Marie Fredriksson - Singer, musician, composer
Born May 30, 1958; died December 9, 2019
Marie Fredriksson, who has died aged 61 following complications
from a brain tumour, was a strikingly dramatic singer, both solo, and with
Roxette, the duo she formed in her native Sweden with Per Gessle in 1986. The
sound they produced was a glossy mix of infectiously upbeat bombast and chic
but strident power ballads that typified the high-end sheen of 1980s pop. Like
Abba before them and Ace of Base later, Fredriksson and Gessle took Roxette’s
stadium-sized sound out into the world, and the world bought their records in
their millions.
This was the case when the white funk of breakout world-wide
smash The Look was picked up by an American radio station. Further hits
followed with Listen to Your Heart and Joyride, both accompanied by expensive
looking videos that captured the aesthetic of the era. Fredriksson was at the
centre of all this, a vision in PVC topped with a shock of spiky blonde hair
that gave the duo a striking cyber-punk styled visual image that matched the
melodrama of their songs.
This was especially the case on their biggest hit, It Must Have Been
Love, which in 1990 was used in big-screen Julia Roberts/Richard Gere vehicle, Pretty
Woman. Originally written as a Christmas song, its new version would go on to
soundtrack many a slow dance in neon-lit nightclubs, and even though Roxette
would release ten albums, it became the song that defined them.
This belied Fredriksson’s punky beginnings playing keyboards and
singing backing vocals in Strul and MaMas Barn before a series of solo albums ultimately
led to her alliance with Gessle. Fredriksson had decided she was going to be
a singer aged eight, and started her first group, Renat, aged ten, performing
on the pavement using fake instruments. She took piano lessons before starting
to write her own songs. She also developed a love for the theatre, and later
wrote music for school plays, with her dynamic vocal range also seeing her join
the casts. Here were the seeds that eventually saw her take centre stage to
become a true pop icon.
Gun-Marie Fredriksson was born in Ossjo, a village in
Skane County, southern Sweden, the youngest of five children to farmer parents,
Gosta and Inez. When she was four, the family moved to Ostra Ljungby, where her
mother worked in a factory, while her father became a postman. Marie would
often accompany him on his rounds, where he sang to her to encourage an
interest in music that would eventually result in her joining Strul.
She was championed by Gessle after she sang on a record by his
band, Gyllene Tider. Gessle thought her worth more than being stuck behind
keyboards, and helped kickstart her solo career before they eventually joined
forces as Roxette. Named after British band Dr Feelgood’s raw slice of rhythm and
blues, Roxette went on to sell some 75 million records across ten albums, with
Fredriksson also releasing eight solo works.
Fredriksson met her future husband, music producer Mikael Bolyos,
while Roxette were on tour in Australia. It was a whirlwind romance, and they
had two children.
In 2002, Fredriksson had a seizure in her bathroom and fractured
her skull. A scan revealed she had a brain tumour, and she was given a
twenty-five chance of survival. She survived, but had health problems as a
result of radiation therapy. Roxette went on hiatus following Fredriksson’s
illness, although she continued to record solo, and scored her first number 1 single
in Sweden. In 2008.
After making an impromptu guest appearance at a solo show by
Gessle, in 2009, the emotional response of the fans boosted Fredriksson’s
confidence enough for her to ask Gessle to reform Roxette, and the reunited duo
released three more albums. While she was forced to give up performing in 2016,
in 2018, she released a new single, Sing Me a Song, to mark her 60th birthday.
“Time goes by so fast,” said Gessle in a statement following
Fredriksson’s passing. “It feels like just recently when Marie and I were
sitting in my little apartment in Halmstad sharing dreams. And what a fantastic
dream we got to share! Thank you Marie, thank you for everything. You were a
truly unique musician, a singer on a level we will hardly ever experience
again. You painted my black and white songs with the most beautiful colours.”
Fredriksson is survived by her husband, Mikael Bolyos, and their
two grown up children, Inez Josefin Bolyos and Oscar Bolyos.
The Herald, December 12th 2019
ends
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