STOCKHOLM - Per answers some questions about 2003 from Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman:



Best CD: The Cardigans “Long Gone Before Daylight”. Should’ve been number 1 all over the world… why wasn’t it?

Best song: Outkast “Hey Ya!” Although one’s getting tired of it now….

Best concert: The Stones at the Cirkus. Can anyone beat this?

Best retro: Polanski on DVD. Plus the fact that the 60s more and more seem like, believe it or not, UNDERESTIMATED….. art… literature… music… film….design…. cars…. clothes…. etc., etc., etc.!!!

Worst: The Britney-Madonna-single will probably not be historic. But if you mean something that isn’t really a “musical” experience one can mention that one gets terrified of that Michael Jackson district attorney…..help!

Best pastry: Muffins are nice too.

• Bjurman’s Column in Aftonbladet (In Swedish)

One of the highlights of Swedish TV4’s New Year’s Day program is a shortened version of Per’s Gothenburg concert from this summer. The full concert was released on the “En mazarin, älskling?” DVD in November. The hour-long broadcast starts at 19:00 CET.

• Program info page at TV4.se

HALMSTAD - Good grief!

  I almost forgot to wish you a happy new 2004!!!
And thanks for making 2003 a year that will go down in history as OVERWHELMING!!!

  Who could have anticipated the gold medals from the King, the Mazarin-success or my stunning recent go-kart laps!!
Next year it looks like we’re having new music from Marie as well as some Gyllene Tider-3-chord-headbangers coming up. And a GT-tour called “How old can you get?”. See you there!!



Lots of luv from




P.

Halmstad, Dec 29 2003

The year 2003 was full of happy surprises. All in all, it was a year of Per Gessle, even though Marie did come public with some happy news, too. Per’s Swedish solo album “Mazarin” broke the Swedish hit list records by staying seven weeks in a row at #1 on the album list together with “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)” on the single list, also on the top spot for seven weeks.

  But, let’s start from the beginning… Read more…

And a Happy New Year! We also wish Per & Marie a Merry Christmas. Thank You all for reading TDR. We’ll be back with a splendid 2004.

  Visa, Lars-Erik, Judith & Thomas

HALMSTAD - If Per Gessle gets what he wants, the Gyllene Tider tour planned for next summer will start at Örjans Vall, the home stadium of his favorite soccer team Halmia. Örjans Vall is located in Halmstad, Per’s home town in southern Sweden. Gyllene Tider tried to get the permission to perform there during their 1996 “Återtåget” tour, but they were rejected. “It’s all politics,” Per said in a Radio Halland interview yesterday. Per said he doesn’t want to discuss the details, because he “doesn’t want to interfere in other people’s business.”

• Sveriges Radio Halland article (in Swedish)

Roxette’s most recent single, “Opportunity Nox,” scored big in Germany. On Sunday, the song came in as #3 on the Jump Radio Charts of the Year. The station is generally considered to be the second largest in Germany.

  Also this weekend, on the biggest radio station of Germany, SWR3, “Opportunity Nox” also showed up as #3 on their year-end chart. It was on the charts for 12 weeks and made it to #1 nine times.

• Jump Radio (In German)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson are both nominated for the jury’s special Honorary Award at the Swedish Grammis awards 2003. At the moment the jury is looking for artists to nominate in the different categories.

  Other nominees include ABBA’s Benny Andersson, record company manager Bert Karlsson and singer Magnus Uggla, among others.

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish Salvation Army has started selling a book named “Vårt dagliga bröd” (Our Daily Bread), which contains recipies of “25 famous faces’ best bread”. Among those faces are Per Gessle and super athlete Carolina Klüft, who each have given their best recipes for bread.

  The book can be ordered via the Salvation Army’s web shop. The price is 100 Swedish kronor. ($13)

  Robert Thorselius contributed to this article.

• Swedish Salvation Army (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle has been nominated in two categories for Sweden’s national radio’s “P3 Guld” awards. He has the opportunity to be awarded for the album of the year by a male artist with “Mazarin” and for the song of the year with “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)”.

  Rather surprisingly, Per wasn’t nominated for a “Guldmicken” (“Golden Microphone”) which is given for the best live performance of the year. Gyllene Tider won in this category in 1996. The awards gala will be held at Storan in Gothenburg on January 23 and will be broadcast live on Swedish Radio from 20:00 CET to 22:00 CET.

• P3 Guld
• P3 Guld - Vote for your favorite (requires registration with Swedish ID number)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - As widely expected, The Daily Roxette learned today that Gyllene Tider has indeed decided to tour Sweden next summer to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Members of the group met over the weekend to make the final decision.

  “After all, 25 years are really quite a lot, and that has to be celebrated,” Per Gessle says. “It’ll be cool to bring Gyllene into the 21st century, and I hope the Summer Swedes would like to join us in our celebration,” he continues.

  There are, of course, no specific tour details available yet. The tour itself will be planned early next year, with the premiere date probably in July. The reunion is not permanent. “One summer is enough for god’s sake! Gyllene Tider doesn’t exist anymore, we only put it together again for this project,” Per laughs. “We live under enormous expectations, but I think we can live up to them,” Gessle explains to Aftonbladet.

  It is expected that the tour will be preceded by some new material, perhaps an entire new album. Per and MP Persson will start recording demos after Christmas. Some are already done, Per says in Aftonbladet.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Photo at right, courtesy EMA Telstar, is of pass from ’96 reunion tour.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - On January 25 2004 Radio NRJ have their annual NRJ Radio Awards where they give prices to the best artists of the year. The Awards gala is held at Johanneshov (Hovet) stadium in Stockholm. Tickets are available via TicNet.

  Per Gessle is nominated as Best Swedish Male Artist and Best Nordic Artist, and “Här kommer alla känslorna” also got double nominations - Best Swedish/Nordic Song.

  Per, Evanescence and rapper 50 Cent all got four nominations. Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé and Black Eyed Peas are each nominated in three categories.

  Tickets are 275 SEK ($36). The show starts at 19:00 CET. It will be televised, live, on Kanal5. Confirmed artists performing at the show are Kylie Minogue, Blue, Dido and Sugababes.

  Update Dec. 16: Per Gessle and Lisa Miskovsky confirmed today that they will attend the gala. They will “of course perform live” according to Radio NRJ.

• Metro (Page 13, in Swedish)
• Radio NRJ (In Swedish)
• TicNet/BiljettDirekt (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Marie Fredriksson is the “Queen of the Rock Bear” (Rockbjörnen - Aftonbladet’s annual reader’s choice award). She has received no less than 11 Bears (five solo and six Roxette) over the years. Aftonbladet published an exclusive interview today with Marie in which she reveals to the public that she’s working on her new solo album (regular readers of TDR have known about this project some time now). Marie is slowly recovering from her illness, and is in seclusion with her closest family.

  Aftonbladet asked Marie how it feels to be “the Queen.”

  “It feels very good. I didn’t think it was that many, and I’m incredibly proud and happy,” Marie states. She also says that she, in a slow pace, is putting a new album together.

  When asked if she has a certain project she wants to do, like a musical or such, she replies “My next work that I really look forward to is recording a solo album in English.”

EDITOR’S NOTE (Dec. 16 Update): While this “next work” comment was initially confusing, TDR’s reporter spoke with Ronny Olofsson, the reporter at Aftonbladet, who feels that “Marie was talking about her present material.” Additionally, manager Marie Dimberg also says that the album “probably will be in English.”

  Sundance Kid contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - In today’s edition of Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet a person “close to Per” reveals that Gyllene Tider has recorded more than half of a new album for their 25th anniversary next year. The album is to be released late spring 2004, according to the source. “Per Gessle wants to release the bomb himself,” the source tells Aftonbladet.

  This is not confirmed by Michael Ilbert - the supposed producer, Capitol or d&d management.

  “We’re discussing the best way of celebrating the anniversary. I cannot confirm, nor deny a possible album,” manager Marie Dimberg says to Aftonbladet.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - There will be no trial for Marie Fredriksson vs. Karolinska Sjukhuset. Justitiekanslern (JK) - the Chancelor of Justice, dropped Marie Fredriksson’s preliminary investigation on Friday afternoon.

  “Judging by the interrogations with the doctor in charge it seems unlikely that someone in charge of or someone with access to information regarding [Fredriksson’s] case will have given out said information. Nothing speaks for a breach of the professional privacy standard.” JK writes in his decision.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

HALMSTAD/HELSINKI - An old friend of Per’s, a member of Gyllene Tider, a co-writer of “Listen To Your Heart”, Mats “MP” Persson is in the spotlight again. He has written a song for the Finnish selection of Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The song, titled “Can’t Stop Loving You”, will be performed by Patrick Linman, a singer-songwriter who wrote the song together with MP. The selection will take place in January 2004.

  “I almost forgot we even sent a song to the contest,” MP told Hallandsposten. MP and Linman met each other at a seminar for people in music business that took place on a ferry traveling from Sweden to Finland. MP was there promoting new artists from Halmstad and Linman was performing as a troubador.

  Because of Finland’s bad result in 2002, the selected song must also go through the all-European semi-final on May 12 to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest final in Istanbul on May 15. However, after bomb attacks in Turkey, there has been talks on moving the final to a safer place in Europe.

  We reported earlier that Per has been invited to write a song for the Swedish selection of Eurovision Song Contest.

• Hallandsposten article (in Swedish)
• Helsingin Sanomat article (in Finnish)
• List of songs on Finnish selection

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Per Gessle will be among the celebrities donating artwork to an auction that will be held on December 1, International AIDS Awareness Day, at Folkoperan in Stockholm.

  Per, along with such other Swedish celebrities as Carolina Klüft, Ainbusk Singers, and the painter Ardy Strüwer will donate paintings. The theme of their paintings is safety.

The money raised will go to the AIDS programs at the Red Cross. Prior to the auction, the paintings can be viewed at Art Gallery on Hornsgatan in Stockholm.

  Update: Tuesday, December 2, the bidding closed. The final bid on Per’s painting was 30,000 SEK ($4,000). Click the image of the painting to see it bigger

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)
• Art Gallery
• The bids
• Aftonbladet, follow-up (In Swedish)