BIO
Full name: Gun-Marie Fredriksson
Birth date: 30/05/58
Birth place: Östra-Ljungby,
Sweden
Zodiac sign: Gemini
Height: 1,67 m
Weight: 50 kg
Nicknames: Majsan
Fears: War
Hates: Spider
Favourite color: Black,
White
Original haircolor: Light
brown
But now it's: Blond
Favourite food: Pasta
Favourite drink: Champagne
Toothpaste: Paul Smith
Shampoo: Redken
Religion: Protestant
Likes to win: Red Roses
Likes to give: Flowers
Hobbies: Her husband Micke,
her daughter and son, music, painting
Cars: BMW, Mercedes
Family:
Husband: Mikael Bolyos
Daughter: Inez Josefin Bolyos
(29/04/93)
Son: Oscar Mikael Bolyos
(26/11/96)
Father: Gösta Fredriksson
(In Memorian)
Mother: Inez Fredriksson (In Memorian)
Sisters/Brothers: Ulla,
Tina, Anna-Lisa (In Memorian)/ Sven-Arne Fredriksson
On May 30, 1958, Gun Marie Fredriksson was born in the little village
of Össjö in the north of Skåne. She wasn't only the one
her parents Inez and Gösta loved the most, but also enjoyed the love
of her older brother Sven-Arne as well as her sisters Tina, Ulla-Britt
and Anna-Lisa. Marie and her brothers and sisters were raised with love
and in security. To make a long story short, the Fredriksson´s were
a happy family!
When Marie was four, the family moved from Össjö to Östra-Ljungby.
One could think it was Marie's childhood which Astrid Lindgren pictured
in "The Children of Bullerbü". All the kids in the village instantly
made friends with the Fredrikssons sisters. Each day they met to play together,
and quite often the beautiful Fredriksson house was the place to meet.
Sometimes they dressed up like grown-ups, sometimes they ran through the
large gardens of the neighbourhood and sometimes they just invented tricks
they could play on others. Whatever they did, little Marie learned something
exciting and new each day. The evenings were dedicate to the family. Making
music and having good time together always played an important role in
the Fredriksson's family life. Father Gösta was the musical genius
of the family. He was a fantastic singer and in addition, he played a couple
of instruments. Unlike him, mother Inez had no musical talent at all and
wasn't even able to sing Swedish children's songs. But she did enjoy listening
to her husband and their kids and often it was she who asked them all to
sing or play something together.
Mother Inez often had visitors. Many friends and relatives met with
her to drink a cup of coffee and have a chat. Every now and then, Marie
just stood there in the middle of the room and sang a song for them. Sometimes
she got rewarded because everyone loved her wonderful voice and was impressed
by her courage. This was the time when Marie decided, "When I grow up,
I want to be a singer!"
Time passed quickly, and soon the fun childhood days were gone and Marie
had to go to school. The little public school in Östra Ljungby had
15 pupils at the first two levels. All the children knew each other from
the afternoons they spent together, so it wasn´t much of a change
for Marie.
When she was eight, fate struck her hard for the first time in her
family: a policeman came to tell the family that Anna-Lisa had been killed
in a car accident. The wonderful world of the Fredrikssons seemed to crash,
but finally, this accident made them hold together even tighter. Thus,
Marie learned very early that nothing in life is forever and that good
luck can turn bad any day.
Father Gösta soon realized how talented his youngest daughter was.
He supported Marie wherever he could, sang with her, let her and Tina have
piano lessons, and let her play in front of a public audience when she
was very young.
In school, Marie was very interested in the creative subjects - music
and painting just fit her better than mathematics.
Tina and Marie did more and more things together and enjoyed this a
lot. Tina, who was four years older, let Marie take part in her life: parties
with friends from school, first disco visits, etc...
Marie turned out to be a little musical genius. She started to compose
melodies for poems an played songs on the piano that she had just heard
on the radio. Besides that, she founded her first pop band: old cans and
boards were their instruments, and the sidewalk was their stage. Well,
"Renat" never really had a breakthrough. But it was Marie's first step
into show business.
Together with Tina, she explored the wonderful world of music. The latest
singles were played again and again, and this was the time when Marie bought
her first single, "Valeri" by The Monkees. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi
Hendrix, Marie knew them all. The two sisters spent a lot of time listening
to music and making music on their own, which was their greatest passion.
Soon Ulla-Britt, the oldest of the sisters, married. At her marriage,
Marie and Tina sang "Lovesång" by Beethoven. The guests were impressed
by the two little girls with the wonderful voices. Sven-Arne had married
as well, so Marie and Tina were the only ones still living with their parents.
