ROXETTE HAS THE LOOK
When Sweden's Roxette rocketed to the top of the U.S. pop charts with "The Look," the debut single from their latest album, Look Sharp!, they had already achieved mega-stardom in Sweden. Roxette is Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, both of whom had successful careers individually in Sweden before forming Roxette in 1986.
ROXETTE HAS THE LOOK
Karen Levitt
When Sweden's Roxette rocketed to the top of the U.S. pop charts with "The Look," the debut single from their latest album, Look Sharp!, they had already achieved mega-stardom in Sweden.
Roxette is Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, both of whom had successful careers individually in Sweden before forming Roxette in 1986. Per was the lead singer and songwriter of a Swedish band called Gyllene Tider, while Marie had a solo career and had become one of Sweden's most popular singers. Both sang in Swedish, but they knew that they would have to sing in English to gain popularity abroad. Per and Marie had been good friends for many years and had always wanted to work together, and when the right circumstances finally arose they found they were even more successful as a pair than either one had been alone! "We were lucky," says Marie. "It was perfect timing."
Roxette's first album, Pearls of Passion, was released in Sweden, and eventually went platinum, with two singles certified gold. But it was their second album, Look Sharp!, that launched their success in the United States.