Roxette Live Tribute Band Comes to the Drama Factory This Month

Roxette Live Tribute Band comes to the Drama Factory on 31 March.

Join the Joyride with the Live Roxette Tribute band at the Drama Factory on 31 March. Just listen to your heart...Heidi van der Merwe and her band will take you on a nostalgic trip down memory lane with all Roxette's greatest hits like "The Look, Listen to your Heart, It must have been love" and "Joyride", to mention but a few.

What started out as a fun project for Heidi, has turned into a success story and the band has been enjoying sold-out shows at venues like Heroes Restaurant, Jamrock Theatre and at The 2022 Biltong Festival. The band features some of Cape Town's well-known and talented musicians: Cobus Snyman on lead guitar, Morné Oosthuizen on keyboards and vocals, Carlo Coetzee on bass guitar, Francois Keyser on drums and Heidi on lead female vocals.

The pop rock duo, Roxette, formed in 1986, have been an international sensation for over 36 years, since the 1980s. The popularity of their music has not waned and is still being still played on local radio stations and never fails to entice people onto the dance floor. They achieved international success in the late 1980s and the early 1990s with their albums, "Look Sharp" (1988) and "Joyride" (1991) , and had multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number ones. "The Look" was a top ten hit upon release in January 1989 and topped the charts after just 8 weeks and went on to peak at number one in a total of 25 countries. The single's parent album eventually sold over 9 million copies worldwide. "Listen to your Heart" was the duo's second number one of the Hot 100, while the album's final single, "Dangerous", spent 2 weeks at number 2. Gessle edited their 1987 single, "It Must Have Been Love" for Touchstone Pictures' film, "Pretty Woman". The track became Roxette's 3rd number one on the Hot 100, and remains one of their best-known and most successful singles. Roxette released their 3rd album, "Joyride", which remains their most successful release, with worldwide sales of over 11 million copies. Their 4th and final number on the Hot 100, "Fading Like a Flower" peaked at No.2. Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, Gun-Marie Fredriksson was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2002, and advised by her doctors to cease touring, the European tour celebrating Roxette's 30th anninversary was cancelled. She died on 9 December 2019 at the age of 61, following a 17-year-long battle with cancer. Come and join the Joyride on 31 March, when The Live Roxette Tribute Band bring you Roxette's greatest hits!

Photo Credits: Carlo Coetzee Photography

Heidi van der Merwe started performing at the age of 15 with her brother, Martin, as the brother-sister duo (Martin& Heidi) all over at venues in Cape Town. Heidi started playing guitar at the age of 12 and always had the passion to perform until her dad recognised hidden talent and the rest is history. In early 2022 she wrote the Roxette tribute show and had sold-out shows performing as Marie Fredriksson, the lead vocalist of Roxette. She is busy writing her next show that will soon hit local stages.

Cobus Snyman a member of the popular brother trio, Die Broers, has been performing for over 3 decades. Familiar songs like, "Trein na Margate", "7 x 70" and "Huistoe" have reached platinum status and Broers have successfully toured around South Africa performing for high-profile clients like International rugby games and President Jacob Zuma. Cobus studied Jazz at UCT, mastering guitar, saxophone and many more. He also runs a very successful studio and record label (SMP). He Recently launched the new song "Wat van nou" and hopes to collaborate with more people.

Cobus Coetzee is a phenomenal session guitarist, well known to most stages. He has been playing guitar since the age of 13. He started playing in a band called Tropical Heat since the age of 18. The band became popular in Cape Town, playing at many birthday parties, weddings and festivals. He is the musical director for some of the Bokradio Tydloos shows and the Bakgat Country Opskop and has a great passion for Country music.

Carlo Coetzee is the spunk of funk on bass guitar. He hails from a small town in the Northern Cape, and started playing guitar at the age of 11. After school he played drums until he was forced to play bass at an Aardklop gig and went on to make bass guitar his main instrument. He also performs in other bands: The Banned (previously Tropical heat), Suzy band, apart from performing in shows like Bokradio Tydloos and Bakgat Country Opskop. He has a great love for 80's music, especially the music of Roxette.

Francois Keyser has the tightest chops on drums. He started playing drums in high school. Shortly after that he joined the 4-piece band Vanilla, who performed at OppiKoppi, Up the Creek Festival and even won the Quay 4 Battle of the Bands Competition in 2017. They have launched a few chart toppers like "The Sun's tide" and "Hoezit". He does some session drumming for other bands like Basson Laubscher and the Free Peace band, The Suzy band and The Banned. Morné Oosthuizen is a king of rock 'n roll on keyboards. He started singing and playing keyboards at a young age. He and his sister, Jacky, were in a duo called Rhapsody and performed all around venues in Cape Town. He has performed solo and also as session musician for bands, The Banned and the Suzy band, just to name a few. Most of the time you will see him play keyboards, but no one really knows how much of a talented singer he is ... talk about a hidden gem.