Very soon, Marie started upper classes in Kilppan - the first step
into a life of her own, since the town was some kilometers away from Östra
Ljungby. At first a shy girl from the country, she soon developed into
a self-confident teenager. Learning for school lost importance for her;
music turned out to be the center of her life.
Since she didn't go too well in school, she wasn't allowed to join the
music gymnasium in Malmö. Thus she decided to attend the business
part of the gymnasium. But she got more and more depressed - she was on
the wrong path. The only thing that kept her in school was the huge school
chorus.
In summer, Marie got a job gardening in Ängelholm. She liked the
hard, but creative, work. She realized that she had to change something
- soon! She had to do something creative. The gymnasium wasn´t the
right thing for her.
Finally, she managed to take the important step: she was accepted at
the adult education school in Svalöv. There, she was able to start
the musical training she longed for. She got along with her fellow students
instantly. Both they and the teachers were impressed by Marie's musical
talent, and finally she was able to do what she always wanted to do - making
music!
At a concert, Marie met a guy from Halmstad. They become friends. No,
it was not Per - it was Stefan!
Through her colleagues at the school in Svalöv, Marie came in touch
with the theatre for the first time. Peter Oskarsson was director at Skånska
Theatre and tried to find some supernumerary actors/actresses for his new
play, "Marie från Borsahusen", amongst the theatre group of Svalöv
school. Marie performed very well, so she actually got a small role and
even toured with the play after she had finished school. The biggest performance
was in Stockholm in Söder Theatre, where even Olof Palme was amongst
the visitors.
Stockholm - the huge wide world! Marie was inthusiastic. After the end
of her tour with the theatre, Marie wanted to live a life of her own. She
didn't want to go back to Östra Ljungby, she wanted to be in a place
where something happens. She remembered Stefan, and decided to move to
Halmstad. And Halmstad, the secret music metropolis, turned Marie into
a longhaired hippie, influenced by Jazz, Blues and Rock.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1978, Marie moved to Halmstad, a town of 80.000 on the west coast
of Sweden.
Together with Stefan, she lived in a two-room flat at Viktoriagatan.
While Stefan was lucky enough to have a job, it was more difficult for
Marie. For quite a while, she had to spend her days unemployed. Sometimes
she just walked through the city, sometimes she sat at home thinking about
the future, and sometimes she composed songs on piano. Stefan's income
plus the unemployment suppost for Marie was just sufficient to survive.
Marie was very worried about her future.
From time to time Marie had a job as well - as a waitress in "Tre Hjärtan",
as an assistant teacher at Nyhens-school or as a music teacher at Ströstorps-school.
But all those jobs didn't fulfill Marie's expectations. Trying to find
balance with a tray as a waitress, in tight skirts and high heels, the
obvious thing happened - Marie lost her balance and all dishes on her tray
crashed down to the floor, ending her career as a waitress.
All in all, Marie had the same fate as many of her friends. For a long
time, she had to live without a job off of unemployment payments, and she
tried to make the best out of her life instead of getting involved in the
alcohol and drug scene like so many others.
It was at about the same time when Stefan founded the band "Strulpojkarna"
together with Martin Sternhufvud and Salle Nilsson. By accident, Martin
happened to hear Marie singing and was fascinated by her talent. That was
the reason why Marie started to rehearse with the band, on the keyboards
and on backing vocals. One day Marie pushed her luck, grabbed the microphone
and began singing in the rehearsal room in Sperlingsholm. Strul was born!
At this moment, Marie got known Per as well. Per did a lot of rehearsals
with Gyllene Tider in the same room in Sperlingsholm. The first impression,
though, was not a positive one on either side. Marie thought Per was boring.
Per on the other hand, tried to avoid Marie's friends who were into the
drug scene.
Marie got more and more important to Strul. With Martin's help, she
wrote more songs and also managed to make the step from the keyboards to
the microphone.
One day it had to happen: Marie's first concert. 400 people attended
the show in Kattegatt-school, just to see Marie and Strul. Marie almost
choked on her nervousness, and she didn't look up from her keyboards a
single time. Her wonderful voice, though, impressed the audience, which
thanked her with standing ovations. She cut out and keep the newspaper
report which was printed the next day: "Strul gick hem - tack vare Marie!"
After this success, things went fast. Strul decided to organize a festival
of their own. It was hard to work to prepare the event, but soon they were
successful in finding some bands willing to participate: "Wasa Express",
"Sydkraft" and "Boos Band". In 1979, the first festival took place and
was a huge success - except for the finacial side, since no money was left
for Strul when they had paid all the other bands
From then on, Strul performed at a larger number of various events,
and the audience loved them. Nevertheless, the breakthrough was still to
come.
