LONDON (UPDATED) - Last night Roxette reunited on a stage at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Per was there to receive two BMI awards for “Listen to Your Heart” which has been played 2 million times (and is also the “Dance Song of the Year”) and “It Must Have Been Love” which has been played over 4 million times on US radio.

  Marie stepped up on stage with Per and was applauded by stars like Steve Winwood, Keane and Snow Patrol. This was Marie’s first public appearance with Per since she got sick. “The secret with ’It Must Have Been Love’ is that it has such a beautiful and simple melody and Marie performs it amazingly” Per says to Expressen. “She makes it a better song, therefore it was great that Marie joined me!” Marie adds “It was wonderful to be on stage with Per again.”

  After the gala Per went out in the London night to party with director and friend Jonas Åkerlund and Madonna, while Marie went back to her hotel.

  Aftonbladet asks Per and Marie if Roxette will do something together now. Per replies “We haven’t decided yet, no doors are closed. It’s totally up to Marie. I would’ve liked it damned much to work with Marie again though. We’re still young…” Marie tells Aftonbladet “It’ would’ve been great. We’ve already been around the globe a few times, why not make it a few more.”

  “I hope this may lead to a new album, or at least a few new songs,” Per adds.

Rox_me_like_a_baby contributed to this article.

• Expressen
• Aftonbladet
• BMI News (includes SLIDESHOW with additional photos of Roxette)
• BMI’s “million-airs”

Read more…

SÖDERHAMN - After many years “siteless” or with poor sites, Roxette now has a new, fresh site - www.roxette.se. The new site is involved in the Son of a Plumber project, which also hosts www.gessle.com and www.gyllenetideronline.com there. The company responsible for the design is Transmit/Receive from Söderhamn, Sweden, and the man behind them is David J. Elfström. Two of TDR’s editors, Thomas Evensson and Judith Seuma, have collaborated in the site with adding content in the different sections such as discography, gallery and lyrics, and are the moderators in the forum.

  T/R has many many successful Swedish pop sites in their catalogue, among them, Mauro Scocco, Peter Jöback and Lena Philipsson to name a few.

  Son of a Plumber.com and roxette.se are in English, while gessle.com and gyllenetideronline.com are in Swedish, the reason for that is simply that the lyrics featured on the sites are in those languages.

• Roxette.se
• Gessle.com (In Swedish)
• Gyllene Tider (In Swedish)
• Transmit/Receive (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Mikael Wiehe, Tomas Ledin, Eva Dahlgren, Thåström and Per Gessle. Together in 1985 they collected 13 million kronor for ANC in a Live Aid-inspired gala. Next week, the concert will be relased on DVD.


  “A lot of good music and very funny hairdos” Mikael Wiehe says.


  Twenty years ago the entire Swedish rock elite gathered in support of ANC, an organization working against the apartheid system in South Africa. The result were two magical concerts, that were released as an album and shown on Swedish TV. It was said that the participating artists outdid themselves, performing both their hits and also in new exciting constellations.

  The concert was shown on Swedish TV in December 1985. Thirteen million kronor was collected for the ANC and Swedish prime minister Olof Palme delivered a speech and an additional five million kronor from the Swedish government.

  Per & Marie performed together with Lasse Lindbom and MP Persson as the group “Spännade Ostar” (“Thrilling Cheeses”), and as far as Per remembers they performed four songs, among them “Love the One You’re With” and “Tända en sticka till.” “We weren’t featured on the poster or the album…” Per recalls.

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)
• Playground Music Scandinavia

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Don’t forget to vote for Per Gessle in Aftonbladet’s prestigious Rockbjörnen award for “Son of A Plumber.” Last year Gyllene Tider received awards for Best Swedish Album (“Finn 5 fel!”) and Best Swedish Group.

  All in all Per has received no less than 13 Rock Bears over the years.

• Vote here

STOCKHOLM - The new album, released today in Sweden, has already sold platinum (60,000 copies).

“Son of a Plumber” has gotten a wide variety of reviews in Sweden today. Aftonbladet thinks it’s weak and gives it 2/5, while Nunstedt in Expressen agrees with most of TDR’s review and gives it 4/5. Furthermore Hallandsposten gives it 2 and thinks it’s nostalgic but not really good. GP on the other hand likes it a lot. All in all about half of the newspapers like it and half really doesn’t like it, there’s nothing inbetween.

