Marie Fredriksson Of Roxette Has Died

December 10, 2019 / Posted by:

Since Pretty Woman plays on any given channel at any given hour of the day, I’ve seen it a lot because it is my legal obligation as a teen of the 90s to watch every chance I get, and every time It Must Have Been Love plays as Vivian sits in the limo after turning down Edward’s kept bitch deal, I think of how Roxette are the masters of 90s love songs and love would not exist in the 90s if it wasn’t for them. Well sadly, Marie Fredriksson, one half of those masters of 90s love songs has died at the age of 61. And the musical meaning of love has died too.

The BBC says that Marie died yesterday from cancer. Per Gessle, the other half of Roxette, paid tribute to his partner in love song artistry on Twitter this morning.

Marie was first diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002. She lost vision in one eye because of the tumor, and it also seriously fucked with her hearing and mobility and she wasn’t able to read or write. She spent around three years trying to destroy the cancer, and in 2005, said that she was healthy and no longer going through treatment. She returned to Roxette and they continued to tour and fill ears with their soft pop rock nightingale musical notes. But the cancer came back and Marie retired from touring in 2016.

Marie’s musical career started in her homeland of Sweden. She was in a band called Strul. Per Gessle was a member of that band at one point. Marie played the keyboard in Strul, and Per thought she was too big of a stjärna (Google tells me that’s Swedish for star) to only play the keyboard in a band. So Per pushed Marie to go solo and she did. Marie had a successful solo career going in Sweden when she and Per decided to join forces and create Roxette in 1986.

Roxette were already big stars in Sweden when The Look, a single from their second album, made its way around the world and became a #1 hit in several countries in 1989. It also took the fashion world BY STORM, and I know this, because it played at the one Barbizon fashion show I was allowed to walk in (read: the one show my mom paid for me to walk in):

Look Sharp!, the album that The Look is on, also went platinum in the U.S. Another single off of that album, Listen To Your Heart, also hit #1 in the U.S.

One year later in 1990, Roxette kept their streak as pop love song icons going with It Must Have Been Love, which was originally released as a Christmas song in Sweden. When Touchstone Pictures asked them for a song for Pretty Woman, they changed it into a heartbroken hooker anthem for the ages:

1991 gave Roxette yet another hit in Joyride:

After Joyride, their third album, they released many, many more albums with their last, Good Karma, coming out in 2016. Marie also put out several solo albums with her last solo album, Nu!, coming out in 2013. Roxette won several Swedish Grammy Awards, but were never nominated for an American Grammy. Illegal IS Roxette never getting a Grammy nomination!

Marie is survived by her husband Mikael “Micke” Bolyos and their two children Inez Josefin and Oscar.

Not only was Marie a musical legend, but she was also a hair beauty legend and is in the Hall of White Blond Pixie Cut Fame along with Susan Powter and Annie Lennox. Just imagine how many people took a picture of Marie to their hair stylist, and said, “Give me that!”, and ended up looking like the raggedy star of a no-budget public access reboot of The Legend of Billie Jean. They could never do it like Marie!

Rest in peace, Marie Fredriksson.

Pic: Wenn.com

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