Mari is one of the two vocalists of the band "Roxette".
On 11 September 2002 an accident happened - Fredriksson fainted in her bathroom, hit her head and received a concussion. Scans indicated that Fredriksson had a brain tumor in the back part of her head. After waiting several weeks for the concussion to subside, she underwent a successful surgery to remove the tumor.
Background
Marie Fredriksson was born in a very small village of Össjö. She was the youngest of five siblings. The children of the family had to look after each other themselves. Her siblings took care of little Marie, while their parents worked on the farm. In 1962, the family sold the farm and moved to Östra Ljungby. Her mother then got a job at a factory a few miles away from the home the family lived in, and her father got a job of a postman, delivering mail to the surrounding areas.
Since there was no day-care centre in the village, he often took Marie with him and during these trips he sang to her to encourage her musical interest. When she was 8 Marie decided to become a singer, and at the age of ten, together with her friends she started her first group Renat.
Marie’s elder sisters listened to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, but Marie and Tina (the youngest sisters in the family) were not allowed to join them. Instead, they had to sneak up on the elder girls to listen in to the latest gossip and the records that they were playing. Marie’s own first record was a single called Valleri by The Monkees.
When Marie was eight a tragic accident took place - her eldest sister, Anna-Lisa, died in a car accident. This was the first big sorrow that she was to experience in life.
Marie and Tina took piano lessons and they often sat together by the piano, trying to play songs that were familiar to them. Then Marie started to compose her own songs and music became increasingly important to her.
Education
Mari began primary settlement school at the age of 7. Beginning from the 3d form pupils had to visit school in bigger towns. Marie started high school on Klippan, about 9 kilometers from where she lived and chose 2+year finansial course during senior high school.
At the age of17
Fredriksson enrolled in a music college and performed in local theatre. But she was incredibly bored with all
that, instead of longing for the thrill of an audience.
Career
She played roles in the theatre, and after moving to the town of Halmstad, she joined the local music scene. Having
joined her boyfriend Stefan's band Strul, she performed at local concerts and even recorded a single. After that group
split, Marie and her new boyfriend, Martin Sternhuvsvud, performed as MaMas Barn. They recorded one album together. Per Gessle, lead singer of the famous Swedish group Gyllene Tider, shared a rehearsal studio with Marie, and they became friends. Per believed Fredriksson was far too talented to hide behind keyboards in local bands and organized for her an audition with his producer, Lasse Lindbom, who was extremely famous in Sweden. Lasse was really impressed with her voice and offered her a contract. Then Fredriksson recorded a duet with Lasse Lindbom,
"Så nära nu", according to his offer, which lead to her joining his group "The Lasse Lindbom Band." Marie was too nervous and lacked confidence to start a solo career though Per Gessle encouraged her many times
to do so. Fredriksson finally accepted the proposal, and she recorded her first solo album, Het vind, produced by Lindbom.
Lindbom, Fredriksson, Per Gessle and Mats "MP" Persson grounded a new band called "Spännande Ostar"
("Exciting Cheeses"). Marie released the second solo album in 1986, under the title Den sjunde vågen. Fredriksson also was on back vocals for Gessle's band Gyllene Tider. In 1986, she decided to team up with Gessle under the title of Roxette - the name Gyllene Tider had used when they tried to release their album The Heartland Café in the US. Their first single "Neverending Love" became a hit in Sweden, and Roxette's album Pearls of Passion breathed new life into Per's flagging career, and cemented Marie as a major artist. Fredriksson went back to her solo career in 1992, recording the soul searching Den ständiga resan (The Eternal Journey). The album was her musical self-portrait and was written like a diary, containing very personal songs about her life, feelings and
relationships.
About 6 months after Fredriksson's cancer diagnosis, she and her husband Mikael Bolyos began to work on her first ever English solo album. She called the album The Change which entered the Swedish chart at No 1. In 2006 Fredriksson released a new CD of Swedish cover songs called Min bäste vän (My Best Friend) in February. On 23 October 2009, Fredriksson performed with Gessle as Roxette at the Night of the Proms. A new Roxette single "She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio)" was released in January 2011, and the new Roxette album Charm School was released on 11 February 2011. In March of 2012, Roxette's new album Travelling was released coinciding with the new music video and single 'It's Possible.'
Politics
She doesn't refer herself to any political party.
Although she likes Olof PAlme, she doesn't vote for social-democrats.
She is a supporter of non-governmental internatioanl organisation " Amnesty International"