• Aftonbladet
• Hallandsposten
• SvD
• GP
• Hallands Nyheter
• Nerikes Allehanda
• Sydsvenskan
• Expressen
• DI

HELSINKI/LJUSDAL/UTRECHT - TDR reviews another album, this time it’s Per’s new album “Son of a Plumber,” an album made with the same musicians as Per’s Swedish hit album “Mazarin,” but now in English and as a double-CD. Enjoy!

Visa: This time in our review team we have three Gessle fans: Thomas Evensson, TDR news editor from Ljusdal, Sweden; Colin van der Bel, TDR forum moderator from Utrecht, the Netherlands; and myself, Visa Kopu, TDR editor-in-chief from Helsinki, Finland. Unfortunately Judith Seuma wasn’t able to join us this time, since she’s visiting the home country of the plumber and his son.

Thomas: Wow, so finally it’s here. And a double too. I take credit for the vinyl. Ha ha! At least Per sounded genuinely intrigued when I mentioned it to him. But who knows, he may have had the plan already.

Visa: Funny about this double-CD thing… Per says he wanted this album to feel like an old-time LP where you had to switch the side in the middle. With the CDs, it’s totally artificial since the whole album, all 24 songs and the bonus tracks, would’ve fit on one disc.

Colin: 2 CDs, well I guess it brings back the vinyl experience back a bit, though a double-sided disc would’ve been even more effective for that (though not that practical). Still, the vinyl version is a double set… should it have been four CDs then? Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Win a Fender Stratocaster signed by Per Gessle! Yes, it can be yours if you enter this auction to benefit a program called Adopt-A-Minefield. Per has signed and donated the bone-white guitar that is being auctioned on the Internet.

  Adopt-A-Minefield is a campaign of the United Nations Association of the USA, which engages individuals, community groups, and businesses in the United Nations effort to resolve the global landmine crisis. The Campaign helps save lives by raising funds for mine clearance and survivor assistance and by raising awareness about the landmine problem.

   The site describes the item like this:

“This Fender Stratocaster was signed by Per Hakan Gessle the songwriter and male lead singer of the Swedish bands Gyllene Tider and Roxette.

• Charity Folks (auction site)
• Adopt-A-Minefield
• Roj-En-Mina (Swedish Adopt-A-Minefield site)

Read more…

UTRECHT - This afternoon, the songs from the new album “Son Of A Plumber” appeared on the the Kazaa p2p file sharing network. However, they all contain sections of silence like the first online MP3s of “C’mon” and “Jo-Anna Says” did. The files can be found in a wide range of different qualities (from 54 to 320 Kbit/s), and even in ogg-format.

  TDR suspects this is an attempt from EMI or another institution trying to prevent the songs being easily available for download. If a “normal” version of the album would be put on the Kazaa network (or similar), it would be practically impossible to find it. A brilliant move in that case.

STOCKHOLM - On the official Son of a Plumber website, two signing sessions have been announced:

  Per will be at Bengans in Gothenburg, November 24 at 17:00 CET, and also at Åhlens City in Stockholm, November 25, this time at 16:00. Per lets us know that he will stay until 18:00 in Stockholm.

• The official Son of a Plumber website

HALMSTAD - November 24 there will be a major Roxette auction in Halmstad. Hallands auktionsverk, where the Gyllene Tider-auction was held last year, will auction out a large Roxette/Per Gessle collection, with rarities like the 12” single “Spegelboll,” “Look Sharp!” as a picture LP and CD, the German edition of the “Chances” 12” single and many more. The collection includes basically everything released by Per Gessle and Roxette, from “Per Gessle” to “The Pop Hits,” on CD, LP, 3”, 7”, 12”, MD, DCC, MC et cetera, all in all over 400 items.

  The Daily Roxette has been in contact with the seller, who wishes to remain anonymous, and asked why he sells off his rare material. “I don’t know really, I just realized it was Gyllene Tider I wanted to collect. And I also think that I can never get a complete Roxette collection,” he says. Included in the auction are LPs, CDs, singles, cassettes and video tapes. All original and in great condition of course. Many items will be bundled, and the starting prices are kept low on purpose. “Yes, for instance the single of say ’Fading Like a Flower’, it isn’t worth all that much and was released in so many countries, so we bundled items like that.” Other things, like the very rare Mexican “Milk & Toast & Honey” promo CD will be sold separately.

  You don’t have to be physically there to bid; you can bid via e-mail, telephone, fax and regular mail. The only thing you have to think of is to bid before the auction starts. There is also the option to be on the phone during the auction, doing that adds a hefty fee to the bid and is probably not worth it in this case.

