FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Showing posts with label Miriam Bryant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miriam Bryant. Show all posts

Monday, December 23, 2019

#Roxette 😢 - So many songs left to be sung that will never be sung by #MarieFredriksson 🎤😭

And just a month before Marie died, November 4th, it had been the 30th anniversary of their first NUMBER ONE song on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart here in the USA, the "First song ever to reach the No 1-slot WITHOUT being released as a 7-inch vinyl disc."


Roxette - Listen To Your Heart (Official Music Video)
https://youtu.be/yCC_b5WHLX0

And less than a year later... lightning struck! A hit song from the most popular film of the year all around the world...


Roxette - It Must Have Been Love (Official Music Video, from the motion picture, 'Pretty Woman' (1990) https://youtu.be/k2C5TjS2sh4


The last time I had listened to one of Roxette's songs consistently came in 2011, just two weeks after my dad Died at Memorial Hospital here in Hollywood, after he'd suffered his first stroke in 2009, had several medical interventions, and been in an ALF in Hollywood -just blocks from where I'd later be living- where I visited him for several hours every day to check on his mood and lend encouragement. A very. very tough time for me that Per and Marie's music helped me get through.



Roxette - She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio) [Official Music Video]
Uploaded January 12, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1N-Gf0Fbcg









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The sad press release from Dimberg Jernberg Management in Stockholm...

Marie Fredriksson of Roxette has died 

It is with great sadness we have to announce that Marie Fredriksson of Roxette has passed away in the morning of December 9, following a 17-year long battle with cancer.

Marie was born on the 30th of May 1958 in the south of Sweden, starting her musical career in nearby Halmstad where she became friends with future Roxette companion Per Gessle. Following a successful solo debut in 1984, Marie Fredriksson became one of Sweden’s most loved and successful artists. In 1986 she teamed up with Per in Roxette with the ambition to reach outside Sweden, and together they started a historical journey that in the coming years would make them one of the biggest pop acts in the world. 

The debut single ”Neverending Love” followed by the album ”Pearls of Passion” in 1986 made them stars in Sweden, but international recognition would have to wait until the single ”The Look” from Roxette’s second album ”Look Sharp!” in the spring of 1989 opened the doors to a massive international breakthrough. It was their first No 1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and would be followed by ”Listen To Your Heart”, ”It Must Have Been Love” and ”Joyride”, as well as numerous worldwide radio staples like ”Dressed For Success”, ”How Do You Do!”, ”Sleeping In My Car”, ”Dangerous”, “Fading Like A Flower” and many more. 

The massive success with sales of more than 80 million records paved the way for several worldwide tours, cementing Marie Fredriksson’s reputation as a sensational live performer. She owned the stage, commanded the band and had the audience in the palm of her hand. As great as she was in the studio, the stage was her natural habitat. This unique artistry and energy helped to create a lasting bond between her and millions of passionate fans around the globe. 

In 2002, Marie was diagnosed with a severe brain tumor, receiving an aggressive treatment that took its toll but ultimately was successful. Thanks to her extremely strong fighting spirit, Marie by 2009 was able to start a gradual return to the world’s stages. The unlikely second coming of Roxette resulted in several new albums, and tours that again put the duo in front of screaming, smiling and crying crowds all over the world. During the comeback years Marie was an amazing trooper, overcoming the many rigors of touring in order to meet her fans on stage again and again. But by 2016, the show was finally over when Marie´s doctors advised her to stop touring and focus on her health. 

Marie leaves us a grand musical legacy. Her amazing voice – both strong and sensitive – and her magical live performances will be remembered by all of us who was lucky enough to witness them. But we also remember a wonderful person with a huge appetite for life, and woman with a very big heart who cared for everybody she met. 

Per Gessle comments:
“Time goes by so quickly. It’s not that long ago we spent days and nights in my tiny apartment in Halmstad, listening to music we loved, sharing impossible dreams. And what a dream we eventually got to share!
Thank you, Marie, thanks for everything. You were an outstanding musician, a master of the voice, an amazing performer. Thanks for painting my black and white songs in the most beautiful colours. You were the most wonderful friend for over 40 years. I’m proud, honoured and happy to have been able to share so much of your time, talent, warmth, generosity and sense of humour. All my love goes out to you and your family. Things will never be the same.
P.”

Marie Fredriksson’s husband Mikael Bolyos and her two children Josefin and Oscar kindly ask for respect in their grief.
The funeral will take place in silence with only Marie’s closest family present. 

