Per Håkan Gessle is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbanded after her death in 2019. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and topped the charts in the US four times, most notably with "It Must Have Been Love" which was featured in the film Pretty Woman. Prior to the formation of Roxette, he had a successful career in his native Sweden as the frontman for Gyllene Tider. The band released three number-one albums during the early 1980s but disbanded shortly after their fourth album, The Heartland Café (1984).
Gessle performing in 2011
Gessle with singer Helena Josefsson during his 2017 En vacker kväll tour of Sweden
Roxette onstage in Amsterdam, May 2009
Roxette are a Swedish pop rock group, formerly consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. They are Sweden's second-best-selling music act after ABBA.
Roxette performing in 2012
Roxette alongside Eva Dahlgren on the Rock Runt Riket tour in 1987
Roxette in a 2001 concert in Spain
Roxette onstage on 6 May 2009