Per Gessle

As one half of the duo Roxette, Per Gessle became one of the most successful Swedish artists ever, and probably the one earning the most money from his music. Gessle does have a certain gift for catchy hooks, but he also worked diligently to break worldwide through his entire career. When the teen idol band Gyllene Tider failed to do so, only being one of the best-selling bands in Sweden, he disbanded the group and tried a solo career, until finally settling on the duo format together with Marie Fredriksson. His music has always been on the lightweight side and never very inventive (the lyrics even less so), but Gessle has proven to be a very skilled songwriter. Per 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 nonsense lyrics and extremely catchy hooks had Sweden entranced, and they caused chaos on their summer tours. In 1983, while most of the band members were doing their military service, Gessle released his self-titled solo debut, but it didn't come close to the success of Gyllene Tider. In 1984, the band had reunited and tried for the North American market, touring under the name Roxette (a different Roxette than the duo Gessle later formed together with Marie Fredriksson), but passed relatively unnoticed. Discouraged by the failure, Gessle, who has always been more inventive commercially than artistically, disbanded the band and released another solo album, Scener, while forming the actual Roxette as a side project. The other part of Roxette, Marie Fredriksson had a more arty reputation than Gessle, and was initially advised not to spoil her solo career by singing lightweight pop...