Roxette joyride cover
Capitol took six of the tracks and released an extended play (EP) record in the US with an abridged title, Heartland, but the company insisted on a different name for the band. According to Gessle, the group's first English-language release was in response to interest expressed by EMI's American label Capitol Records. The 11-track album was released in February 1984 and sold 45,000 copies in Sweden. While working on her first solo album, Het vind ( Hot Wind), Fredriksson performed more background vocals for Gyllene Tider's only album in English, The Heartland Café. Gessle also worked with ex- ABBA singer Frida, for a song that appeared on her 1982 album Something's Going On, setting music to a Dorothy Parker poem. In 1981, Fredriksson sang for the first time with Gyllene Tider on stage and was featured as a background vocalist for a Swedish-language album the band released in 1982. Gessle fronted Gyllene Tider, one of Sweden's most popular bands at the time, and Fredriksson was in the less successful Strul and MaMas Barn (Mama's Children) before both embarked on solo careers. Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson first met in Halmstad, Sweden, in the late 1970s.
In 2011, they released Charm School, their first studio album in ten years, which was followed by Travelling in 2012. 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 eight years, in 2009, during Gessle's European Party Crasher tour. In 2002, the duo took a break from recording and touring when Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour. They continued to chart in other territories, mainly in Europe, Australia and Latin America, where they earned various Gold and Platinum awards until the beginning of the new millennium. On the advice of the managing director of their record label, the two came together to record " Neverending Love", which became a hit single in Sweden.Īfter the release of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus before returning with the albums Have a Nice Day (1999) and Room Service (2001). īefore coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and Gessle were already established artists in Sweden, she having released a number of solo albums and he being the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider, a band that had three No. 1 albums. Their other hits include " Dressed for Success", " Dangerous", and " Fading Like a Flower". 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", featured on the soundtrack of Pretty Woman, and " Joyride". Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second album Look Sharp! Their third album Joyride, which was released in 1991, became just as successful as its predecessor. Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar).