STOCKHOLM - A short note from the staff and readers of The Daily Roxette to wish you a happy birthday!


- Warmest regards, Visa, Lars-Erik, Thomas and Judith

There are exceptions, of course, but most of the international fan base for Gyllene Tider is a result of Roxette fans discovering Per Gessle’s previous involvement with this group. The Daily Roxette takes great pleasure therefore in congratulating GT, on behalf of our readers, on 25 years of making great music - and great memories - for all of us!

  With sold-out concert dates already on the calendar, the members of Gyllene Tider have already had reason to celebrate, but the “official” start of the 25th Anniversary celebration is today. There’s a release party this afternoon, in Stockholm, for the GT25 Greatest Hits album. TDR will have a reporter in place to bring you the inside scoop.

  Interested readers should check back for updates to that story once it’s published. Look for a possible announcement of additional tour dates, along with other exclusive content.

HALMSTAD - Per turns 45 today. We know that normally the 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th … anniversaries are the ones that get special attention, but since 2003 has been such a great, special, amazing year for The Man, we just thought he deserved some special attention, and also remember other special moments in Per’s life.



January 12, 1959 Per is born.

1978 First record ever - The “Billy” EP.

1979 Gyllene Tider’s first single on EMI - “Flickorna på TV2”.

1979 First #1 on the Swedish charts - “Flickorna på TV2”.

1983 Per’s first solo album, “Per Gessle” is released.

1986 Roxette is born, first single “Neverending Love” is released.

March 28, 1989 “The Look” goes #1 on Billboard and breaks Roxette worldwide.

1993 Roxette plays MTV Unplugged at Cirkus in Stockholm.

August 21, 1993 Per marries Åsa.

1996 Gyllene Tider reunites for Scandinavia’s biggest tour ever.

1997 Per’s first solo album in English, “The World According To…” is released.

August 5, 1997 Per and Åsa’s son, Screamin’ Lord G (Gabriel) is born.

June 16, 2003 Per releases “Mazarin” and creates a mass hysteria in Sweden.

2004 Gyllene Tider turns 25 years, a new album and a tour is in the pipeline.



A huge Happy Birthday, Per, from all of us at The Daily Roxette! Here’s to many more!

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

STOCKHOLM - I put the advance-listening CD that TDR was provided in the player and out pours “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)”. I’m stunned, this song will absolutely kill all competition on every radio chart in Sweden this summer! A Swedish “country” song, if there ever was such a thing! And when I’ve heard it for the tenth time, I’m all smiles. I move on to “Om du bara vill”, a mid-tempo song in the “Chrissie, hur mår du?” genre, very lovely vocals.

  “På promenad genom stan” features Marie Fredriksson on background vocals. The lyrics seem to be about when Per first met his wife, Åsa, and about them strolling through an empty Halmstad. Another mid-tempo number with a sha-la-la chorus that can very well be a hit. To me “Gungar” has a Kent-feeling, but people I’ve asked don’t hear that. A very simple mid-tempo song that grows and grows on you. A bit 70-ish sound. (Which really saturates the whole part of the album I’ve heard.)

  “Idag är det är min födelsedag…” (“It’s my birthday today”) Per sings in “Födelsedag”, a rocker reminiscent of Roxette’s “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” or Gyllene Tider’s “Faller ner på knä”, I like this song! I continue with “Tycker om när du tar på mej”, a ballad that reminds me of the songs on “The World According to…” with a cute flute (keyboard?) intro.

  “Spegelboll” - what can I say? This is Kylie Minogue, Gyllene Tider, Per Gessle and Pet Shop Boys all combined. If this isn’t single #2 I will personally visit Capitol and have a talk with them. This is a power disco rocker complete with a glockenspiel, and all! A guaranteed hit!

  What strikes me over and over again is how happy Per sounds, even if the lyrics are of the sadder kind, like in “Här kommer…”, he still sounds truly happy. I assume the recording sessions were fun. His voice is also wonderful on this album.

  If the rest of the album is as good as these seven songs, there is no doubt in my mind that this album will sell more than a few copies… I understand the problems they had to pick a single.

NEW YORK - It’s unusally warm for the beginning of December. Warm enough so that a large crowd has gathered comfortably here this evening in Strawberry Fields, a section of Central Park devoted to the memory of John Lennon, who was shot to death in 1980 by a deranged fan at the nearby Dakota apartment building.

  In a circle around the “Imagine” mosaic that is embedded in the walkway, people are strumming guitars and singing songs written by Lennon’s friend and fellow Beatle George Harrison, who died in California Thursday after a long battle with cancer.

  Harrison had fans all over the world… including a young boy in Halmstad, Sweden who – like many of his generation – grew up heavily influenced by the music of the Beatles. Second only to Ringo Starr, Harrison was Per Gessle’s favorite Beatle, and in a statement published by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet today, Per had this to say:

  George Harrison played a big part in the fact that I became obsessed with pop music as a seven-year-old. And to be honest, it wasn’t because of the way he played guitar, or even the Beatle’s music. It was the cover picture on the jacket of “Rubber Soul.”

  The tough suède leather jackets. The attitudes. The hairstyles. And for me there was no doubt about it, George was the coolest.

  Since then, I’ve always liked George. His songs stood out on the Beatles albums. He ended up having to stand behind the giants Paul and John the whole time – which was unfortunate. You can hear [his talent] on ”All Things Must Pass” where several of the songs he wrote during the Beatles period, but were never included on albums, are collected. In my opinion, it’s his strongest solo album.

  George was also the man who took the Beatles on their musical journey to India, and introduced them to world music. He was I think the man behind John – sort of the glue that held the Beatles together.

  After the split up, he and John worked together. They were a little like a pair, a team. But I have the feeling that George never really took his own music as seriously as it deserved.

  Maybe he preferred the role of being in the background.

  There are probably not a lot of people who know that he was behind several of the comedy gang Monty Python’s biggest films… “Life of Brian” among others. He financed them. George – there also – but the whole time a step behind John Cleese and the others.

  I never met George, but I have stood outside his gigantic villa in Henley-on-Thames together with Japanese tourists.

  As a fan.

• Per’s comments to Aftonbladet (In Swedish)

Read more…