It Must Have Been Love

"It Must Have Been Love," written by Per Gessle, is Roxette's most commercially successful single and its best-charting and -selling release in the United States. It rivals "The Look" as the song most closely associated with the Swedish duo.

Related Topics:
Per Gessle - Roxette - The Look - Swedish - Duo

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Though not originally part of any Roxette album, that "It Must Have Been Love" was released as a single in 1990 from the soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman ensured its success. Also, it was a close follow-up to the group's single "Dangerous," which spent two weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February of that same year.

Related Topics:
Roxette - Pretty Woman - Dangerous - Billboard Hot 100

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"It Must Have Been Love" was originally released as a single in Europe in 1987 for the Christmas holiday season. The title included the parenthetical phrase "Christmas For the Broken Hearted" and featured the line "and it's a hard Christmas day," later replaced for the film by "and it's a hard winter's day." The single came out a year after Pearls of Passion -- the first full Roxette album to feature permanent members Gessle and Marie Fredriksson -- began its chart run and singles releases, mostly in Sweden.

Related Topics:
Pearls of Passion - Roxette - Gessle - Marie Fredriksson

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While the song gained some notice, it seemed to serve mainly as radio filler between 1986's Passion and its follow-up, 1988's Look Sharp!, which would result in Roxette's first international big hits, such as "The Look" and "Listen to Your Heart," both of which reached No. 1 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989, and the aforementioned "Dangerous."

Related Topics:
Look Sharp! - The Look - Listen to Your Heart - Billboard Hot 100 - Dangerous

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During the run of chart-topping singles from Look Sharp!, Touchstone Pictures approached Roxette's record label EMI and the group about contributing a song to the soundtrack of the upcoming romantic comedy release Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Oscar nominee Julia Roberts. Gessle has claimed that "It Must Have Been Love," by then a two-year-old recording, was chosen because Roxette did not have time to compose and record a new song while touring through Australia and New Zealand. Gessle and producer Clarence Öfwerman took the original 1987 recording with Fredriksson's lead vocal and added guitar and background vocal overlays to enhance the sound, as well as changing and re-recording the lyric about Christmas. Gessle claimed the soundtrack producers initially turned down "It Must Have Been Love" but changed course after re-editing the film.

Related Topics:
Look Sharp! - Touchstone Pictures - Roxette - EMI - Pretty Woman - Richard Gere - Julia Roberts - Gessle - Clarence Öfwerman - Fredriksson

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Though the song refers to a lonely winter's day after the break-up of a relationship, it became an international hit at the end of spring 1990 and charted through the summer. It was not the first single released from the Pretty Woman soundtrack -- the film itself was released in U.S. theaters on March 23, 1990 -- but "It Must Have Been Love" became the most successful, spending its first of two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the June 16 issue. It was certified gold for issues of 500,000 copies, and Billboard magazine listed "It Must Have Been Love" as the No. 2 Hot 100 single of the year, behind Wilson Phillips' "Hold On." The single peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. Singles Chart, Roxette's best showing there.

Related Topics:
Pretty Woman - March 23 - Billboard Hot 100 - June 16 - Billboard magazine - Wilson Phillips - U.K. Singles Chart - Roxette

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A revised version of the song was recorded in a Los Angeles studio during Roxette's 1991 worldwide tour in support of the album Joyride. This slower, "countrified" version, featuring a steel guitar solo in place of the original's piano, was included in the 1992 album release from that tour, '. A re-issue of the 1990 version of the song entered into the U.K. Top 10 in late 1993 as well.

Related Topics:
Roxette - Joyride - U.K.

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