Gun-Marie Fredriksson was a Swedish pop sensation, renowned for her remarkable talent as a singer, songwriter, pianist, and painter. Born on May 30, 1958, outside the quaint Swedish village of Össjö, she was the youngest of five siblings to Charles Gösta Fredriksson and Inez Dagmar Fredriksson (née Hoffert). Her early life was marked by significant changes, as her parents relocated to Östra Ljungby when she was just four years old, with her father taking up a postman's job and her mother becoming a factory worker.
Tragedy struck when Gun-Marie's oldest sister, Anna-Lisa, was involved in a fatal traffic collision at the age of 20. Her car was crushed by a tanker truck while she was on her way to purchase a dress for her engagement party. This devastating event left an indelible mark on Gun-Marie's life, as she recalled, "She was 20 – and I can barely remember her today. But I remember the grief, how the family was torn apart. Completely. After that I had to fend for myself. I was only seven years old."
Despite the challenges she faced, Gun-Marie went on to form the iconic pop-rock duo Roxette with Per Gessle in 1986. The duo's international success in the late-1980s and early-1990s was marked by their chart-topping albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991),as well as their six top-two hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "Dangerous", "It Must Have Been Love", "Joyride", and "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)".
