One day: Their band is considered Sweden's most successful pop export, with more than 30 of their songs placed in the charts over the past three decades. Hard to imagine that they started their music career with punk.
Gessle: With platinum-colored hair even. When the punk wave broke loose in England around 1976, that was the reason for me to found a band with my friend Mats. We called her Grape Rock. We must have sounded terrible with our 200 watt amplifier. I had just taught myself to play the guitar shortly before. At that time, my career goal was not musician but interior designer.
one day: In fact, it is said, they would have become but almost postman.
Gessle: Not almost - I was a postman!
one day: How did that happen?
Gessle: After school I refused military service. My father, a down-to-earth plumber, was terribly upset. He said that with my attitude I would never get a decent job. In defiance, I applied to the post office in my hometown Halmstad as postman the next day - and was taken. So I was actually a postman, exactly for a day, then I quit. My father was quite amused by the action.
One day: he could not live to see any more of his great successes.
Gessle: Unfortunately no, he died of cancer in 1978, shortly after I got my first recording contract with my fun punk band Gyllene Tider (German: "Golden Times").
one day: It is said that at about this time Marie Fredriksson also came across her for the first time.
Gessle: At that time Halmstad was called the "Liverpool of Sweden" because we had a similarly flourishing music scene as the city of the Beatles. Gyllene Tider and Strul (German: anger), in which Marie played keyboards, shared a rehearsal room. She had long, brown hair at the time. Her powerful voice struck me immediately.
one day: With their band, they were a star in Sweden a little later. When did you decide to start a new project with Fredriksson?
Gessle: Gyllene Tider landed in 1980 with "Flickorna pa TV2" (German: "The girls of TV2") a number one hit. In 1981, I asked Marie to record a duet with me for Gyllene Tider. In 1985, I decided to write English texts to succeed outside Sweden and founded Roxette. Marie joined shortly thereafter, but our first album "Pearls Of Passion" with the single "Neverending Love" lit again only in Sweden.
imago / teutopress
one day: The breakthrough came only three years later with the single "The Look" from the album "Look Sharp" ...
Gessle: ... whose worldwide success is based on a curious coincidence - a US student named Dean Cushman makes 1989 holiday in Sweden. He listens to "The Look" on the radio and buys the single. Back in the US, he gives it to the DJ of his home station in Minneapolis. He plays the song - and it was like an avalanche broke out! Suddenly more and more radio stations played the song. So we came to our plate deal in the USA.
one day: Speaking of chance - is it true that "It Must Have Been Love" from the "Pretty Woman" soundtrack from a Christmas carol?
Gessle: Yes. Since we had a big promotional tour at the time of the request and I did not have time to write a new song on the fly, I had the idea of just making our finished Christmas carol "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)". convert texts. From "Christmas Day" I made "Winters Day" and put out all other Christmas references. That worked. The song finally pleased director Garry Marshall so well that he put him in full length in the movie.
one day: Since then they have added quite a few hits. Is the secret of Roxette's success also that Marie and you were never lovers?
Gessle: Could be. We feel more like brother and sister. We are very different in character: Marie is spontaneous and likes to improvise, but I'm more of a control freak who plans everything exactly. Somehow we complement each other quite well.
one day: They also come from different musical corners.
Gessle: Marie grew up with R & B and soul, I've always been more into glam rock and pop. Our common denominator was the Beatles.
one day: Did the Beatles also sponsor their own songwriting maxim "Do not bore us - get to the chorus"?
Gessle: I grew up with the big bands of the sixties, the Beatles, the Byrds, the Kinks. They were successful with three-minute hits, no frills, with rousing choruses. Numbers like "Help" or "She Loves You" are still lit today. These bands played no boring, minute-long solos, but came straight to the point. That's what I want with Roxette too.
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Roxette: From punk rock to pop olympone day: 2002 hit you a fatal blow - Marie was diagnosed with a brain tumor. What were your first thoughts?
Gessle: I was just hoping that Marie would survive and not think about the future of Roxette or even continue without it! It was a hard time. The band was on ice for a few years, but it was clear that we would stick together.
one day: Meanwhile, they are both back on world tour. On stage, Marie sings while sitting. Is everything okay with her again?
Gessle: Yes, but she still has some problems with nerves in her right leg, so she feels safer when she sings while sitting. She performs great, the fans celebrate her and that gives her strength. One has to know that the chance of surviving brain tumors is only five percent. That's 13 years ago. She is a medical wonder!
one day: You have been touring the world for 30 years - did you never move away from Sweden yourself?
Gessle: In 1990, US executives advised us to move to Los Angeles or New York to get closer to big business. We rejected that. Our sound was created in Stockholm studios and only then you get that way. We never wanted to Americanize. In principle, we follow Abba's formula for success.
one day: With one difference - Roxette made four number-one hits in the US, Abba with "Dancing Queen" only one!
Gessle: Of course we are very proud of it. Abba founder Björn Ulvaeus once referred to us as the official heirs of Abba. A real accolade from the forefather of Sweden Pop.
one day: They are honorary citizens of Halmstad and are among the most popular Swedes. Since 1991, there is even an official Roxette stamp. How do you feel about this Roxette cult?
Gessle: That's a nice recognition. The greatest honor, however, was when King Carl-Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited us with their children at a concert in "Globen" in Stockholm.
one day: Were you nervous?
Gessle: Definitely, because the high visit was previously announced. After the concert, the royal couple visited us in the cloakroom. Thank god, everything was straightforward. Carl-Gustaf said Roxette were the country's best ambassadors and as popular as the Swedish football or ice hockey team.
one day: What is the highlight of her career in her memory?
Gessle: When we were allowed to perform in Wham and BAP in China in February 1995 as the third Western Act, in Beijing. An adventure in another world.
One day: It was not easy to get the concert permission from the Chinese government.
Gessle: Our managers had to negotiate with the Chinese Ministry of Culture for more than a year. They wanted to know exactly which songs we play and had the lyrics translated to check whether they are politically and morally correct. Roxette is not a political band, but it was us at that moment.
one day: How did the Chinese audience react?
Gessle: Before the show we were told that armed military police would be stationed in front of the stage. We refused in horror. In fact, the police were withdrawn. However, only western fans, employees of embassies or western companies were allowed to sit directly in front of the stage. Around 9,000 Chinese fans were banished to grandstands. The mood was modest, but at some point the Chinese dared to dance and held up banners with inscriptions like "One World - One Love". That touched us deeply.