By Inday Chikadora | 09:30 PM December 10, 2019
Swedish pop star Marie Fredriksson, whose most iconic hits included It Must Have Been Love and Listen To Your Heart, died on Monday, December 9, 2019, at the age of 61 following a long battle with a brain tumor.
The star formed pop duo Roxette with Per Gessle in 1986. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early ’90s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and had six top two hits on the Billboard Hot 100: The Look, Listen to Your Heart, Dangerous, It Must Have Been Love, Joyride and Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)”.
The Swedish Daily Express reported: “Marie Fredriksson is most mourned by her husband Mikael Bolyos and their two children, [26-year-old daughter Inez Josefin and son Oscar, 23].
“It is with great sadness that we have to announce that one of our biggest and most beloved artists is gone.
“Marie Fredriksson died on the morning of December 9 in the suites of her previous illness,’ the family wrote in a statement.”
The DailyMail reported that Marie “will be buried in silence with only the closest family present.”
In 2002, Marie collapsed and suffered a seizure while out jogging with her husband and a brain tumour was detected.
She was left blind in one eye and with limited hearing and was unable to speak for months afterwards.
In 2016, she announced that she would no longer touring. A Facebook post read: ‘Roxette were supposed to start the last leg of their massive RoXXXette 30th Anniversary Tour on June 3rd.’
In a statement, Gessle paid further tribute to Fredriksson: “Time goes by so fast. It feels like just recently when Marie and I were sitting in my little apartment in Halmstad sharing dreams. And what a fantastic dream we got to share! Thank you Marie, thank you for everything. You were a truly unique musician, a singer on a level we will hardly ever experience again. You painted my black and white songs with the most beautiful colours.”