Marie and Martin tried desperately to get a contract with any record
company, but they always walked away with just some nice words and a lot
of disappointment.
One day, Marie was asked to write the music for a theatre play. She
was undescribably happy. Of course, she accepted the offer, and she wrote
some songs and background music for the play "Attraktiva Attityder". Besides
that, she even played a small part. But this was just for starters.
"Flashback" was the second theatre play Marie was involved in. The biggest
success, though, was "Trollet I Underjorden", where Marie wrote the music
again and sang it herself.
During one of her appearances in the theatre, Bertil Frisk from "Nizzan
Jazzband" saw her and was impressed. Marie was asked if she 'd like to
sing for the band on their next tour, which was her first experience with
jazz.
In Marie's life, things started to get better from day to day. She played
in the theatre with great enthusiasm and she discovered how much she actually
liked jazz and played as often as she could. Aside from that, she did her
best in ther studies at Kom Vux. Thus, Marie had less time for Stefan and
their relationship, which had developed from friendship into love.
Strul had a crisis. Except for their own Strul festivals, they had almost
no appearances. Those didn't mean any financial benefit, though. The problems
between Marie and Stefan didn´t go to any good for the band either.
At the same time, Martin had a major life crisis. Marie was there for
him and helped him wherever she could. Soon they were good friends, and
again friendship developed into love. Marie and Martin got involved with
each other, and this was reason enough for Strul split up in December 1980.
Some months later, "Sveriges Television", the Swedidh TV station, contacted
Martin. They wanted Strul to appear on the TV show "Rockcircus". The call
from Helen Elmquist, the show´s producer, was a wonderful surprise
for Marie and Martin. But now they were in desperate need of a band! Soon
they found three boys who were willing to play with them: Peter Nilsson,
Nisse Noise and Bosse Södenström. "Rockcircus" was a huge success,
and this time the band even had some profit out of it: they got 3.500 SKR.
Soon after this, Strul were invited to do another appearance in the TV-Show
"Flitt Flom".
Now it was time for Strul's first single release: "Ki-i-ai-oo / Strul
Igen" was kicked out in June 1981. The band rehearsed a lot and worked
very hard. But everyone was happy about any small success they achieved.
Marie was very satisfied with her life.
Unfortunately, a terrible misery soon destroyed Marie's luck. Her father
surprisingly died of a heart attack. Tina's call, which brought Marie the
bad news, hit her terrible hard. Her beloved father, who had always supported
her, was gone! Sorrow and pain almost broke Marie's heart.
Life had to go on, though, and Marie was sure her father would have
wanted her to continue making music. Strul had some more appearances which
brought Marie some distraction.
But then the band appeared at "Pop Around The Clock", the biggest rock
gala in Halmstad, ignoring the new crisis within the band. The appearance
was a catastrophe. The band members blamed each other for their misfortune,
and the end of the group was right: in autumn 1982, Strul split up for
good.
After "Strul" had definitely split up, Marie and Marlin asked themselves:
" What do we do now?" Many of the young bands which played at " Pop Around
the Clock" in sepember 1982 got record contracts, but"Strul" didn't get
one, and that was disappointing. Soon afterwards, though, CBS wanted to
get more songs from the band. But since there was no "Strul" anymore, this
was a problem! There was only one solution.
They asked Gyllene Tider and found that, yes, Anders Herrlin and MickeAndersson
were willing to help. Martin told CBS that "Strul" was now aduo and that
"Martin and Marie" werenow "Mamas Barn". The two began to work fast on
new material. Marie was unemployed again, and she worked here and there
in a daycare center in Steninge, where Marie and Martin had lived for some
time. They really didn't have any financial problems, though, until some
trouble started with CBS. Luckily, though, the record company WEA bought
the rights for "MaMas Barn" from CBS, and Martin and Marie got special
help from Finn Sjöberg, who wanted to produce a whole album with the
band!
Marie and Martin were ecstatic - they'd just been given a new beginning!
While theywere preparing the record, Marie got a surprising offer from
Per, who wanted torecord a song with her. The song was "Ingenting Av Vad
Du Behöver', a bonus single to be included in the record magazine
"Schlagel', and it was really good. Marie and Per were really happy about
the work. They both wanted to record together again... Meanwhile, Marie
and Martin worked hard on their record, but when the single "Mammas Barn"
and the album "Barn som Barn" were released in 1982, neither of them was
happy with it.
