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Marie Fredriksson obituary

Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 December 2019

COMMANDING FEMALE VOCALISTS were never more popular than in the late 1980s, and for a time Marie Fredriksson, whose voice could blister paint or seduce a kitten, was one of the biggest. The singing half of the Swedish power-pop duo Roxette, she piloted them, with guitarist Per Gessle, to near ubiquity, and 75m record sales. Her widescreen delivery of their four biggest songs — 'It Must Have Been Love', 'Joyride', 'The Look', and 'Listen to Your Heart' — helped to send each to No 1 in the US, a country rarely receptive to Swedish groups, even those singing in English. Britain and the rest of Europe also succumbed, and Fredriksson, who has died of cancer aged 61, was one of pop’s most recognisable frontwomen in Roxette’s 1989‑91 golden hour.

Total word count of piece: 798

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