In the end of the 80s and in the early 90s, Roxette, a pop-
rock duo consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle
from Halmstad, Sweden, stood among the top bands in
worldwide sales and notoriety, brandishing a simple yet
effective blend of pop with a slight edge and occasional
hints of dance. The group claims influences ranging from
The Beatles to Blondie to new wave music to Joni Mitchell
and Aretha Franklin. Formed in 1986, the duo became an
international act in the late 1980s, when they released
their breakthrough album Look Sharp!. Perhaps, years after
the fact, Roxette's popularity can be difficult to understand
or appreciate in light of what critics considered its
infectious but nonetheless lightweight music, lightweight
even compared to what was otherwise on the airwaves at
the time. Regardless, there was a time in 1991 when
Roxette could command an arena filled with tens of
thousands of fans in places as diverse as Buenos Aires,
Frankfurt and Sydney. The 1992 release Tourism: Songs
from Studios, Stages, Hotelrooms & Other Strange Places
-- with a recording of audience members singing along to
the tune of the group's biggest hit, "It Must Have Been
Love" -- exemplifies this temporary but impressive hold
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson had. Though there is no
firm figure, Roxette is believed to have worldwide sales of
as many as 75 million copies of its albums and singles,
no minor achievement for any pop act. The group's
success in the United States alone was arguable. While
seemingly not interested in doing so, even by default
Roxette could not associate its image with the now-iconic
ABBA, another Swedish pop group that struggled for
recognition in America while still intact in the late 70s, but
that managed, through revisionism beginning in the early
90s, to grow into something more intriguing as a legacy.
ABBA did have some Billboard Top 10 singles and one
No. 1 in the 70s. Even though Roxette couldn't ultimately
leave behind the same legacy, the group did outperform
ABBA on the singles chart, achieving four No. 1 hits on
the Billboard Hot 100 between 1989 and 1991. Roxette
also had two No. 2 singles and a few other Top 40 peaks
until falling out of sight of the Hot 100 in 1994. Even so,
by that token, Roxette can be considered a highly
successful singles act. The group has been certified by
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with
two platinum albums -- 1988's Look Sharp! (released in
the U.S. in 1989) and 1991's Joyride -- and two gold
singles -- "The Look" and "It Must Have Been Love" In
October 2005 Roxette was honoured by the American
musical publishing organisation BMI with an award for four
million airplays on US radio of 'It Must Have Been Love'.
Four million spins, on US radio alone, equals 36 years of
non-stop airplay. Statistics show that the song is still so
popular that there are always at least two American radio
stations playing 'It Must Have Been Love' around the
clock. It's hard to find a better definition of the word
evergreen. In Sweden the group has had 17 Top 10 hits,
and Roxette has developed a large following throughout
South America. http://www.roxette.se/ [new forum] http://
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Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie
Fredriksson (vocals) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar).
Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in
the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough
album Look Sharp! Their third album Joyride, which was
released in 1991, became just as successful as its
predecessor. Roxette went on to achieve nineteen UK Top
40 hits and several US Hot 100 hits, including four US
number-ones with "The Look," "Listen to Your Heart," "It
Must Have Been Love," and "Joyride." Other hits include
"Dangerous," "Fading Like a Flower," "Spending My Time,"
"How Do You Do!" and "Sleeping in My Car."
Before coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and
Gessle were already established artists in Sweden, with
Fredriksson releasing a number of solo albums and
Gessle being the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene
Tider, which had three No. 1 albums. On the advice of the
managing director of their record label, they came together
to record "Neverending Love," which became a hit single in
Sweden.
After the release of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a
greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus from the
mid-1990s before returning with the albums Have a Nice
Day (1999) and Room Service (2001). They continued to
chart in other territories, mainly in Europe and Latin
America, where they earned various Gold and Platinum
awards until the beginning of the new millennium. In 2002,
the duo took a break from recording and touring when
Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Gessle
went on to release solo albums and reunited with Gyllene
Tider before Roxette took to the stage together again for the first time in 8 years, in 2009, during Gessle's
Their songs "It Must Have Been Love" and "Listen to Your Heart" continue to receive wide radio airplay, with both singles recently receiving awards from BMI for achieving five million radio plays. They have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide, with over 10 million in certified units from Germany, the US and the UK, achieving gold and platinum certifications for Joyride and Look Sharp! in all three regions.
