STOCKHOLM - Per Håkan Gessle has been nominated for a Grammis in the category "Live Act of the Year" together with the following:

BENNY ANDERSSONS ORKESTER
JENS LEKMAN
LARS WINNERBÄCK
LENA PH & ORUP
PARKSOMMAR
PER GESSLE
PETER JÖBACK
TAKIDA
THE HIVES
TIMBUKTU

The voting for nominees in this year's Rockbjörnen awards has started on Aftonbladet.se site. This time there are 11 categories, including one new category, "The Best Swedish Live Act."

Aftonbladet has organized Rockbjörnen Awards since 1979. Roxette has been awarded with a golden bear six times and Gyllene Tider four times. As solo artists, Marie Fredriksson has been awarded five times and Per Gessle twice.

STOCKHOLM - According to EMI Sweden Roxette's "Hits!" has now reached gold in Sweden, which means 30,000 delivered copies, as per usual.

STOCKHOLM - US magazine Blender gives Roxette's "Hits!" four stars out of five in their March issue meaning it is "great."

Another look at Sweden's #2 mixed-gender pop act.
If ABBA remain the Beatles of European bubblegum, then Roxette, their Swedish compatriots, are the genre's Zombies - hook-crazed followers whose fleeting U.S. chart success merely hints at their knack for embedding conflicting emotions and complex harmonies within ostensibly simple pop. Remembered for Prince-ly knicknack "The Look" and 1990's sweet teardrop "It Must Have Been Love" Roxette still score hits worldwide as their influence lingers (Kelly Clarkson's Swede-crafted "Since U Been Gone" resembles a Roxette ballad sung over a Roxette rocker.) Per Gessle's settings on this 18-year retrospective swing from the Ennio Morricone melodrama of "Crash! Boom! Bang!" to the kiddie-techno sing-along of "Stars" while Marie Fredriksson's secret melancholy substantiates the duo's sheen with a particularly Scandinavian sorrow.
Barry Walters

On a side note the "One Wish" video is placed at #2 on the LOGO channel's video chart.
NewNowNext is LOGO's weekly video show spotlighting brand-new videos by artists of interest to the LOGO community, as well as videos by emerging artists, gay and lesbian artists and videos that react with the audience.

NewNowNext premieres a new episode each Sunday at midnight.

See the chart here, and vote by all means.

STOCKHOLM - "The RoxBox/Roxette 86-06" didn't get a Grammis in the awards ceremony yesterday evening. Roxette's 20th anniversary release was nominated in the open category with five other compilations. The winner was "Samtliga grammofoninspelningar 1921-1970," a compilation of old Evert Taube-recordings.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Roxette was once again nominated for a Rockbjörnen award in Aftonbladet's annual ceremony, in the Swedish Group of the Year category. Unfortunately, Bodies Without Organs (BWO) took the award this year. During the previous years, Roxette has already received six Rock Bears.

STOCKHOLM - Roxette's 20th anniversary release, "The RoxBox/Roxette 86-06", has been nominated for a Grammis award in the open category. Other nominees in the category include Peter Jöback and Evert Taube's compilations, "En kärlekshistoria," a collection of songs from Swedish indie records (including "At School" by Brainpool) and "Bra dagar," a homage to folk singer Totta Näslund who died last year.

According to the Grammis rules, albums containing previously released material can only be nominated in the open category. At least 50% of the material on the album must be Swedish to be able to take part.

The winners will be announced on January 30, 2007 at Hovet in Stockholm. The gala will be broadcast "live" on TV4.

Update: In other news, Roxette got nominated in Aftonbladet's Rockbjörnen awards to the Best Swedish Group category. Go vote now!

Auryte contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM - Aftonbladet's prestigious award Rockbjörnen is back for the 28th year. Once again you can vote for your favorite artists. The winners of this first selection will be presented Dec. 8.
The gala itself will be held Jan. 11 2007.

• Rockbjörnen