Listen to Roxette on Batanga

By the time singer/songwriters Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson came together officially as Roxette, both were established artists in Sweden. They met in 1979 while in separate bands. Over the years - as Fredriksson moved from Strul and MaMas Barn (Mama's Children) to going solo and Gessle performed with his band, the popular Gyllene Tider, and made two solo albums - the two encountered each other repeatedly in local music circles.

Gessle recorded a Swedish-language solo album, released in 1985 featuring Fredriksson on background vocals, and Fredriksson recorded a second solo album and received the 1986 Rockbjörnen award as Best Swedish Female Artist. Upon the advice of their mutual record company, the Swedish subsidiary of the EMI Group, Gessle and Fredriksson joined to record an English-language single. "Neverending Love", credited to Roxette, was released in late 1986 and reached the Swedish Top 10.

Gessle and Fredriksson quickly recorded a full length album using songs Gessle had written originally for his third solo album. With the release of Pearls of Passion in October 1986 Roxette became an even bigger success in Sweden with the top 10 hit singles of 'Neverending Love' and 'Goodbye to You'. Pearls of Passion was released in 1987 in Spain with the single I Call Your Name, and was followed by a compilation of remixes of the same songs entitled Dance Passion. In 1987 Fredriksson released and publicised her third solo album and won the 1988 Swedish Grammis Award as Best Female Pop/Rock Artist and two Rockbjörnen awards for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Female Artist. Meanwhile Roxette released the single 'I Want You' in collaboration with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata. Later in the year they released 'It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For the Broken Hearted)', a holiday themed song that received some attention and kept Roxette's name alive on European radio as Gessle and Fredriksson prepared their next album. Gessle has said the single was Roxette's first earnest endeavor to reach beyond Sweden towards European markets such as Germany, though EMI Germany decided against releasing the single.

The full-length follow-up, Look Sharp!, was released in Europe in October 1988, two years after Pearls of Passion. Gessle and EMI Svenska chose to highlight Fredriksson's singing and released the uptempo "Chances" and "Dressed For Success" as the first singles.

After "Success's" run on Swedish radio emerged "The Look". Fredriksson can be heard in the recording mirroring the chorus' main line, "she's got the look", and singing harmony. In early 1989, EMI issued "The Look" to American record stores and radio stations and pressed copies of Look Sharp!. "The Look" reached No. 1 on the April 8, 1989, Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for one week. At the end of the year, Billboard named "The Look" one of the 20 biggest Hot 100 singles of the year. The breakthrough of Roxette was international when "The Look" also successfully topped the charts in further big markets such as Germany, Australia and Japan. In May it also entered the Top 10 in the UK.

"Listen to Your Heart" was released thereafter. A power-ballad, the song managed to garner listener interest even though it differed from the synth pop of "The Look" and the pluckiness of "Success", instead resembling the guitar-heavy ballads of Heart.

Look Sharp! won Gessle his first Swedish Grammis award in the category Best Composer. Roxette received two Rockbjörnen Awards: for Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Group while Fredriksson won her third consecutive Rockbjörnen for Best Swedish Female Artist.

Roxette took a turn – "adult", as Marie Fredriksson described – with the 1994 release of Crash! Boom! Bang!, an ambitious set of music both loud and, at times, somber. Bryan Buss of Allmusic wrote, "To go from the painfully pretty 'Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)' on Joyride to the apathetic 'Vulnerable' to the haunting and powerful title track of the same name on this album shows a serious downward slide..."

Moreover, the first single release from Crash! Boom! Bang!, the distortion guitar-heavy pop hit "Sleeping in My Car", managed to grab attention, reaching the Billboard Top 50 and the Top 15 in the UK, Australia and Germany, as well as returning Roxette to No. 1 in Sweden after several years.

Room Service followed in 2001 to some critical raves. "Probably the best Roxette album since Joyride", wrote Leslie Mathew of Allmusic. "Room Service is an exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed." The album topped the Swedish charts and reached No.3 in Germany. The first single, "The Centre of the Heart", emerged as a result, hitting No. 1 in Sweden; it was followed by "Milk and Toast and Honey", which reached the Swedish and Swiss top 30. Roxette again went on a successful tour all over Europe.