• Hallands auktionsverk (In Swedish)
• The list

STOCKHOLM - Swedish TV3 will air the 13 min long film shot by Daniel Börjesson for Per Gessle’s Son of a Plumber project. Previews have been available on Son of a Plumber’s site and also on Aftonbladet. The film will be broadcast on November 27 at 19:45 CET.

SYDNEY - D.H.T.’s rendition of Roxette’s “Listen to Your Heart” was released to Australian radio in the past week or so, with Sydney radio stations adding it to their playlists. The single is commercially released November 21. It’ll be interesting to see if it enters the Top 50 singles chart and whether it’ll spark interest in the original version.

Mr. Sandman contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle as Son Of A Plumber will participate in this year’s edition of “Fotbollsgalan” on November 14.


  The event will take place at Hovet, Stockholm, and will feature, besides Gessle, The Cardigans and Andreas Johnson. The organizers are also hoping to get Madonna to perform live. Swedish television channel TV4 will broadcast the gala live from 20:00 until 22:00 CET.


  The gala is organized yearly by the Swedish Soccer Association to pay tribute to the best Swedish soccer players of all times. The nominees to the different categories will be announced in some weeks.


  Tickets for the event can be purchased via Ticnet at the price of 220 SEK (excluding the surcharge).

• Fotbollsgalan 2005
• Ticnet.se

NEW YORK (UPDATED) - While being in New York with his wife Åsa, son Gabriel and manager Marie Dimberg, Per gave an exclusive interview to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman. In this interview he mentions that his new album Son of a Plumber is a very personal album that he sees as kind of last will and testament.

  Per and co. are in New York to get a decent Roxette collection released in the US. And while being there he also checks the interest in Son of a Plumber. Per Bjurman, Aftonbladet’s man in New York, likes what he hears. He says that these lyrics sound very personal. “Yes,” Per says, “I really wanted to do an album that’s me. The lyrics are mainly about me and my life and they feel very important. At least to me.” Per continues, “We never had a target group in mind when we did this album, and that was very liberating.”

  Bjurman asks if Per wants to go back on a big tour now that he’s reconquered Sweden, twice. “Let me put it like this; if I hadn’t made this album in English I hadn’t made it at all. Because another summer in Sweden wouldn’t have worked. But now when it’s done, it’s of course nice if someone outside of Sweden wants to hear it.”

  Regarding a possible tour Per says the same thing as he said to TDR. “We’ve discussed it. If the album is received well abroad it would be nice to do a little club tour. We would play a little bit of everything. No Roxette stuff though, that wouldn’t work without Marie.”

  Per also mentions that he won’t push Marie into working. They haven’t had time to talk but he has read that she’s fine and that she may want to work with Roxette again. “Great to read that. I won’t stress her though.”

Thomas Evensson contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet (In Swedish)

Read more…

Now that the new singles from the “Son of a Plumber” project are about to be released, Swedish newspapers have started to review them. Aftonbladet gives “C’mon” ++++ and “Jo-Anna Says” ++. Expressen has a review, but so far only in their paper edition. TDR will add reviews when we find them, meanwhile enjoy our own analysis of the single, by reporter Colin van der Bel.

When I first heard the new titles for the Son of a Plumber single, my first thought was that “C’mon”
would be an uptempo song á la “The World According to…”, and “Jo-Anna Says” an English version of Gyllene Tider’s “Jo-Anna Farväl,” so when I heard them I was quite surprised!



“C’mon”:

The intro immediately reminds me of the Beatles, and then the falsetto singing starts. At first it seemed a bit strange, but after hearing the song a few times you get used to it. The typical Gessle-ish handclapping, tambourine and a very catchy chorus: it sticks to your mind immediately! Don’t know if this song can be an international chart breaker though. Maybe too much ’60s?



“Jo-Anna says”:

The song starts off with a moderate, steady beat, with Per and an acoustic guitar. Then the chorus kicks in pretty fast. It’s extremely catchy, and reminds me of the ’60s and ’70s, but it clearly has that fresh Gessle sound to it.

  Instant hit! Maybe this should’ve been the only A-side because this song is much better in my opinion, and has the potential of becoming an international hit if it is sufficiently promoted.

Judith Seuma, TDR News Editor, would like to add that initially when she heard “C’mon” would be sung in falsetto she was rather nervous but she likes “C’mon” now that she’s heard it a few times. “Jo-Anna Says” is her darling though.

