Marie Fredriksson (30 May 1958 - 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist, and the lead vocalist of the pop-rock duo Roxette. Her career combined a successful solo identity in Sweden with one of the most commercially successful international partnerships in late-1980s and early-1990s popular music.
Born Gun-Marie Fredriksson in Ossjo, Sweden, she began performing professionally in the late 1970s. She first attracted attention through the punk-influenced group Strul, which organized its own music festival before dissolving. Fredriksson subsequently became involved with the short-lived band MaMas Barn and worked as a backing vocalist and studio musician. Her early association with Per Gessle, then known for the Swedish band Gyllene Tider, developed into a lasting musical partnership.
Fredriksson launched her solo career with the album Het vind in 1984. Sung in Swedish, the record introduced a direct and expressive vocalist whose music moved between pop, rock, and more introspective material. She followed it with Den sjunde vagen in 1986 and ...Efter stormen in 1987. The latter became her first Swedish number-one album and established her as a major domestic recording artist before Roxette had achieved international recognition.
Fredriksson and Gessle formed Roxette in 1986. While Gessle was principally responsible for songwriting, Fredriksson supplied the duo's defining vocal force, balancing precision and emotional intensity. Roxette's breakthrough came after an American college radio success for "The Look" led to wider promotion of the album Look Sharp! in 1988. The duo then reached the top of the US charts with "The Look," "Listen to Your Heart," "It Must Have Been Love," and "Joyride." Their polished combination of melodic songwriting, rock guitars, synthesizers, and Fredriksson's powerful performances made Roxette one of Sweden's most prominent musical exports after ABBA.
Roxette's international success temporarily reduced Fredriksson's solo activity, although she returned to the format with Den standiga resan in 1992. Often regarded as her most personal and artistically ambitious solo album, it presented a darker and more reflective side of her writing and singing. Further Swedish-language releases included I en tid som var in 1996 and the compilation Antligen - Marie Fredrikssons basta 1984-2000, which became one of Sweden's best-selling albums of 2000.
In 2002, Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering a serious fall. Treatment and rehabilitation profoundly affected her health, but she resumed recording with the English-language album The Change in 2004. She later released the Swedish covers album Min baste van in 2006 and the single "Dar du andas" in 2008, her only solo number-one single in Sweden.
Roxette returned to touring in 2009 and continued recording, issuing albums including Charm School and Travelling. Fredriksson's final solo album, Nu!, appeared in 2013. She performed with Roxette until health problems forced her to retire from touring in 2016. Fredriksson died in Djursholm, Sweden, in 2019. Her legacy rests both on her independent body of Swedish-language work and on the unmistakable voice that gave Roxette's international hits their urgency and emotional weight.