Stockholm, December 2019.
Dimberg Jernberg Management

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Friday, April 19, 2019

More than is true for most people, my life the past 3 years has been like a Country Music song, and because of that, I've been listening to and writing about it more than ever. But I haven't forgotten abt my favorites in Europe, either: Zara Larsson, Robyn, Miriam Bryant, Cecilla Nilsson. Why will make perfect sense in a few months. Here's what's been percolating in my mind musically of late

Much more than you might think, given where I live and what my particular interests and passions are, the past three years of my life has resembled nothing so much as a popular Country Music song by artists like Thomas Rhett or Maren Morris
Because of that, wherever I've been the past year, in South Florida, or mostly away from it, as I've been since last August, I've been listening to a LOT more Country Music than ever before, and writing about it more than ever, too. But sharing those thoughts in emails to friends & family, not on the blog.

Those of you out there who know me even reasonably well, know why that's so, and can and have even repeated back to me, almost word-for-word,  several telling past conversations and anecdotes we've shared about the woman behind all those positive heartfelt emotions of mine. The woman I fell completely head-over-heels in love with, who, for now at least, is not in the area. Hopefully, not for good. 
But like a good Country Music song, this amazing and wonderful woman of so much creativity and passion that she makes my heart sings, is still on my mind as much as she ever was when we were constantly together, when she knew and appreciated that she was the focus of all my positive energy and thoughts everyday, no matter where in the world she was traveling.

Still, over the past year, I haven't been sleeping on quality music from some of my favorites, especially from Scandinavia: Zara Larsson, Robyn, Veronica Maggio, Miriam Bryant, Astrid Smeplass a.k.a. Astrid S., Cecilla Nilsson. They are still on point and killing it!
And depending upon on how some plans of mine and some touring schedules go before the end of the year, I may not only be seeing some or all of them in person, but even driving around with them in a car, singing THEIR songs with them. Yes, there's a lot I haven't shared yet and can't share now but am very excited to share in a few months when the time is right.

As to the specific reason why I've been thinking about and relating to County Music and its sensibility so much more the past few months will make perfect sense in a few months, when I have some interesting #Nashville-inspired news to share with you here on the blog.
News will that really shock/amuse/delight many of you.
But until then, that monent of declaration, here's what's been percolating in my mind musically of late.
I'm sure you will see and hear much that you like, if you weren't already familar with them.
Keep an open mind!

















There has been a lot of reaction to my recent comments about country radio. I am, and have been for several years, devastated to see how the genre I grew up on and made my career on has changed. The obvious and most maddening change to me has been the blatant stonewalling of female artists. One day I’m a country artist with hits on country radio and the next, I can’t even get one spin on ANY of my new music. It’s so frustrating and I don’t know what genre my music belongs to now. But the other major disappointment is the lack of creativity and lyrical sophistication that is being played now. (Not all, but most). Country music used to be known for its amazingly true to life, heartfelt lyrics. With sweet sounds like steel guitar and fiddle surrounding those lyrics. It used to be true stories told of unrequited love, or lost hopes and dreams, and sometimes fun down-home good ole party songs, but it was great music. When I signed my record deal with RCA, country airwaves were full of amazing females like Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride and so many more. It’s time for a change.
A post shared by Sara Evans (@saraevansmusic) on


Sara: There has been a lot of reaction to my recent comments about country radio. I am, and have been for several years, devastated to see how the genre I grew up on and made my career on has changed. The obvious and most maddening change to me has been the blatant stonewalling of female artists. One day I’m a country artist with hits on country radio and the next, I can’t even get one spin on ANY of my new music. It’s so frustrating and I don’t know what genre my music belongs to now. But the other major disappointment is the lack of creativity and lyrical sophistication that is being played now. (Not all, but most). Country music used to be known for its amazingly true to life, heartfelt lyrics. With sweet sounds like steel guitar and fiddle surrounding those lyrics. It used to be true stories told of unrequited love, or lost hopes and dreams, and sometimes fun down-home good ole party songs, but it was great music. When I signed my record deal with RCA, country airwaves were full of amazing females like Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride and so many more. It’s time for a change.





 Sara: Thanks for shining a light on this issue @people. Country Radio needs female voices!





FYI: That back deck got power-sprayed and treated in March and now looks brand new.











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At least a dozen blog posts about topics of great interest to people in #HollywoodFL, #HallandaleBeach and #SoFL have already been written will be dropping in the coming days and weeks as I've been waiting for just the right moment.
Well, knock-knock, next week it'll be time to answer the door!



Dave 
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