Mikael Bolyos - Roxette's International Success

Roxette's International Success

In 1988, Roxette went back to the studio and recorded a second album, Look Sharp! which once again returned them to the charts in Sweden. However, Roxette then had an unexpected number one hit in the USA with "The Look" in April 1989. Almost overnight, Fredriksson and Gessle were catapulted from being minor celebrities in Sweden to major artists internationally who suddenly found themselves traveling all over the world, selling millions of records, and receiving awards. Look Sharp! was a massive hit, producing two US No. 1 hits including "Listen to Your Heart" in November 1989. A third song from the Look Sharp! album, "Dangerous", spent two weeks at the No. 2 spot in February 1990.

In 1990, Gessle was approached by Touchstone pictures to write a song for the upcoming film Pretty Woman. As he did not have time to create a new song, he re-edited an old Christmas song and gave them "It Must Have Been Love". The song was included on the movie, topped the music charts for 2 weeks in June 1990 in America and became one of Roxette's best selling and most well known songs. In 1991, a third album, Joyride was released which gave them another number one hit in the US in May 1991 while another song, "Fading Like a Flower", reached the No. 2 spot in the US music market in July 1991. They followed it up with a major Join the Joyride world tour in over 100 cities during 1991 and 92. However, after the tour, Roxette's future songs failed to enter the U.S. top 10 list again, whereas in Europe and South America, Roxette continued their international success with Gold and Platinum albums until the beginning of the new millennium.