became one of the most successful Swedish artists ever.
not only has a gift for catchy hooks, but he has also worked diligently to break worldwide through his entire career. When the teen idol band
failed to do so -- becoming only one of the best-selling bands in Sweden -- he disbanded the group and tried a solo career, until finally settling on the duo format in
Gessle was born in the seaside town of Halmstad in southwestern Sweden. Inspired by the new wave movement, he had a brief session in the duo
Grape Rock in the late '70s, before forming
Gyllene Tider. Within a few years, their extremely catchy hooks had Sweden entranced, and they caused chaos on their summer tours. In 1983, while most of the bandmembers were doing their military service,
Gessle released his self-titled solo debut. In 1984, the band reunited and tried for the North American market, touring under the name
Roxette (a different
Roxette than the duo he later formed), but passed relatively unnoticed. Discouraged by the failure,
Gessle released another solo album,
Scener, while forming the actual
Roxette as a side project.
In 1986,
Roxette's debut album,
Pearls of Passion, was released. By 1988, the duo of
Gessle and
Marie Fredriksson had become one of Sweden's most popular groups, and in another year they reached number one on the American charts for the first time. During the entire decade of the '90s,
Roxette was tremendously successful worldwide, selling tens of millions of records and reaching the top of the charts in nearly a dozen countries.
In 1996,
Gyllene Tider reunited for a summer tour, releasing an EP with newly written songs, as well as re-releasing a compilation. Both sold extremely well on the Swedish market. The next year,
Gessle released his third solo album, the first one in English, this time backed by members of
Gyllene Tider and
Brainpool.
Gessle's next solo offering, 2003's Mazarin, went multi-platinum (five times) in Sweden. That success was followed up with a
Roxette reunion album and wildly popular reunion tour. The year 2005 saw another solo release,
Son of a Plumber --
Gessle's second English-language solo offering but the first one to go platinum on the day it was issued. The Swedish-language follow-up,
En Händig Man, was issued in 2007 (going triple platinum) and was followed in 2008 by a third English-language solo album,
Party Crasher. The live album Gessle Over Europe followed one year later.
–
Lars Lovén & J. Scott McClintock, Rovi