
Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson dies, aged 61 - Tomte
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50730052
======
heyflyguy
About 15 years ago I traveled to Sweden for work. I booked my hotel in a real
hurry, not really paying much attention to what or where it was. I arrived jet
lagged and feeling like crap, but was pleasantly surprised that this was a
beach resort! I went to the basement bar to grab a beer and try to adjust my
internal clock. When I got to the basement, it was a virtual shrine to
Roxette. I later discovered that the hotel was owned by Per Gessle - the Hotel
Tylosands. I highly recommend it if you find yourself in Halmstad, Sweden.

~~~
muzze85
I recognized the hotel about halfway through your story. But then again I live
and work in Halmstad. Nice coincidence!

------
Tomte
I was at the last tour they did together. And I was shocked.

Marie sang beautifully, but two Roadies had to steady her coming onto the
stage, she sat on a barstool for the whole show, never leaving it, the Roadies
took her backstage, and then the same for encores.

That was when I decided this would be my last Roxette show. I'd rather have my
memories than see Marie this agonized.

Thankfully they cancelled the already-announced extension of the tour and Per
has been doing solo shows since.

Rest in peace! Your music—including your solo albums—means a lot to me.

------
tofflos
There is a great story about how Roxette struggled before achieving
international success. They made several attempts in the U.S. and in Japan.
They even released Listen to your heart in Germany. But no one wanted to hear
their songs outside of Sweden.

One day an American exchange student from Minneapolis moves back from Sweden
and drops off his favorite Roxette album at the local radio station. The
manager promises to play it but weeks go by and nothing happens.

The student goes back to the radio station to collect his record and the
manager feels bad because he promised to play it. So he pops it into the
record player. The Look receives great feedback from listeners who call in
asking about the song. The manager makes a few copies on tape and distributes
them to his colleagues in Miami and New York.

The record company finally realizes it has a hit on its' hands and officially
releases the song in panic. Shortly afterwards it sits on the number 1
position of the Billboard Top 100.

Some time later Roxette is asked to make a song for low budget movie called
Pretty Woman but they are absolutely swamped with work. They respond that they
can't fit it into their schedule but offer the movie company a song that
flopped in Germany - Listen to your heart.

~~~
Tomte
> Pretty Woman

Not "Listen To Your Heart", but "It Must Have Been Love", which had been
released as "Christmas for the Broken-Hearted", but since the film doesn't
play around Christmas, they had to rename it.

The lyrics stayed the same except for "and it's a hard Christmas day" \-->
"and it's a hard winter's day"; for some reason the winter here didn't matter.

------
timothevs
RIP Marie. Roxette holds a special place in my heart. Theirs was the first
cassette I bought as a kid, back in ’91, having saved all my pocket monies for
months. I listened to ‘Joyride’ so many times that summer that I wore out the
tape. As I listen to the album right now, I feel this void this day.

~~~
rodnim
Same. "Crash Boom Bang" was the first CD I ever bought, also saving up them
monies for some time. It was a few years later though, probably '94-ish.

------
finnjohnsen2
RIP to this wonderful artist. Roxette was a huge part of my teens and her
singing will always be special to me.

------
zedr
I had a flashback of myself, in my early teens, programming in AMOS on a
Commodore Amiga 500, while listening to their 1991 album "Joyride".

~~~
aitchnyu
Weird. When I listen to songs I first heard 20 years back I take myself that
far back. I have a song that takes me back to me, mother and late father in a
foreign trip. I don't play it often since each listen brings the safe memory
into harsh consciousness and dilutes it.

------
mmaunder
"Look Sharp" was the first CD I ever bought. Their music has such a positive
feel to it. RIP.

------
designium
I really like Roxette when I was a kid. Their songs are very melodic tone and
very easy to understand for ESL. I bet that people have heard of June
Afternoon, Spending My Time, Vulnerable, Listen to Your Heart, Fading Like a
Flower ...

Miss you and RIP Marie!

------
growlist
Great shame. Roxette weren't very trendy when I was at school, but time has
proven that their music has lasting power.

------
pjmlp
One of my favourite bands. :(

Getting old sometimes sucks. Hope you keep singing wherever you are.

~~~
jacquesm
Sometimes it doesn't. Way too much death around me in the last couple of
months.

------
martin1b
RIP Marie. Her voice was beautiful and had a unique signature to it. They
still are one of my favorite bands. Many of their songs had so much emotion
poured into it (happy, sad, depressed, excited, in love). The songs were so
original and unique. As a band, Per and Marie were a perfect mix. It's sad to
see her passing.

------
throwawaymanbot
My favorite Roxette story is that they were known as Roxette every where in
the world, except Japan. They were known as Rockers there. (This apparently
being due to the name Roxette being close or similar pronunciation to the
Japanese word for Diarrhea :)

