It was a cozy December afternoon. I was sitting in the office drinking tea, carefree as I have already handed in my thesis about RF anechoic chambers and could fully concentrate on work. While waiting for the automated tests to complete I checked the Wikipedia - it has become my go-to source for news. [offtopic]Independent journalism is basically extinct in Hungary, to the point where your only choices are news sites spouting government propaganda and leftyfag globohomo psyop. This is an exaggeration of course - the point is, every news site is 100% pro or anti-establishment. There is no middle ground and every news outlet sticks to their guns no matter how ridiculous their beliefs are. Considering all of this, Wikipedia is by far the least-biased news source I know.[/offtopic]
Anyway, Wikipedia's front page features a quick rundown on current world events. It also displays a list of people who have recently passed away. Ever since I started visiting Wiki on a regular basis I haven't recognized not even one name among those, because most of the time they are former sports players, politicians and the likes that your average Joe doesn't care about. But this time it was different, yet I wish it hadn't been so. For the majority of people the name Marie Friedriksson doesn't ring a bell, for me it meant that my all-time favorite musician was gone.
Although she had a successful solo career she's better known as a member of the Swedish pop/rock duo Roxette. They were popular in the late 80's and early 90's with hits like How do you do, Sleeping in My Car, or Listen to Your Heart. Their most famous song is undoubtedly It Must Have Been Love which was featured in the movie Pretty Woman. Even if people don't know the artist's name they do remember these tunes.
The popularity of the duo started to fade in the early 2000's, it was then when Fredriksson was diagnosed with brain tumor for the first time. After three years of therapy she recovered and despite the long-term effects of the tumor on her health she started to work on new Roxette and solo albums as well. After almost a decade-long hiatus Roxette started touring again and did so until 2016, when Fredriksson's condition started to worsen. She passed away on 9 December, 2019.
To say I liked Roxette is a serious understatement. It was the artist that basically defined my music taste in 2010, before that I used to listen to various shit I'm scared to admit. But the unique thing with Roxette is that I could still enjoy their music even after my tastes became more diverse. After picking up metal, then country and blues, and nowadays electronic music and Touhou arranges I can still come back and give Roxette albums a good listen and never get tired of them. Roxette songs are timeless classics for me.
Rest in Peace Marie Fredriksson
