This is my favourite interview with Marie, as she shows everyone what a strong woman she is! That's why we love her!

"Roxette Singer Swings" Australia, 1991

Ask any good looking pop star about being good looking and they pretend to be ugly. Marie Fredriksson, of the Swedish supergroup Roxette, is different. She's got the look and she knows it.

It shouldn't be interpreted as arrogance or narcissism, although it could be taken as a thinly veiled slap in the face for Madonna. Marie Fredriksson is only stating the obvious. Or in her words, the way it is.
    "I am what I am," she laughs defiantly. "I am not afraid of what I am, or of people's perception of me.
    "What you see is what you get. I do not run around or do workouts. I sleep lots, eat the proper foods, if there's a pool at the hotel, I'll have a swim.
    "Personally, I don't see myself as a sex symbol, but when people say that I get very proud, because I think people's sexuality is something very important.
    "It's not like I get up every morning and say to myself 'I'm going to be very sexy today.' And when I'm performing, I am me being me," she says.
     Fredriksson and partner, vocalist/guitarist Per Gessle, form the core of a very competent hit writing duo called Roxette. It has taken Roxette a mere five years to achieve world chart domination.
    Their candy flavoured pop may seem too sickly for some, but listen to any of the four singles from the quadruple platinum album Look Sharp (1989) or the four lifted from the latest smash Joyride and Roxette's ear for a catchy pop hit cannot be denied.
    Their worldwide number one and Top 10 Hits have included It Must Have Been Love, The Look, Listen to Your Heart and Joyride.
    They are the biggest act to emerge from Sweden since ABBA. Roxette will also be honored later this year by being featured on a Swedish Stamp.
    Critics and cynics have been less kind. In an interview earlier this year, it was suggested that Roxette appeared to be too contrived. Everything seemed formulated - the look, the songs, Scandinavian background images and a sound similar to the Eurythmics.
    "I reject those opinions totally," Fredriksson said hotly. "But, it is one of those things that comes with being successful. People try to find faults everywhere. I am not saying Roxette is without fault, but Per and I have been in the business for so long, even before Roxette started, and I find it annoying that people criticize them way we look, when they didn't really care a couple of years ago.
    "Sweden is such a small country and it's very seldom that Swedish bands get international recognition. Most of the artists at home sing in Swedish, so it's very hard to break into the world scene.
    "That's why we started Roxette in the first place. And because we come from Sweden, and have made it overseas, people always compare us with ABBA.
    "I am very proud of ABBA," Fredriksson declares. "I have all their albums and Dancing Queen is one of my all time favourite songs. It is hard to understand the comparisons between Roxette and ABBA. We are two completely different groups. Our music is not similar at all."
 
    When the US grabbed Roxette's debut single The Look, and shot it to number one in eight weeks, ABBA were the first to congratulate them.
    "It was such an honour meeting my childhood idols. I was very nervous. Now we are all good friends. It is very obvious that we are going through exactly the same thing that ABBA did nearly 20 years ago.
    Fredriksson and Gessle were both successful artists, and had, in fact, grown up together in Halmstad, a small fishing village, before deciding to form Roxette in 1986. Gessle fronted a power pop band called Gyllene Tider while Fredriksson had three top selling solo albums to her credit. Gessle quit his band in 1984, penned a song Neverending Love two years later and got Fredriksson to the vocal.
    "Per and I have known each other for so long. We have a brother and sister type relationship. I know exactly what Per's bad sides are, and he knows mine.
    "The philosophy behind Roxette is to do our best and have as much fun as we can with our work. Honesty is important too. We are very honest with each other."
    Asked about her bad side, Fredriksson is less forthcoming. "It only comes out now and again. I did not mean to sound like I was some sort of monster.
    "I am a very openminded person. In private, I am very shy and laid back, but on stage, people see the artist inside me just breaking out. It's fun. It's like a release.
    "I spend all my money on clothes," she laughs. "That's a bad side of me."
    Fredriksson agrees that Roxette's major strength is its songs. Fredriksson, who can only write Swedish lyrics, composes the music for Roxette and leaves Gessle to the words. She has an amazing sense of melody while his lyrics are bright, universal and unpretentious.
    Hello, you fool, I love you...the opening strains of the massive hit Joyride was inspired by a note Per's girlfriend left for him, stating exactly that. On the same day, he had read an interview with Paul McCartney, who said writing songs with John Lennons was like "being on a long joyride."
    "Joyride and The Look are more fiction or fantasy pieces. It's kind of experimental on our part. It Must Have Been Love is my favourite Roxette song. It sounds fantastic live."
    Five years down the track, and they may have written a song about it, but Fredriksson says Roxette has been anything but dressed for success.
    "Success changes you. This is a very special life. It is privileged. People recognise you everywhere. It is something you have to learn to live with. I can be halfway around the world in a hotel room and feel like I am sitting in a jail, but you have to try to lead a normal a life as possible.
    "Live normal," Fredriksson says. "I really believe it is important to feel good about yourself and what you feel deep inside. Only then can you be happy and express your true self."