Sunday October 3, 2021 “It Must Have Been Love” Roxette
With their hooky brand of dance-oriented pop/rock, Sweden's Roxette rose to fame as one of the biggest global pop acts of the '80s and '90s. Second in Sweden only to ABBA in terms of commercial success, the duo sold over 75 million records around the world, earning several international number ones.
Roxette was a duo featuring vocalist Marie Fredriksson and songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Per Gessle who had been the lead singer in one of Sweden’s top bands Gyllene Tider (Good Times) for whom Fredriksson sang back-up. They decided to work together and as Roxette, they cut a single in 1986, "Never Ending Love," which was a major hit in Sweden and received sme airplay in Europe as well.
The 1988 Roxette album LookSharp!, not to be confused with the great Joe Jackson album of the same name, was brought back home to Minneapolis from Sweden by an American student and he persuaded a DJ at a local radio station to give "The Look" a spin. The rest as they say in cliche-world is history.
Roxette were also the darlings of MtV being attractive, young and talented and their videos wound up in heavy rotation on that medium rapidly expanding their audience and popularity.
Today’s song “It Must Have Been Love” written by Per Gessle of Roxette was included prominently in the Garry Marshall directed hit movie Pretty Woman that made Julia Roberts an international star.
Although their recording and touring had continued constantly, Marie Fredriksson of Roxette unfortunately passed away in 2019.
Stay safe and well...and slip back into the 80s with Roxette.