Here is Marie Fredriksson's life story and some interesting facts.

Biography
Marie was born at 3:38am on the 30th of May 1958 in Össjo, Sweden. She was the youngest child of Gösta and Inez Fredriksson. Her brother and sisters are Sven-Arne, Ulla-Britt, Anna-Lisa and Tina. Gösta was a postman and Inez worked in a factory. When she was four, the family moved to Östra (Eastern) Ljungby in Skåne. The Fredrikssons  were a very tight knit family, and Marie says she was especially close to her father. Marie's sister Anna-Lisa was killed in a car  accident when Marie was eight years old.

Marie's family was very musical, and she learned to sing and play piano at a young age. She began to write music and poems and started her own band "Renat" when she was a little girl. Marie's mother sometimes made her sing in front of her friends, which Marie found very embarrassing. The first time she sang in front of people she was given a doll, and she thought "If it's so nice to sing, I want to do it for the rest of my life - especially if they give you presents!"

Marie says at school she was "neither good or bad, I was somewhere in between." She was interested in music and art, but hated mathematics. Marie wanted to go to music college but her grades were not good enough.She studied business instead but became frustrated because she longed to do something creative. When Marie was seventeen she was accepted into the adult education school in Svalöv, where she was able to study music. However, she found the study very boring as she really wanted be performing. She became involved with the Skånska Theatre company and got some small parts in plays.

It was difficult for Marie to find work and so she moved to Halmstad, where she knew a guy called Stefan whom she met at a concert. He became her boyfriend, and she moved into a small flat with him. Marie worked many jobs to support herself, but she found it hard to keep a job. Martin started his own band"Strulpojlkarna" with his friends. A member of the band, Martin, heard Marie sing and encouraged her to sing with the band. They changed their name to "Strul." Strul shared a rehearsal studio with the popular group Gyllene Tider. Marie became friends with Gyllene Tider's lead singer Per Gessle. Strul played several gigs, and even organised their own festival, but they could not get a record contract.  Marie became involved with theatre again, and wrote the music for several plays. She got the attention of a man called Bertil Frisk from "Nizzan Jazzband," who was so impressed by her that he asked her to join the band.

Marie became so busy in her life that she had less time for Stefan. Martin had a personal crisis, and Marie became close to him when she tried to support him. Strul almost split up when Marie dumped Stefan for Martin. Strul released one single and made a few TV appearances. The last appearance was a disaster, and finally the band split up. Shortly before the break up, Marie's father died of a sudden heart attack. The news devastated her, and Marie worked hard with her music to distract herself. Marie and Martin formed a new band "MaMas Barn" with some members of Gyllene Tider. MaMas Barn made one album, "Barn som Barn," in 1983. Per convinced Marie that she should go solo because her voice was too good to hide behind a band, and took her to his producer Lasse Lindbom. Lasse was impressed with Marie's beautiful voice and he helped her to get a record contract. Martin didn't want Marie to go solo, and they split up. He wrote one song for her solo album.

Marie made her first album "Het Vind" in 1984. Lasse taught Marie how the music industry worked, and the two became so close that they fell in love. They took a romantic holiday to the Canary Islands where they worked on the next album "Den Sjunde Vågen" which was released in 1985. Marie's career really began to take off in Sweden after that. Per's solo career was not as successful, so he asked Marie to form a band with him. He wanted to sing in English and try to release the album in other countries. Marie was suspicious about changing language, because in Sweden artists who sing in English are seen as sell outs. Marie eventually agreed and joined the band. They called themselves "Roxette" after a song by 70s band Dr. Feelgood, which was the name Gyllene Tider had used when they tried to release an album in America.

Roxette made their first album "Pearls of Passion" in 1986. It was a big hit in Sweden and some parts of Europe. They tried to get the album released in other countries but they were turned down. In 1987 they released "Dance Passion" which was a remix album. In 1987 Marie also recorded her third solo album "Efter Stormen", which was a big success in Sweden. Roxette returned to the studio and made a second album, Look Sharp! in 1988. Again, it was a hit in some parts of Europe, but everywhere else they were turned down. In 1989, an exchange student named Dean Cushman managed to convince Minneapolis radio station KDWB to play "The Look." It became popular. Finally Roxette were given a record contract in America. "The Look" entered the chart at #48 and went to Number One in a few weeks. They had several hits, and sold 8 million copies of "Look Sharp" all over the world, then they recorded the third album "Joyride." Joyride was a major smash, selling 10 million copies, and Roxette went on their first worldwide tour.

Marie began to go through a personal crisis during this time. She found it difficult to maintain relationships because of her career, her fame and the constant travelling. On the outside she seemed happy, but inside she was miserable. Towards the end of the Joyride tour, Marie met her future husband Mikael Bolyos in Australia. They had met once before, but on this occasion it was love at first sight. They were engaged by the end of the tour. Meeting Micke helped Marie to get her life together, and Marie became happy and contented. She says when she met him "So many things in my life just fell into place."  After the tour, Roxette released the album "Tourism", which was a collection of songs they recorded whilst on the tour. Marie recorded her fourth solo album "Den Ständiga Resan" which documented the crisis she had been going through over the past few years. She said the album was written like a diary, and it contains very personal songs about her life, feelings and relationships.

Marie and Micke had been together for less than a year when Marie became pregnant. Their child Inez Josefin was born on the 29th of April 1993. Josefin was delivered by caesarian section. During the pregnancy and after the birth Marie and Per worked on their fifth album "Crash! Boom! Bang!" It sold 5 million copies and Roxette did a semi-worldwide tour. The album was not released in America, and Roxette were beginning to lose popularity.

Marie married Micke on the 21st of May 1994 in Östra Ljungby. It was a very small ceremony for close friends and family only. Per was not at the wedding.

In 1996 Marie became pregnant  again. During this time, she recorded her fifth solo album "I en tid som vår." Marie's second child Oskar Mikael was born on the 26th of November 1996.

Now in 1999 Roxette are back with a new album called "Have a Nice Day." Marie and Per are in the middle of a long promotion tour, and the album has sold over a million copies.
 If you know something about Marie that I left out, email me!