Roxette Lead Singer Marie Fredriksson Dead at 61 December 10, 2019 – She was the voice behind many hits in the 1980s and '90s. Fredriksson died yesterday after a ling illness. Her family released the following statement to a newspaper in her native Sweden: “It is with great sadness that we have to announce that one of our biggest and most beloved artists is gone.”
In September 2002 Fredriksson had a seizure in her bathroom, fell down and cracked her skull. While investigating why it happened an MRI scan revealed a brain tumor. At the time she was given a 25% chance to live. She did survive after radiation therapy but suffered major side effects nut still she came back to the stage until her retirement in 2016.
In the late 1970s Fredriksson met Per Gessle both had success in their individual project but when they formed Roxette in 1986 and they would go on to the be the second most successful band from Sweden after Abba. The had worldwide success from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s with hits like “The Look” from 1989 – their first tune on the U.S. Charts that went all the way to the top of the charts. That same year, “Listen to Your Heart” also hit #1 with “Dangerous” peaking at #2. Their most memorable hit came via the 'Pretty Woman” soundtrack - “It Must Have Been Love” from 1990 is still their most played song. It was a huge #1 song all over the world. Roxette would follow that up with more top 10 hits like, “Joyride,” and ”Fading Like Flower,
In a statement, Gessle said, “Time goes by so fast. It feels like just recently when Marie and I were sitting in my little apartment in Halmstad sharing dreams. And what a fantastic dream we got to share! Thank you, Marie, thank you for everything. You were a truly unique musician, a singer on a level we will hardly ever experience again. You painted my black and white songs with the most beautiful colors.”
Roxette did have quite a bit of success in Sweden before crossing over to the U.S. And the rest of the world, scoring six hits before worldwide success would explode. It was actually an exchange student that brought their second album to a radio station in Minneapolis radio station that made everything happen in the U.S.
After all her medical problems Fredriksson and Gessle reformed Roxette after she went to one of his solo concerts and joined him on stage. Gessle told the Guardian in 2012. “But she staggered up on stage anyway – and the audience just died… people were crying to the left and right. Afterward she was like a changed person and two weeks later she called me asking if I’d want to write another Roxette album.” They would record three more with “Good Karma” being the last in June of 2016. - by John Beaudin
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John Beaudin has been in major market radio (Edmonton, Vancouver & Calgary) for 35 years and a music journalist since 1989. He graduated from Broadcasting school as a newsman so he would have the skills to write about the artists that inspired him since he bought his first Elton John album as a teen. In the '80s Beaudin was the host of the syndicated radio show “The Cross Canada Report” which had two versions (Rock and A/C). Beaudin was also asked to be a judge at the Juno Awards (Canada's answer to the Grammys) Twice. He has anchored every position in radio including morning and afternoon drive and was a Program and Music Director for The Breeze and California 103 in Calgary. He currently hosts the popular Lovesongs at QM-FM in Vancouver and on iHeartRadio.
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