Per Gessle will perform Son of a Plumber material at 100-årsfesten (The 100th Anniversary Party) in Oslo on November 26. The 100-årsfest is a Norwegian celebration of being free of the union with Sweden that ended in 1905. Lots of Swedish and Norwegian artists will perform, and the Norwegian Royal family will attend the party.

  Ticket price is a mere 25 NOK (3.20 Euros).

  Last year it was rumored that Roxette would perform in Norway’s centennial celebrations in June 2005. However, Roxette never took the stage.

• 100-årsfesten (In Norwegian)

STOCKHOLM - According to TDR’s sources, the new Son of a Plumber single can already be found online. Both songs are easily available in full, however, with periods of silence inserted. Most probably someone has ripped a prelistening CD.

  Per comments to TDR that “this is something you probably have to live with.”

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle was voted Sweden’s 10th biggest star ever in the Swedish TV (SVT) program “Folktoppen” Saturday Nov. 5. Over 59,000 viewers phoned and gave their vote for their favorite and Gessle received 2,177 of those votes.



This is the top-ten list:

1. Ingemar Stenmark (former olympic skier) 18,357 votes

2. Carolina Klüft (athlete) 6,700

3. Carola Häggkvist (singer) 5,512

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (soccer player) 5,264

5. Victoria Bernadotte (crown princess) 5.152

6. Mikael Persbrandt (actor) 4,261

7. Peter Forsberg (hockey player) 3,946

8. Agnetha Fältskog (former ABBA member) 3,888

9. Robert Gustafsson (comedian) 3,832

10. Per Gessle 2,177

• SVT (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - With excitement building amongst the fans of Per Gessle for the release of his new album, The Daily Roxette is able to reveal the sleeve and the final CD-tracklist of Son Of A Plumber (the vinyl tracklist is slightly different):



CD 1:

1. Drowning in Wonderful Thoughts About Her
2. Jo-Anna Says
3. I Have a Party in My Head (I Hope It Never Ends)
4. C’mon
5. Week with Four Thursdays
6. Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song)
7. Late, Later On
8. Ronnie Lane




The Junior Suite:

9. Are You an Old Hippie, Sir?
10. Double-Headed Elvis
11. Something in the System
12. Speed Boat to Cuba
13. Come Back Tomorrow (And We Do it Again)

CD 2:

1. Kurt – The Fastest Plumber in the West
2. I Never Quite Got Over the Fact That The Beatles Broke Up
3. Substitute (For the Real Deal)
4. Waltz for Woody
5. Carousel
6. I Like it Like That
7. Something Happened Today
8. Brilliant Career
9. Burned Out Heart
10. Drowning in Wonderful Thoughts About Her [reprise]
11. Making Love or Expecting Rain

  “The Junior Suite” is a 9-minute-long medley consisting of the last five songs on CD1.

  The album is, like previously announced, to be released as a limited edition vinyl record – also double – with an extra bonus track not available on the CD!

RIO DE JANEIRO - Have you heard the Roxette song “Black Snake”? How about “Bath of Kisses”? No?!? Well, how about “Olodum Ologbom” or “Love is Infinite”?

  All of these songs, and more, are included on a Roxette double-CD album entitled “Meus Momentos” (My Moments) that EMI Brazil is including in its online discography of material released in Brazil – a country where Roxette has enjoyed tremendous success and continues to have immense name recognition.

  However, far from being a rare gem for collectors to snatch up, this is instead simply a rather obvious mistake. The first clue is that the cover art looks strangely similar to that of Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus.

  But it’s the tracklist for Disc Two where things get even more absurd, as all the tracks seem to be representative of music from a region of Brazil named Bahia, where many slaves were brought from Africa. Instead of Roxette, TDR has discovered that many of the songs belong to a group called Olodum.

Additional reporting by Lars-Erik Olson

• EMI Brazil’s Roxette Discography (Mostly in Portuguese)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - According to the business and finance newspaper Dagens Industri (Industry Today), Per Gessle’s Elevator Entertainment was the third most profitable company in Sweden in 2004 with a profit margin of 61 percent.

 They write that Per Gessle has become Sweden’s most successful artist at the beginning of this century (mentioning his success with “Mazarin” and the relaunch of Gyllene Tider). The company posted a profit of 38 Million SEK and has assets of 109 million SEK. According to the article, Elevator Entertainment also gets credited with the profits from Tylösands Havsbad (the resort/conference hotel) and one of Per’s other music companies.

  Two asset management companies hold the first two positions on the list, while other list toppers include the state casino monopoly and two pharmaceutical companies.

• Article on Per and other selected top companies (In Swedish)
• List of most profitable companies (In Swedish)