The record got very good reviews, but didn't sell very well. In 1983,
there were problems in Martin and Marie's relationship. Martin wanted to
continue with"Mamas Barn", but Marie wanted something different. She wanted
to find her ownway, to just be herself and to be independent. Martin tried
to stop her, but it was toolate. The distance between them was already
too great. This was the end of "Mamas Barn". Marie moved back to Halmstad,
to make it easier to deal with the separation from Martin, and began thinking
about her future as a solo artist...
After Marie and Martin broke up, Miss Fredriksson was on her own. She
wanted to start from the beginning. Marie met Per more often. They talked
for hours about God and the World. Both of them noticed that their friendship
was something really special. They could tell each other everything, trusted
each other totally, they felt they could understand each other and care
for each other. And that was the start of a deep and good friendship.
Per invited Marie to come to the shooting for the cover pictures of
their single "Sommartider"; a big campfire with good friends. It meant
a lot to Marie that Per wanted her to be there. Not much later Per begged
her to work with him on his first solo-record "Per Gessle". Out of that
came a few beautiful duets. And Per, who played a lot of demos for Marie,
tried to talk her in to making her own solo-album.
Was it faith of luck that the Swedish producer and singer Lasse Lindbom
was so impressed with Marie, that he helped her to have a solo career?
Either way he phoned her and asked her to record a duet with him.
Lasse has sung with some other Swedish female singers as well, but
it never turned out the way he wanted it to. Marie was very scared and
nervous for her first recording session. But when she started singing,
she forgot everything around her. Lasse got chills on his spine and had
tears in his eyes. His partner had to sound just the way she did. And that
was the way the single "Så Nära Nu" came to be, on which Marie´s
picture was on the cover. Now Marie was pushed from 2 sides to begin a
solo-career: Per and Lasse didn´t leave her alone: "You´re
too good to hide behind a group!"
In 1983 it finally came true. Marie begged Lasse to become her producer.
He wanted to arrange her record deal immediately, but Marie was still in
doubt. She feared this step. In the middle of the night she phoned her
mother and her sister Ulla-Britt. But both of them knew that they couldn't
take this decision for her, she had to listen to her own heart and do,
what she thought was best for her. The next day, feeling stronger because
of the talk with her mother and sister, she signed her first record deal
with EMI Svenska, where Per was signed too. Now nothing stood between her
and her career.
Marie's first solo-recording got the same name "Het Vind". And it was
a lot of work! Marie and Lasse first had to get to know each other better,
Lasse had to know more of her talent, and Marie had to get more self confident,
because she often felt insecure because of the experienced studio-musicians.
And above all she had to find her own style.
"Ännu Doftar Kärlek" became the first single. The song was
from Lasse at first, but he couldn't really do something with it. Marie
wrote a new lyric to the song, and above all she added a new feeling to
it with her unique voice. The song was played on the radio already from
the start of the release. Marie was very proud of that. Her first success,
that she has only herself (and Lasse of course) to thank of! As a second
single they chose "Het Vind". On the B-side there was the song "Natt Efter
Natt", a cover of Cindy Lauper's classic "All Through The Night".
The success made that fans wanted to see her live. So she went on tour
with Lasse and the Lasse-Lindbom-Band. With them were also Mikael "Syd"
Andersson, Anders Herrlin and Niklas Stömstedt. Marie noticed she
got more popular all the time. She heard her own songs every day on the
radio. She got invited for TV-shows. People wanted pictures and autographs
from her.
One day Marie got an offer from a maketing agency. She got the offer
to make a commercial for coffe. Marie doubted if she would take up the
offer, so she asked Blixten from EMA Telstar. He advised her to say yes.
The photographer was a star on his working-area and was flown made in the
lobby of the royal Swedish theatre. Marie dressed up in a short tight dress
and lay down on a antique sofa. The pictures were very good,... too good!
The boss of the coffee company thought that Marie's pose was too provoking.
"And apart from that, nobody knows who she is!" So the pictures stayed
in the archive, and Marie didn't matter. She was happy that her pictures
wouldn't be printed in lots of magazines.
The relationship between Marie and Lasse developed more and more from
friendship to love. Those two always were together. One day the pair started
a band together with Per and MP called "Spännande Ostar". The four
of them toured in a lot of clubs and hotels, where they stole the hearts
of audience.
In the autumn of 1985 the love couple went to a big journey. The target
was the sunny Canary Islands. The sea, the beach and love, what else can
you wish for? In this perfect atmosphere Marie's second solo-album was
born " Den Sjunde Vågen". The song simply were taped on a tape recorder.
In the spring the couple went back to Sweden, where the songs were recorded
in the studios.
The first single became "Den Bästa Dagen". The next would be "Silver
I Din Hand". The album sold very well, and Marie was famous now. And now
she finally belived in herself, and knew her decision had been right.