Per Gessle

Per Gessle rose to prominence as one member of Roxette, ranking among Sweden’s most accomplished musicians of his era and arguably the entire rock period. His skill at crafting memorable melodies fueled sustained efforts to secure worldwide recognition for his songwriting. Although the power pop group Gyllene Tider never broke through internationally—despite ranking among Sweden’s top-selling acts—he dissolved the band and launched a solo path. Worldwide breakthroughs materialized only after he partnered with Marie Fredriksson to launch Roxette in 1986, producing U.S. chart leaders including “The Look” and “It Must Have Been Love.”

Gessle entered the world in Halmstad, a coastal settlement in southwestern Sweden. The new wave movement sparked his early creativity, prompting a short stint in the duo Grape Rock during the late ’70s ahead of forming Gyllene Tider in 1978. Their infectious melodies soon dominated Sweden, and the second album, Moderna Tider, approached half a million copies sold. In 1983, while most bandmates fulfilled military duties, Gessle issued his self-titled solo debut. The ensemble regrouped in 1984 to target North America under the name Roxette—unrelated to the later duo—yet attracted scant notice. Disheartened, he released the solo album Scener while assembling the final Roxette lineup as a side project.

Roxette’s first album, Pearls of Passion, appeared in 1986. By 1988 the pairing of Gessle and Fredriksson stood among Sweden’s leading acts, and the next year they claimed their initial American number-one single with “The Look.” Additional U.S. toppers followed with “Listen to Your Heart,” “It Must Have Been Love,” and “Joyride.” Throughout the 1990s Roxette thrived internationally, moving tens of millions of units and topping charts in roughly a dozen nations. Ultimately the act became one of Sweden’s premier musical exports—surpassed only by ABBA—after surpassing 75 million records sold globally.

While Fredriksson paused Roxette activities to focus on family, Gyllene Tider reconvened for a 1996 summer tour and issued an EP of fresh material. Their reissued compilation Halmstads Pärlor ranked as Sweden’s biggest seller in both 1995 and 1996. The following year Gessle delivered his third solo album, the first English-language effort The World According to Gessle, supported by musicians from Gyllene Tider and Brainpool. His next solo project, 2003’s Mazarin, earned five-times multi-platinum status in Sweden. That momentum led to a Roxette reunion album and accompanying tour. In 2005 he released the solo album Son of a Plumber—his second English-language outing, the first to reach platinum on release day. The Swedish-language successor En Händig Man arrived in 2007 and achieved triple-platinum certification, followed in 2008 by the third English-language solo set Party Crasher. The live album Gessle Over Europe appeared the next year.

Roxette reconvened for European concerts in 2009 and ultimately performed more than 100 shows across six continents during the ensuing three years. Gessle then composed an instrumental pop score for the 2012 festival film Small Apartments, issued as a soundtrack on EMI with the movie’s wider release in early 2013. That summer Gyllene Tider reunited once more for a Swedish tour. Gessle reclaimed the top spot on the Swedish albums chart with the solo release En Vacker Natt (A Beautiful Night) in the first half of 2017, then followed it in the second half with En Vacker Dag (A Beautiful Day).