STOCKHOLM - Per writes on Son of a Plumber.com today that the next Swedish single will be “Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song)” with an anticipated radio date of mid-January. The b-side is a “rehearsal medley” so to speak, called “Plumber in Progress #1.” “This will feature Gabriel and me jamming on ’Substitute,’ lousy guide lyrics beyond belief to several songs, etc etc.,” Per comments.

  The in-store date is yet to be decided by EMI, but “they are all still busy eating Christmas pudding and drinking ale,” according to Per.

The Son of a Plumber website reveals that the European release of the album is planned for March 6, 2006. No word yet which countries are included. The double A-sided single “C’mon”/”Jo-Anna Says” is already available in many European countries, at least for download on iTunes Music Store and MSN Music.

• The official Son of a Plumber website

STOCKHOLM - Swedish freelance journalist Jan Gradvall, one of Per’s favorite music critics, has published a lengthy, exclusive interview with Per on his own website.

  In the Swedish-language article, “In the head of Per Gessle,” Jan and Per discuss records, drawings, Per’s family and pop music in general.

  “Per Gessle has never revealed much of himself and his life on his previous albums,” Gradvall writes. “But he does it on ’Son of a Plumber.’ The album leads straight into his old boyhood room in Halmstad.”


EDITOR’S NOTE: With the kind permission of the author, The Daily Roxette is pleased to be able to reprint this interview below in full, translated into English by our own Thomas Evensson. It’s a little Christmas gift to our worldwide subscribers, courtesy of Mr. Gradvall. From all of us at TDR… warm wishes for a God Jul och Gott Nytt År!.  – LEO

• Interview with Per (In Swedish)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - For the second week in a row “Son of a Plumber” falls a notch, this time to #3. Björn Skifs falls to #2 while newcomer Agnes - the winner of Idol 2005 - zooms into the #1 spot.

  The single “Jo-Anna Says” (“C’mon” seems forgotten) falls from #11 to #14 on the sales chart, but stays firmly at #2 on the new Billboard type Topp40 chart. Madonna stays at #1 for the sixth week in a row.

• Topp40
• Hitlistan

HALMSTAD - To all readers of TDR - a Merry Christmas! Here’s the “annual” Christmas message from Per and Marie:

Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling!!!!

Howdy Planet Earth!

We’d love to wish you all a very merry christmas and a wonderful 2006.

Things are looking bright on our side with, maybe, just maybe, some new Rox-music in the can for next year. No promises, though…



And, of course, thanks for your neverending love and support during 2005 which turned out to be a quite normal (=extremely busy) year with an art exhibition, a plumbing album and a few exciting live performances.



Hope y’all get a splendid holiday season with lots of fun stuff coming your way!!!




Lots of love,

Marie & Per

STOCKHOLM - Marie and a number of other Swedish artists and prominent people - such as Nina Persson of The Cardigans and Robert Wells - have contributed with drawings of the Christmas tree of their dreams to raise money for The Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg.


  The drawings will be auctioned on December 19 by Bukowski’s daughter company Auktionskompaniet at a starting price of 1,000 Swedish kronor (€110). Auktionskompaniet’s Lena Hafdell believes Marie’s drawing will be the one sold at the highest price. “She is a world famous star and has recently had an exhibition of her own art.”


  Marie’s drawing shows, as you can see, a tree with a big heart on the top of it and she has gotten a little help from her husband Micke and her children.

• Auktionskompaniet
• Article in N24
• Gallery at N24

STOCKHOLM - Son of a Plumber has been nominated for a Grammis - Best Male Pop Artist. The Grammis gala will be held February 7.

  The album has been kicked off #1 by Björn Skifs’ new album, and resides at #2 this week.

STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson will sign her art book “After the Change” at the high-end department store NK on Hamngatan in Stockholm, December 14, 17:00-18:00 CET. There are around 1,500 books left of the lot.

• NK (Nordiska Kompaniet)

LONDON - Like it or not D.H.T. Feat. Edmee’s cover of Roxette’s classic “Listen To Your Heart” swims the Atlantic ocean and lands on #7 on UK’s singles chart and becomes this week’s third highest debut. During midweek the song was around #11.

