Artist News

Roxette’s Marie Fredriksson dies

By | Published on Wednesday 11 December 2019

Roxette

Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson has died, aged 61, following a long-term illness.

“It is with great sadness that we have to announce that one of our biggest and most beloved artists is gone”, said her family in a statement. “Marie Fredriksson died on the morning of 9 Dec”.

Fredriksson collapsed in her bathroom in 2002, fracturing her skull and having a seizure. Scans in hospital revealed that she had a brain tumour, which was later successfully removed. However, it took a number of years to recover from the surgery and she lost sight in one eye. But she continued to write and record music and in 2009 began touring again.

In 2016, on the recommendation of doctors due to continued ill health, she retired from touring, shortly after Roxette released their tenth album ‘Good Karma’. Subsequently, she also released three solo singles – most recently 2018’s ‘Sing Me A Song’ – all of which had been recorded several years previously.

Her Roxette partner Per Gessle said in a statement posted on Facebook: “Time goes by so quickly. It’s not that long ago we spent days and nights in my tiny apartment in Halmstad, listening to music we loved, sharing impossible dreams. And what a dream we eventually got to share! Thank you Marie, thanks for everything”.

“You were an outstanding musician”, he went on, “a master of the voice, an amazing performer. Thanks for painting my black and white songs with the most beautiful colours. You were the most wonderful friend for over 40 years. I’m proud, honoured and happy to have been able to share so much of your time, talent, warmth, generosity and your sense of humour. All my love goes out to you and your family. Things will never be the same”.

Already successful musicians in Sweden, Fredricksson and Gessle formed Roxette in 1986, becoming internationally successful with their second album, ‘Look Sharp!’, in 1988. Singles from that LP included ‘Dressed For Success’, ‘The Look’ and ‘Listen To Your Heart’. The follow-up, 1991’s ‘Joyride’, was also very successful worldwide, and the same year they had a hit with ‘It Must Have Been Love’, from the soundtrack of the movie ‘Pretty Woman’.

Although later albums failed to have the same chart success in the US, with chart positions also dropping in the UK by the turn of the century, the band remained popular in many countries throughout their career – in particular in Sweden, where Fredricksson also maintained the solo career she began before forming Roxette.



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