Pearls of Passion

"Pearls of Passion" is the debut studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, originally released on cassette and vinyl on October 31, 1986, in Scandinavia and Canada. The album was remastered and released on CD on October 31, 1997, with several previously unreleased bonus tracks and was remastered and re-released again in 2009. Roxette consists of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were established artists in Sweden before forming the duo. Gessle had significant commercial success with his band Gyllene Tider, releasing three number one albums in Sweden during the early '80s. However, after the band broke up in 1984, his solo albums did not achieve the same success, with his 1985 album Scener peaking at number 39 on the Sverigetopplistan and selling less than 20,000 copies, a sharp decline from Gyllene Tider's earlier sales. Gessle's contract with EMI Sweden was close to termination due to these disappointing sales. Meanwhile, Fredriksson was also signed to EMI Sweden and had released two successful albums, Het vind and Den sjunde vågen, along with several hit singles. Rolf Nygren, managing director of EMI Sweden, advised Gessle to translate a song called "Svarta glas" into English, which was originally written for Pernilla Wahlgren. Nygren suggested Gessle record it as a duet with Fredriksson, leading to their first single, "Neverending Love," which peaked at number three on the Swedish Singles Chart. The rest of the album was recorded sporadically throughout the summer of 1986. In 1987, Dance Passion, a compilation EP with seven remixed tracks from Pearls of Passion, was released in Sweden. Two songs from the album were later re-recorded for inclusion on later Roxette albums: "Soul Deep" appeared on the 1991 CD version of Joyride, and an acoustic version of "So Far Away" was included on the following year's Tourism.