Today, May 30, our lovely Marie Fredriksson turns 50. The Daily Roxette wishes her a happy birthday!

Per Gessle's re-released and extended album "The World According to Gessle" enters the Swedish album chart at #14.

In the footsteps of Tyra Banks and her show "America's Next Top Model," we now have "She's Got the Look" which basically is the same type of show but features women over 35 competing for the title. The show is hosted by Kim Alexis and premieres in the U.S. on June 4. What's The Daily Roxette's interest in this, you ask? Well, the theme song of the show is, of course, Roxette's "The Look"!

Marie Fredriksson was yesterday awarded the SKAP (Society of Swedish Popular Music Composers) grant from the Fred Winters Memorial Fund, valued at 40,000 SEK.

Yearly, SKAP Board distributes 35 grants to authors within the whole range of popular music genres.

The grants were distributed yesterday at Vinterträdgården, Grand Hôtel in Stockholm.

STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson turns 50 May 30. Read her biography here at TDR and join us in celebrating her big big day!

Biography

Facts
Name: Gun-Marie Fredriksson Bolyos

Date of birth: May 30, 1958

Place of birth: Össjö

Starsign: Gemini

Family: Mikael Bolyos (husband), Inez Josefin (daughter), Oscar Mikael (son), Gösta (father, deceased in 1981), Inez (mother, deceased in 1998), Anna-Lisa (sister, deceased in 1966), Ulla-Britt (sister), Tina (sister), Sven-Arne (brother)

Home: Villa in Djursholm, Stockholm and a summerhouse in Haverdal, Halland

Bands: Renat, Strul, MaMas Barn, Marie Fredriksson Band, Spännande Ostar, Roxette

Swedish (solo) Grammy nominations:
“Female pop/rock artist of the year 1987″ (Efter stormen)
“Female pop/rock artist of the year 1992″ (Den ständiga resan)
“Songwriter of the year 1992″ (Den ständiga resan)
“Female pop/rock artist of the year 1996″ (I en tid som vår)

Swedish (solo) Grammy Awards:
“Female pop/rock artist of the year 1988″ (Den flygande holländaren)
“Artist of the year 1992″ (Den ständiga resan)

Please send your greetings to Marie!

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STOCKHOLM - "The World According to Gessle" was released May 2, 1997, it's now back, bigger and better. At least that's what EMI and Per want us to think. Are they right? The Daily Roxette got ourselves a little chat with Per himself regarding the re-release of this, among fans, widely liked album.

So, Per, back in the lime light yet another time, this time with an old album, tell us, what's the point in releasing "The World" again?

"Well, the thing is that it wasn't available at all anymore!," says Per, quite upset. "I happened to notice this by chance at the EMI office in Stockholm and nobody could explain why it had been deleted. So I decided to put it back on the shelves, but of course with added material I know some people are interested in. Like you for instance." Per smiles and points at this reporter.

Yes, and I am very thankful for that! You've added tons and tons of demos on the second CD, and I have to say, nice ones. What made you do that? I doubt it's that common these days.

"Well, first of all I wanted to make the re-release special. So basically I just asked myself what I as a fan, would want from an album like 'The World.' And the most obvious thing to me is 'behind the scenes' -material, like the original demos for instance." explains Per and continues "If you're really into an album it's always interesting to get to know how the working process got started and so on."

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NEW YORK -

Director Tomas Alfredson receives a cash prize of $25,000 and extra marketing power for his coming-of-age film "Let the Right One In" by winning the Founder's Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival that concluded here in New York City this past weekend.

The film, which features a song recorded by Per Gessle, will not be released in Sweden until October. "The distributors in Sweden felt that this was not a 'summer film'… that the mood matched a colder time of year," he told The Daily Roxette.

During a question-and-answer session, we asked Alfredson about the Gessle song "Kvar i min bil," which – as Per had told TDR – is given a prominent place in the film. In one scene, the lead actor is shown putting the the 45rpm single on a record player so as to listen to it.

"Do you know Roxette?," he asked us (obviously not knowing what newspaper we represented). He then proceeded to explain that the male half of that group (Per) had had a popular group (Gyllene Tider) back in the '80s, the time period in which this movie is set. Looking for a song that fit that era, but not wanting to use an instantly recognizable song, he asked Per (who he said he was an acquaintance of), if he could write a new song in the same style as those earlier GT hits.

Novelist John Ajvide Lindquist adapted his best-seller for the screen to tell the beautifully touching tale of the first romance of 12-year-old Oskar and the girl next door, Eli (who also happens to be a vampire). The Tribeca jury commented that the film was exceptional "for its mesmerizing exploration of loneliness and alienation through a masterful reexamination of the vampire myth."

The film already has North American distribution in place.

Variety also writes that a US version is in the works. Horror film company Hammer Films and indie company Spitfire Pictures have bought the rights.

SANTIAGO (Updated) - Vanilla Ninja, the Estonian power pop trio formed by Lenna Kuurmaa (vocals), Piret Järvis (guitar) and Katrin Siska (keyboards), a rocking girl band that is a well known act in the Central European scene, and now in Latin America, after participating successfully in the biggest summer Festival in Latin America, the Festival of Viña del Mar, this past February.

Before the girls will go on tour next June in the Baltic states, and their second visit to several countries in Latin America in July - August, they want to release a single to warm up the audience. After discussing this issue with Hector Faune, their manager/promoter for Latin America, Hector proposed to get in touch with Per Gessle from Roxette to have a possible song co-operation, as he feels Vanilla Ninja's music has lots of similarities to Roxette's uptempo and power ballad style.

When Per was approached for a co-operation he sent over two demos; "T-t-t-take it!" and "Every Day Outside My Window" but the girls felt these particular songs didn't suit them; "Per kindly sent us two songs, and we picked one to use for the next release" says Lenna, vocalist in Vanilla Ninja. The song, "Crashing Through The Doors," is composed by Per Gessle, with original lyrics from Piret Järvis and Lenna Kuurmaa. Readers of The Daily Roxette will be pleased to know this is an English version of Per Gessle's "Spegelboll" from the highly successful "Mazarin" album released in 2003.

"The girls are in the studio working hard to get a cool version out of it," Hector Faune says to The Daily Roxette.

On the question if this will be the start of a bigger co-operation with Per, Lenna replies: "Probably. I hope so. He himself was also very interested in it, but unfortunately a person who's as famous as him, his calendar is planned for a year or two."

The song will be released on May 9 to radio stations, firstly in Estonia, and a little later in the Central European Countries, as well in Latin America.

Download a sample.