Rep: You came to Halmstad in the ‘70s. How was it? Can you describe the musical scene that was there that time?

Marie: It was intense. I came there in 1977 from a little village called Östra Ljungby, I moved to Halmstad in ’77, yes, it was that year. And Gyllene Tider existed there, they had just started... and a lot of other bands who started to grow up that time, in ’78. It felt like all could play, all could make a band, it was many who learned to play very quickly, but it didn’t matter, all could play together! And we made a festival where all could play. There was a really active music life at the end of the ’70 in Halmstad.

Rep: Didn’t Six Piece play also that time in Halmstad?

She sings again Marie Fredriksson prepares to come back on stage. LAst year she stayed away from the audience and had a rest after the cancer operation. The photo was taken 2001.

 Rep: This is true! For the first time in the Swedish music history, Roxette have got No. 1 in the USA twice. ABBA have done it earlier, they have been No.1 in the USA, but only once, while Roxette have succeeded to have two number ones. Here we are with Roxette, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson.

 Rep: We will meet here, the time is 5.00 and we are here in the dressing room of the hotel and I would like to ask Marie: when does Per come? Does he come at 4.50, at 5.00 or at 5.10?

Marie: He comes at 5.30!

Rep: He always comes at 5.30!?!

Marie: No, but he comes much later, I don’t think he has learned too much about the time. He thinks that it is me who is not in time...

Rep: Perhaps we don’t have to ask Per if it is true...

Per: Yes, it is true, unfortunately, I try to be in time, but there is always something I have to finish. Well, perhaps at the age of 39 you feel the time differently, you have to synchronise in a way. (laughs)

The first owned album

Per: Oh, I haven’t thought about that! Mmm, Monkeys!

Marie Fredriksson about her fight against cancer

Soon, Roxette will do a huge comeback after Marie Frediksson's cancer. Per Gessle describes this as a miracle. 

Now the singer tells us that the doctors - when it was the worst - gave her just half a year more to live. "It has been a hard fight", she says to Lotta Brome from P4 Extra.

Lotta Brome's interview with Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson will be broadcasted today at P4 Extra. In the programme they will talk about how they will start Roxette's first world tour since 2001, this monday. The tour starts in Russia and the reaction of the audience has been huge.

"It feels fantastic. We have incredibly many fans who are looking forward to getting the album and also to seeing us playing again. It feels realy well", says Marie.

Free from cancer

A big part of today's program at P4 will focus on how Marie is feeling. Today the singer has got rid of cancer, but it was long time ago when she could manage by herself.

When she was asked if she thought that Roxette would go on stage again and play once in the future, after the difficult period of time had been over, the answer was "no".

Rep: We are here with Gun Marie Fredriksson, 167cm, and … 184cm I think…

Per: Why don’t you say it in kg?

Rep: Per Håkan Gessle… You have been a bit on the stage now, right?

Per: Yes, we have been there.

Rep: Do you see this concert like an important event that takes place at Globen, I mean like a 1000m running or like a football match in the evening… but who was the best on the ground this evening?

Per: The audience.

Marie: I can say that Per has been the best on the ground this evening, because I have run into him and hit him, it was almost like a boxing game, I think he has bitten his tongue a bit, perhaps he could get a big mouth after that! (laughs) So I think he was the best…

Per: Did you do that? When we met our audience this tour, I just thought that it was a great one, all over the world, now Stockholm, it is like a story, it is really easy to stand on the stage when the audience is so near, it feel like they hold you in their hands.

Rep: Is there anything special that happens?

Per: Jonas I think, he does many things. Today it was Listen to Your Heart that he was really good at playing.

 Rep: These days Per Gessle, Sweden’s best hit writer, has released a new album, Party Crasher. From this album, the song Silly Really has already become a hit and came into charts few weeks ago. Per Gessle, welcome!

Per: Thank you very much.

Rep: How does it feel that you come up in the charts?

Per: It is always funny, of course, very nice. We keep our fingers crossed for every project, but we never know what happens next.

Rep: You mean that?

Per: Yes, it is like that. Moreover, it is also a project in English, so usually it is different.

Rep: Are you nervous before?

Rep: He is one of our most successful artists of all times. Sometimes he sings in Swedish, sometimes in English. Sometimes he has his colleagues from Gyllene Tider by his side and sometimes he sings besides his colleague from Roxette, Marie Fredriksson. He has sold 75 millions disks and has been on many world tours as well. That is why it is not so strange that this artist has got most of Rockbjörn (rock bear) trophies, 13 pieces: Per Gessle.

Per: It is absolutely not like that, but the question is if I am like that.

Rep: We are absolutely talking about Party Crasher that he has recorded and sold to the whole Europe. And he learn to “pack himself” like this:

Per: The guy from Roxette, it’s simple. It is easy like that for someone who has a Roxette-star on his forehead.

Rep: The single Seally Really has already become a hit in Sweden and it opens the album with English texts, which will be spread outside the country.

Per: It sounds modern and new, at the same time it has a huge respect for what has been before. The song is a mixture of the disco from the ‘70s, elements of the ‘80s, typical song writers of the ‘90s, a modern result in a way; I think it is attractive, I hope the others think the same.

Rep: With Roxette he has fulfilled a lot of his dreams, especially to become number one in the USA. Congratulations!