Ballad Hits” has entered the Dutch album Top 10 at number nine this week, jumping from number 39 where the album entered the top 100 last week.


  EMI/Capitol has decided to re-release the single “A Thing About You” in The Netherlands in order to re-create interest in the ballads compilation. The record company also launched a big promotional campaign with commercials on radio and television. In addition, The Netherlands’ most popular radio station - Sky Radio - made “The Ballad Hits” this week’s “Album of the week”.


  The ninth place for “The Ballad Hits” is the best chart position Roxette reaches in The Netherlands since “Crash! Boom! Bang!” in 1994. All the other albums since failed to make the top 10. In November last year, “The Ballad Hits” was first released in The Netherlands but the album didn’t even make to the first 100 positions.

• Megatop100

LONDON - Roxette’s attempt to capitalize on the British’s love affair with Valentine’s Day has got off to an encouraging start. “The Ballad Hits” has entered the UK sales chart at a respectable #23. This is Roxette’s highest position on the chart since “Don’t Bore Us - Get To The Chorus!” went to #5 in November 1995.


  In addition, it is EMI/Capitol’s second highest new album entry and their third highest selling album last week.


  Continuing with the Valentine’s Day tie-in, the excitement continues tomorrow (Monday) with the UK release of the single “A Thing About You.”


(xarrrr and animalkingdom contributed to this article.)

• Album Sales Chart

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - The video for “Opportunity Nox” will be premiered exclusively online by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet February 7th. It will be directed by Kristoffer Diös, under close surveillance by Jonas Åkerlund. “Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson and I have a close relationship. This is the way I prefer to work, to return to the same artists over and over again,” Jonas says to Aftonbladet.


NOTE: Video is online now, follow the link below to watch it.

• Aftonbladet.se
• “Opportunity Nox” Video (Real Player needed)

STOCKHOLM - Both Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman and Expressen’s Anders Nunstedt give Roxette’s new single “Opportunity Nox” 4 out of 5 today. They are both notorious Roxette-bashers so these reviews are probably even better than they sound.

  “Seems all the angry Roxette fans were right and I was wrong. Roxette isn’t finished.” Bjurman states.

  While Bjurman describes “Nox” as the “…funnest, smartest, most attractive little pop tune…,” Nunstedt uses words like “…a sparkling hit…” and “…way better than anything up-tempo from ’Room Service…’”.

  Clear to The Daily Roxette is that they both truly like this. They both say this is the best song Roxette has put out since “Dangerous” (Bjurman) and “Joyride” (Nunstedt).

(Efra contributed to this article.)

• Aftonbladet’s review (In Swedish)
• Expressen’s review (In Swedish)

LONDON - It’s an event that rarely occurs in the UK and when it does, it typically happens with little or no publicity. But this time, not only is the UK getting a new Roxette CD… the record label appears to be willing to spend some money promoting it!

  British fans who are excitedly awaiting the release of Roxette’s “The Ballad Hits” tomorrow (Monday, February 3rd) were delighted this evening to witness a rare glimpse of prominent promotion.

  During the commercial break of one of the UK’s most popular TV shows, Coronation Street, a short commercial was aired announcing the release of the new album and indeed Roxette’s new single “A Thing About You.”

  The advertisement was repeated immediately after the program as well, mentioning that the album will be available from Tesco, HMV, Woolworths and Virgin.

STOCKHOLM - Aftonbladet reports today about the ceremony that took place yesterday in the Royal Palace of Stockholm, where Per and Marie received a medal from His Majesty, the King of Sweden.


  According to many of the other distinguished people that attended the ceremony yesterday, she was in a very good mood: “Marie was really fit, I didn’t get the impression that she was ill, she seemed happy and in a good mood,” tells the author and poet Kristina Lugn, who also got a medal.


  This was Marie’s first official appearance since a tumor was found in the back of her head, but this didn’t stress her at all, “Marie was in such a good mood, it wasn’t a big effort for her [to go to the ceremony]”, says Marie’s manager Marie Dimberg.


  A self-confident Marie tells Aftonbladet about the event, “it was such a nice day, I only look to the future now,” she tells Aftonbladet. “It is really great, both Per and myself feel very proud and honored.”


  Now Marie just wants to get back to normal life. Aftonbladet reports that she gets radiation treatment twice a week at the Karolinska hospital in Stockholm, as well as chemotherapy, to prevent the illness from spreading again.


  In addition to the medical treatment, she regularly visits the Karolinska’s psychologist, to get help in the mental part of the process.


  As we reported already yesterday, and denying the information that appeared in Expressen yesterday morning, no more tumors have been found in Marie’s body. “Marie is surely the one of us with the least cancer in her body, if you take into account how many times her body has been examined,” states Per.


  After the ceremony, Marie, who was there with her husband Micke Bolyos, went to Per and Åsa’s home to celebrate the medals. Afterwards, Marie and Micke returned to their home in Djursholm.


Click on the picture to enlarge

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)