Per Gessle was born in Halmstad in the Western coast of Sweden and was the youngest of three children. He comes from a middle-class family that often moved from place to place around Halmstad till Per’s father, Kurt Gessle, built their own house. Kurt was a plumber and owned his own small company and devoted most of his time to work. Per's mother, Gunborg Elisabet Gessle , was a housewife and took care of the family, and also gave private lessons in porcelain painting.
Per went to school at the age of 6. Before learning English at school he had already known many English words from magazines like “The New Musical Express” (NME) and “Melody Maker”, which he used to buy in a local kiosk.
Per's music library started from a record of The Kinks “The Kink Controversy”, which he bought for 5 krones from his brother who needed money urgently to buy cigarettes. Per visited local music store frequently just to listen to the latest records there.
Per got his first job in the greenhouse, where he grew mushrooms. The next day he got bored by this and he switched to another job - weighing the mushrooms. He worked there with his pal known as Pedda. In the autumn Per went to the first form of secondary school “Kattegattskolan2, where Pedda introduced him to Mats MP Persson, who studied in a parallel class. Per didn't pay much attention to his studies and was soon dropped out. The following year he returned to school and chose a different curriculum to study. He made new friends at school. They dedicated much time to musical discussions and playing in the school halls.
Once Pedda called Per for a rehearsal of a group called "Audiovisellt Angrepp", in which Peter “Pedda” Nielsen played the bass, Mats MP Persson the drums and Martin Sternhufvud the electric guitar. Per quickly made friends with the musicians, and even began to write songs together with Mats Persson. Later Pedda offered him to join the group. On February 19, 1977 Mats MP Persson and Per founded the group Grape Rock and began to co-write songs.
In 1976 they made covers on songs of a popular band "Dr. Feelgood" and tried to publish them. When they found it difficult to work just as a duet, they invited the drummer Mikael Andersson, and Jan Karlsson as a bas-guitarist. So the band Gyllene Tider was formed in 1976. A small article about the group was published the same day when the father of Per died - April 27, 1978. As a fact Per's family wanted their son to start more serious career.
The Gyllene Tider performed for the first time on the 12 May 1978 in the club “Bio Reflex” in Getinge in front of the closest friends and other 50 people. In December 1978, Anders Herrlin came to their performance and he became later a permanent bass guitarist. He also introduced Mats and Per to his friend – a keyboardist Goran Frittsonom, with whom he played in the Yggdrasil.
In 1979 the Gyllene Tider recorded their same-titled debut album. In spring 1981 “Parkliv!-Tour” began, during which one of the concerts was recorded on video. It was directed by Lars Hellström who worked with the group ABBA. After the recording of the 3d album with the help of producer Lasse Lindbom Gessle got to know the Swedish singer Mari Fredriksson. Mari participated in Per's work at his solo album "Per Gessle" in 1983.
In 1986 Per and Mari recorded and released debut album of the Roxette "Pearls of Passion". Then releases of singles and albums continued.
Intensive work and endless touring led to the fact that Per and Marie made a conclusion to take a short break in working together. In 1996 the album of best ballads in Spanish was released, Per toured with the Gyllene Tider, while Marie recorded another Swedish solo album.
In March 1998 Per and Mari moved to Spain to record the next album. In January 1999 Per celebrated his 40th anniversary and invited a great deal of celebrities to the party, such as musicians from the Roxette, Gyllene Tider and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and others.
When Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with brain tumor, all concerts of the Roxette were cancelled, though Per continued to work solo and tour with the Gyllene Tider.
In 2007 he published his biography, the book «Att vara Per Gessle» (Be Per Gessle), written in collaboration with the famous Swedish journalist Sven Lindström. In this book Per talks about himself, about how the Gyllene Tider and Roxette was formed, as well as about many other interesting facts that are little known to public.
Immediately after releasing "Party Crasher" in 2008, Per with the family moved to the USA for having some rest and for searching for sound-recording company to publish his songs.
In April-May 2009 Per gave 15 concerts in Europe for support of his English-language solo album. During concerts in Amsterdam and Stockholm Mari Fredriksson joined him on stage. Together they also sang later at the opening of the festival "Novaja Volna" in Jurmala.
Per is a co-owner of the hotel "Tylösand" in the surburbs of Halmstad.
Gessle is also the guiding creative force for Nordic Rox, Sirius XM Radio’s exclusive Scandinavian music show.
Gessle is one of three people (including Björn Ulvaeus) who own the NoteHeads, a Swedish company which publishes the music notation program Igor Engraver
In one of his interview he said that he believes in god from time to time
His own: Whatever you didn't manage to reach, you deserve this.
In August 21, 1993 Per married his girlfriend Åsa Nordin, whom he dated for a long time, at Borgholm Castle, Öland Island, Sweden. Mari was present at the ceremony. Per and Åsa have one son, Gabriel Titus, which was born on August 5, 1997.
In January 12, 2009, Per Gessle and his family celebrated his fiftieth birthday in the South African city of Capetown.
member of ABBA
