Sunday, September 27, 2015

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Roxette

Artist:Roxette
Song:Listen To Your Heart
Album:A Collection Of Roxette Hits: Their 20 Greatest Songs




Roxette is probably the second most successful act to come from Sweden. They had four number one hits including Listen To My Heart in 1989. They were probably the biggest act in pop music for a couple of years. Roxette was the duo of singer Marie Fredriksson and guitarist and songwriter Per Gessle. They usually used studio musicians to record and Gessle hired musicians to tour. The two knew each other long before they formed Roxette in 1986. Gessle was a member of the very popular group Gyllene Tider. Marie joined the group as a background singer in 1982. She also released a couple of solo albums. After Capitol Records attempted to break Gyllene Tider in the US by having them record an English album, they split up in 1985. That's when Roxette was formed. EMI suggested to Gessle that they record in English. Their 1986 debut album Pearls Of Passion did well in Sweden. But there was little interest anywhere else. It was likely the same thing was going to happen with their 1988 album Look Sharp!. Capitol Records wasn't planning to release it in the US. Dean Cushman, an exchange student from Minneapolis, heard The Look on Swedish radio and bought a copy of Look Sharp!. He took it home for Christmas and gave it to a local radio station. They played it and The Look became Roxette's first number one hit. Listen To My Heart was their second number one hit. Gessle said he wrote Listen To My Heart as a big chart topping ballad. The album was certified Platinum. Their third number one single It Must Have Been Love is from the soundtrack of the 1990 film Pretty Woman. And their fourth number one single was the title song of their 1991 album Joyride. After that, they faded in the US though they are still big in Europe. You can get all their hits on this comp. They continued to record together but they went on hiatus in 1995. Marie recorded solo and Gessle reunited with Gyllene Tider. Roxette has reunited occasionally and they are currently working on a new CD planned for a 2015 release. I expect they will then tour Europe. Here's the video for Listen To Your Heart by Roxette.

1 comment:

  1. They were good. I had a crush on Marie. I loved their song "The Look" and it got airplay on MTV. I am glad they are still around. Good duo.

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