In Memoriam: Roxette singer Marie Fredricksson, 61

Roxette at the Beacon Theater, New York, on Sept. 2, 2012. Photo by Dmitry Avdeev, licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

STOCKHOLM (AP) – Marie Fredriksson, the female half of the Swedish pop duo Roxette, has died at age 61.

The singer’s management agency said Tuesday that Fredriksson died Monday “of the consequences of a long illness.”

Fredriksson formed Roxette with Per Gessle in 1986. The two went on to achieve international success in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In 1989, the duo made their international breakthrough with “The Look.” They followed up with the albums “Look Sharp!” in 1988 and “Joyride” in 1991, and had six top two hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Roxette sold 80 million records and toured worldwide. They were Sweden’s best-known band since ABBA, and in 2003, Sweden’s Carl Gustaf XVI awarded the duo a royal award. Fredriksson made her first public appearance after her brain tumor operation to receive the honor with Gessle.

Fredriksson had radiation treatment after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002.

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