Marie Fredriksson is one great singer Sweden has been blessed with. She was a songwriter, pianist, and pop singer. She died at age 61 following a 17-year cancer diagnosis. Marie Fredriksson Net Worth was 60 million dollars when she died in 2019.
Marie’s firm was built on the strength of her ability to be half of the pop roc duo Roxette together with her Por Gessle. Her albums over the years makes wave in and out of Sweden even after her death.
Marie’s Full Biography
Marie was born into the family of Inez and Charles Fredriksson as the last child out of the five children they had. She was born on the 30th of May 1958 in Ossjo, Scania, Sweden. Marie moved with her parent to Ostra Ljungby at age four, after their farm was sold.
The family remained there till about three years later when Marie was seven, she lost her sister (Anna-Lisa; who used to look after them when their parents were out working) to a car accident when she went to purchase of her engagement dress.
Being left to take care of themselves, Marie discovered a passion for music, she learned instruments, learned to sing and as well play different musical instruments. She also drew great inspiration from her Sunday school pastor.
Her passion for music heightened at her teenage age and she began to discover great artists like Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, etc. She got admitted into a music school at age 17.
There, she got acquainted with many students from the theatre department, and as a result of these relationships, she began composing songs for the plays hosted by the department. Due to her ability to sing well, and her expansive vocal range, she joined the musical school cast most times.
She privately got married to her husband, Mikael Bolyos, a Swedish musician, guitarist, and pianist in 1994 after meeting him on a tour with Roxette in Australia. The marriage yielded two children (a boy and a girl), Oscar Mikael in 1996 and Inez Josefin in 1993.
Later in 2002, Marie was diagnosed with brain cancer. She underwent surgery for this tumor in the rear of her head in 2012. However, at the end of the surgery, she could not see with her right eye any longer.
In late 2019, on the 6th of December, Marie died due to the cancer. She was privately buried with only her immediate family members in attendance. King Carl XVI Gustaf who was the king of Sweden paid tribute to her family by public announcement. On the 20th of January, 2020, a concert was held at Stora Theatre in Gothenburg.
Marie’s Music Career
First, Marie worked in a theatre in Halmstad after her graduation from music school in 1877, She and Stefan Dernbrant who was her boyfriend then formed a punk group Strul in 1978. Later in 1979, the group Strulfestival; an independent music festival.
After Marie’s breakup with Stefan in 1980, she continued the team with guitarist Martin Sternhufvud. They became so popular that in 1981, they were featured in Swedish music television programs. They released their first single after signing with Bastun record label.
Stul was disbanded due to a poor performance at the Pop Around the Clock Festival. She further got a solo artist contract with EMI Sweden, due to her her being nervous, she ended up performing duet vocals on Lasse Lindbom Band’s lead single in 1982.
She backed the Sweden band Gyllene Tider’s ‘The Heartland Cafe’ English album, which was released under Roxette in North America. Having consistently worked as a solo artist with Roxette, Marie’s track The Look’ with the band became internationally popular in 1989 topping the U.S. charts.
Roxette kept on with their good job and their songs kept getting nationwide recognition, they released their most popular hit ‘Joyride’ in 1991.
Marie went back to concentrate on her solo work after Roxette’s release of ‘Tourism’. She then got three nominations for Grammy awards which she won in the Artist of the Year category. She and her husband began recording together.
They released the ‘In a Time Like Ours’ album in 1996. This became her longest charted song lasting for 29 weeks in the Sweden chart. Her 2000 album release became the second best-selling album of that year in Sweden.
Following her cancer diagnosis, her creativity dropped, as a way of therapy, she began to work on a new album ‘The Change in 2004. This album earned a gold certification. After this, she went back to touring in 2008 and was also reunited with Roxette, they produced ‘Good Karma’ album together.
Marie announced her retirement from touring in 2017 after she asked to cancel further shows and focus on her health.
