‘Generally, I feel the more people involved in songwriting, the less personal it gets.’

MBW’s World’s Greatest Songwriters series celebrates the pop composers behind the globe’s biggest hits. In this edition, we meet Per Gessle, one half of Sweden’s second most successful band of all time, Roxette, and the writer behind all their biggest hits. World’s Greatest Songwriters is supported by AMRA – the global digital music collection society which strives to maximize value for songwriters and publishers in the digital age . Per Gessle, founder of eighties/nineties Swedish hit makers Roxette, has written three US No. 1 singles on his own – The Look, It Must Have Been Love and Joyride (he co-wrote a fourth, Listen To Your Heart , with Mats Persson). Only 10 writers have solo credit on more Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers: Lionel Richie, Dianne Warren (both eight), Michael Jackson, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder (seven), Prince (six), Phil Collins, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon (four). First up, that’s pretty decent company to keep, and gives you an idea of Gessle’s achievements, especially as all those above him are from the US or UK. Secondly, the youngest name on the list is George Michael, who would have been 60 next year. Which begs the question: is anyone else ever going to leapfrog Gessle on this list? With the average number of writers on a modern hit totaling 9.1 (and rising) , it seems unlikely. As a kid, like many in MBW ’s World’s Greatest Songwriters series, Per Gessle had a significantly older sibling – a brother – with a […]

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