  Roxette’s version got to #62 on October 29 back in 1989. Almost a year later the double A-Sided “Dangerous”/”Listen To Your Heart” reached #6.

  This is the second time a Roxette song hits the UK single chart this year.

Many contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle and his Son of a Plumber project were guests at TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon this morning. Son of a Plumber performed “Hey Mr DJ” live in an acoustic version and “I Have a Party in My Head” lipsynced. In the interview Per told the host nothing that TDR’s readers already don’t know. Although he did mention that there’s a big chance Roxette will record something next year. “I’m not sitting here promising anything, though,” Per said.

“Son of a Plumber” stays put at #1 on the official Swedish albums chart this week. “I’m so happy! I’m so proud!” Per exclaims on the Son of a Plumber newspage.

  Meanwhile, on the singles chart, “C’mon”/”Jo-Anna Says” drops out of the top 10 to #11 in its fourth week on the chart. On the official new Top 40 chart it climbs to #2, after Madonna.

• Topp40
• Hitlistan

On November 18 German dance act Cascada (Natalie Horler) released the CD-maxi single of their cover of Roxette’s “How Do You Do.” The song was first released on a 12” vinyl in September, which was followed by another 12” containing remixes in October. At this moment the cd-maxi is available in Germany and includes eight different mixes of the song. Cascada has had a hit in both Germany and the United States with their single “Everytime We Touch.”

  Could it be that another dance cover of a Roxette song will climb the international charts?



Tracklisting:


Cascada – How do you do

535.9003.3



01 Dance radio edit

02 Radio mix

03 Megara vs. DJ Lee radio edit

04 Rob Mayth short edit

05 Original mix

06 Megara vs. DJ Lee remix

07 Tune up! remix

08 Veranos fizzy styled remix

• Cascada
• Cascada at Amazon.com
• Zooland records

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The cover version of “Listen To Your Heart” performed by the Belgian band D.H.T. was selected as the best cover song in XM Nation Music Awards. Nearly 1.4 million votes were cast by the listeners of XM Satellite Radio in the USA. “Listen To Your Heart” got 49 % of the votes in its category.

  D.H.T. was also selected as the best new dance artist. Other winners included Gwen Stefani (best solo career), Mariah Carey (best comeback), and Ryan Adams (most overlooked by FM radio).

• XM Nation Music Awards

STOCKHOLM - Yesterday Marie performed live at Café Opera’s Aids Gala “Kick Aids Out”. Marie sang Aretha Franklin’s “I never loved a man like I loved you”, a song that she also performed back at Roxette’s MTV unplugged in 1993. “I’ve always loved that song so it felt so right to do it tonight!” Marie says.” Micke adds “I suspect she means me, this is so big for us to be back on stage again!” Yesterday’s mini concert was very special as it was Marie’s first public appearance since she was diagnosed with cancer. Afterwards Marie exclaimed “I feel so great tonight, I’ll have me a pint of beer!”

  Per Gessle has said that he’d love to take Roxette for another spin if Marie is up for it. Now the first step has been taken.

  “Kick Aids Out” was held for the first time ever yesterday. The goal is to spread aids information in southern Africa.

Santi contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet
• Expressen

STOCKHOLM - There is currently a Jonas Åkerlund exhibition on at the Dansmuséet in Stockholm. It runs from November 11 until March 26, 2006.

  Of course we all know Jonas Åkerlund is famous for some of his work with Roxette.

  Jonas Åkerlund is one of Sweden’s foremost film export successes, but few has seen the range of his creativity. In this very first exhibition of his work, we will be able to get an insight into his world through six rooms introducing different aspects of his professional career. Every room is equipped with big screens where we will experience parts of his twenty years in film. Several of these films are his very own versions which means they are uncut and never have been screened before.

  The exhibition will feature everything from the most wellknown commissions with the most famous artists, to the more odd commissions in circus, commercial advertising and photography. A Jonas Åkerlund Experience will not leave anyone unaffected…

• Dansmuséet

STOCKHOLM - Per goes straight to #1 on the Swedish album chart with his Son of a Plumber project beating Madonna!

  Additionally he will be chatting on Aftonbladet at 15:00 CET.

• Aftonbladet, hitlistan