Listen to My Heart

FOREWORD



For thirty years I have spent time in rooms with creative, inspiring people-people with voice and vision, beauty and heart. But I have never met someone quite like Marie.




Marie Fredriksson was one of the most full-fledged artists I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. She radiated creativity in her thoughts, ideas, execution, and her very presence in the room. Her artistry flowed (and continues to flow) straight from her heart and into yours, as anyone fortunate enough to have seen her perform can attest.




I am one of those fortunate people. My friendship with Marie started in the earliest days of my career. She trusted me to help realize her 1992 solo LP The Constant Journey into a visual album. Then, and in every project since, I have admired Marie's courage. The courage to allow the open, honest, vulnerable person within to shine through her art.




Marie was my first true break in the industry, and I'll always be grateful for that-not only because of the projects that followed, but because of the integrity, focus, and creative generosity that she taught me. A generosity she carried throughout the entire time I knew her, in every project we ever embarked on together. She was always inspiring, always great fun to be with.




Creative work was a way of life for Marie. No matter what obstacle, adversity, or strange surprise life threw at her, Marie never stopped giving us the gift of her expression-her voice, her words, and her beautiful paintings. This book is but one testament to the boundless creativity she exuded throughout her life.

Marie Fredriksson was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, who was best known internationally as the lead vocalist of pop rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success beginning in the late 1980s with the albums Look Sharp! and Joyride, and had multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including four number ones-the most for any Swedish act. Select hits include "Listen to Your Heart," "It Must Have Been Love" (from the film Pretty Woman), "The Look," and "Joyride."

Helena von Zweigbergk is one of Sweden's most talented and respected authors. She's also a journalist and has been a regular presenter of The Scouts, a Swedish radio series on contemporary culture and trends, since 1988. Some of her selected previous novels include Out of the Mouth of the Volcano (2008), Things You Just Say (2009), and The Heart Beats On (2013).

Jonas Akerlund is a Swedish film director, screenwriter, and music video director who collaborated with Marie Fredriksson and Roxette nearly 20 times. His video for Madonna's single "Ray of Light" won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video and a record five awards at the 1998 Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year. Subsequently he won two more Grammy Awards-for concert films of Madonna and Paul McCartney-and has directed Lady Gaga, Beyonce, U2, and Metallica in multiple music videos.

"Singer-songwriter Marie Fredriksson (1958-2019) offers a heartbreakingly candid recollection of her early life, pop career [including many years with Roxette], and struggle with illness in this posthumous memoir. Fredriksson more than delivers on her stated mission to 'share her moments of transcendence and offer consolation to those full of doubt' by cataloging her favorite performances and refusing to let her diagnosis overshadow her career. Anecdotes about celebrities from Elton John to Frank Sinatra are just the cherry on top. Pop music fans will treasure this." - Publishers Weekly



"Fredriksson's frustration at being discounted in the men-dominated music industry and her attempts to find alternative lifesaving treatments makes for an engaging read. Most poignant is her vulnerability as she opens her closets and photo albums that showcase a life well lived." - Library Journal