STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - This Friday, January 31, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson will receive the King’s Medal of the Eighth Size with Royal Blue Ribbon, from His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden. The medal is to be awarded for outstanding achievements with Roxette, in Sweden as well as internationally.

  While this particular medal is usually given out to athletes who have outdone themselves in any area, this year it is given to performers, actors, directors and such. The King announced the names of those who he would be bestowing medals today, which is Karl’s namesday in Sweden. In addition to Per and Marie, the creator Lasse Åberg, Princess Christina fru (Mrs.) Magnusson, and Hans-Åke Bergström, manager of the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, will receive medals.

  “It is, of course, a huge honor to receive such a distinction”, says an honored Marie Fredriksson in a press statement released by her manager. “It’s nothing one could have dreamed of when we first shared a rehearsal space in Halmstad in the ’70s.” “I am so happy”, says Per Gessle, who with his typical sense of humor added… “but my Mom is even happier!”

  The ceremony will be held at 3 pm in the Royal Palace in Stockholm with Her Majesty Queen Silvia also in attendence.

  Since this is indeed considered to be a great honor, Marie is expected to attend, even if the timing could have been better. Marie has been in seclusion for several months now, recovering from the operation to remove a brain tumor, and undergoing chemo and radiation therapy to prevent any further cancer.

  “Marie does not want to step [from this seclusion] directly into a media circus,” explains Marie Dimberg, her manager. However, since the event is to be held inside the palace, security controls are already in place. “We’re working on making arrangements,” Dimberg reveals to TDR.

(Judith Seuma and Stellan Quist contributed to this article.)

• Royal Court of Sweden (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle has contributed the music to one of the songs featured on Rikard Wolff’s upcoming album.


  Marie Dimberg, Per Gessle’s manager, tells The Daily Roxette that “En Enda Natt” was written for one of Rikard’s previous albums, but it didn’t really fit in then. Now, however, they felt it was the time to include it.


  The album, “Du Får Mig (Om Jag Får Dig)”, will be released on March 17th and besides the song written by Per, it will also include songs written by Ola Salo, Lisa Ekdahl and Mauro Scocco. Together with the album release, Rikard Wolff will tour Sweden in April. The tour dates are as follows:




March 30 - Göteborg, Lorensbergsteatern

April 5 - Örebro, Hjalmar Bergman Teatern

April 6 - Gävle, Konserthuset

April 9 - Malmö, Kulturbolaget

April 10 - Lund, Mejeriet

April 14 - Stockholm, Cirkus

May 9 - Västerås, Konserthuset



  Rikard, who is signed with Tom Bone Music/Jimmy Fun Music, has previously released two albums for which he has written the lyrics and well-known Swedish artists have written the music. Marie could be counted among these artists, since she wrote the music for “I Den Vita Staden” which is included on “Pojken På Månen” (1995) and “Kärlek”, included on “Stjärnklara Nätter” (1997), which was also released as a single.

• Rikard Wolff’s official website
• Kristianstadbladet’s article

STOCKHOLM - Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reveals today that Per Gessle’s hotel made a profit of 27 million kronor ($3.2 million) last year. Per owns a major part in Hotell Tylösand. The turnover was 110 million. “We’re more than pleased!” Gessle’s partner Björn Nordstrand says.

  The hotel was bought by Per and Björn 8 years ago, and both the profit and turnover has risen ever since.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - German radio listeners will get a chance to hear the new Roxette single “Opportunity Nox” a week earlier than the rest of Europe as the song is being released for airplay in Germany tomorrow, January 27th.

  The Daily Roxette previously reported that the airdate for the other European countries is February 3rd.

STOCKHOLM - It’s raspberries and… popcorn! A star made of popcorn will adorn the covers of “The Pop Hits” CDs – joining the heart made of raspberries used for “The Ballad Hits” collection.

  With a star having played a central role in the cover art of many, if not most, of the previous Roxette releases, many Roxette fans expected that they would be seeing the star shape used for “The Pop Hits,” as a follow-up shape to the heart used for “The Ballad Hits.” And while blueberries were one of the options considered to make the star shape (raspberries and blueberries are often “partners,”), it was popcorn, with its obvious “pop” connection, that won out – even though “pop” as a musical term comes from the word “popular” (while popcorn gets its name from the popping sound; i.e., crash! boom! bang! pop!).

  Just as the “The Ballad Hits,” album as a filled-in heart, “The Pop Hits” will have a filled-in star, while the single, “Opportunity Nox,” has the star in an outline form (click on photo to enlarge).

  As an additional track, the single will contain a live version of “Fading Like a Flower,” recorded during the “Room Service” tour in Brussels.

(Thomas Evensson and i_jera contributed to this article.)

• Opportunity Nox: 30 sec. sound clip (OIRFC)

CANNES - At this year’s Midem music industry conference on the French Riviera, music executives have been actively speculating over a possible, future merger concerning Roxette’s record label EMI. Sources close to the world’s third largest record company have said that EMI has been in discussions with both BMG and Warner Music. So rife is the speculation of a possible merger that EMI’s shares have climbed a respectable 18 percent in the last two weeks.

  Meanwhile, EMI has declined to comment on what they called “market rumors”.

• http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030121/80/dlmdp.html
  “>Reuters article at Yahoo News UK

LONDON - Roxette’s “A Thing About You” single has hit the airwaves in the United Kingdom and the “The Ballad Hits” CD it is intended to promote is slated for a February 3rd release — just before Valentine’s Day on February 14th. The record company is hoping that the red raspberry heart featured on the cover will attract attention and help drive sales.

  The UK release will include the “limited edition” EP with four bonus tracks.

  ATAY has been added to the BBC’s P2 playlist, and serviced to other radio stations as well. It’s release is set for either February 3rd or 10th.


EDITOR’S NOTE: Meanwhile, in the United States, where the idea was also to take advantage of Valentine’s Day as a logical tie-in for both a song titled “A Thing About You” and album cover art that features the ubiquitous red heart, these same releases have become “a long story” according to a source at EMI Capitol, and have been postponed.

• BBC 2 Playlist

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Roxette’s new single, “Opportunity Nox,” (EMI 7243-5518972) will be hitting the European airwaves on February 3rd.
  The song, a power-pop tune, is to be available in stores on February 24th and will be included on the forthcoming Roxette compilation, “The Pop Hits,” scheduled to be released about a month later, on or around March 24th.


(Roxfreak contributed to this article.)

GERMANY - Roxette’s new album release is once again climbing the German Album Charts.

  In the first weeks after the release it jumped from #0 directly to the #10 spot.

  Numerous Radiostations played the song “A Thing About You” a lot of times, and the active Roxette fanbase kept the song continuously for several weeks on the first radiochart positions. After some time the album “The Ballad Hits” went all the way down to the #43rd place in the German Album charts.

  But now the miracle is happening! It is again climbing the charts. The actual position is #35

  “A Thing About You” was also named as best song 2002 on the Radio Station SWR3

The three winners of our Roxette discography book competition have been chosen and they are:

• Chris Oriet, Canada
• Marc de Kort, The Netherlands
• Angela Nußbaum, Germany

We will contact the winners directly.

  Here are also the correct answers to the questions. Roxette’s second single ever was “Goodbye To You”. From the options we had, “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love” have been #1 in the US charts. The discography book contains an unbelievable number of 27 different “Look Sharp!” CDs.

  In the competition we also asked you to write a story about your special Roxette items. We got so many stories that we won’t able to choose the best ones until later this month.

  The winners will receive their copy of the book during the winter. Congratulations!