Toulouse. Nicknamed the “Doctor of the Rolling Stones”, he revolutionized the organization of major events
By Anthony Assemat
Published on
His name in the city may not speak to many people. Nicholas Gorodetzky is not the fashionable eastern footballer or one of the Russian tsars of a bygone era. On the other hand, as soon as we pronounce the words Doctor Rock, it’s a whole section of the musical history of Toulouse which comes back like a boomerang.
A thousand lives in one
Doctor Rock is an artist bitten and tattooed for life by Californian rock as well as a man who has crossed more than a thousand lives in one. It all started in Lauragais Tarn, in Sorèze. “It was there that I learned classical music,” he says, in a school that has seen, among other things, Hugues Auffray and Claude Nougaro. Early on, he founded his first music group in Terminale, VIP’s. “I rounded off the ends of the month at balls, with group covers. I was beginning to forge my reputation”, he continues, passing through the cellars of the Toulouse underground.
The Millionaire Weekend Adventure
The turning point took place in 1973. With his new group, Pêche Melba, he became a finalist for the Tremplin d’Or at the Golf of Drouot, mythical Parisian place and precursor in the field of rock. On his return to the Pink City, he embarks on a new adventure with weekend millionaire in 1977. “Los Angeles”, “Sunshine”, “Moonlight”, “Hollywood”, “Avenue des cocotiers”, “French music par excellence”: the lexical field of the rocker leaves little room for doubt about his admiration for culture American.
The end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s marked its heyday. “French music par excellence” floods the radios and particularly European 1 for several weeks. “The album skilfully blended high-pitched, ethereal choirs and a very Earth, Wind & Fire horn section,” says the artist.
>> Some videos of Nicolas Gorodetzky’s hits <
Return priced in 1991
Then the success faded, even if Nicolas Gorodetzky made a comeback on the scene in 1991 with a new album, “Return from the cruise”. “It was a Warner project but it didn’t work out,” he recalls.
He set up the SMUR in Ariège
But the 1980s did not look like one long endless tunnel for the Toulousain. It is at this time that the chances of life will lead him on new paths. Because if music is a (very) pleasant pastime, his profession is health. He cut his teeth in the Toulouse region, set up the SMUR in Ariège (Mobile emergency and resuscitation structures) in 1975-1976 and joined the Paris Samu in 1978.
He manages medical security for the Rolling Stones
In 1982, the rolling stones must come to perform at the Parc des Princes for what must be the first outdoor concert in France, 20 years after their creation.
It is precisely in the garden of footballers and rugby players of the XV of France that the founder of Week-end Millionaire plays the role of “sentinel doctor of the Samu” during major matches. We consult him on the medical security to be ensured. hysterical crowd, 80,000 people to manage at the very least, drug problems in big concerts of this kind… Added to that the Simon and Garfunkel hall and that caused “500,000 people present at the six concerts, unheard of in France at that time! “recalls the Californian rock amateur singer.
He is nicknamed Doctor Rock
The real ammunition test is positive and the organization is resumed when the Queen, david bowie we Pink Floyd. It was at this time, in 1983, that the magazine “Rock&Folk” nicknamed the doctor of the Samu “Doctor Rock, the doctor of the Rolling Stones”.
World Cups, Euros…
His experience in this area has earned him manage medical management the Football World Cup in 1998, then the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and Euro 2016 football.
In 2022, he is still the main shareholder of the international society ISMA (International service medical assistance) and his passion is intact for this profession “where we study the risk parameters such as the size of the stadium, the number of spectators, the profile of the public…”.
A protocol that refers
“All our doctors are emergency doctors. The presence of the Samu sentries and firefighters is always independent of our service, which offers a device validated by the State. Since the mid-2000s, this has been my medical management protocol. which is applied in major events such as concerts or sporting events”.
Recommendations and a group of experts which was then piloted by a certain… Francois Braunthe current Minister of Health in the government of Elisabeth Borne.
At the Michael Jackson concert in 1992
Doctor Rock, who keeps a dark memory of the attacks of November 13, 2015 – “my teams managed what happened that evening at the Stade de France” – recounts a much more positive memory, tinged with chauvinism and pride.
“In 1992, it was also me who ensured the medical security of Michael Jackson’s concert at the Stadium”.
Managing a concert at the Stadium again is part of his dreams. But Little Wembley, despite the success of the two Bigflo&Oli shows in May 2019is not on the radar of major international tours…
A new album in the spring of 2023
Health missions, doctor, pulmonologist, singer, writer (he wrote five novels including one, in 2016, an autobiographical story in which it is his guitar, Maya, who is the narrator!): the daily life of this precursor is still very rock’n’roll. And it’s not over ! Established in the Paris region for many years, it is in Toulouse that Doctor Rock intends to mark the occasion with the release of a new album in the spring of 2023, seven years after the last opus, “Carry me back”.
The first title of this new album, “Instant Lovin'”, can be enjoyed on YouTube. For the occasion, he took on a new group name, “Dr Rock & The Famous Merengo”, in a strong and very Californian nod to the group. dan of steel.
Eternal passionate about music, 50 years after his first Parisian coup, the emergency doctor most imbued with Californian pop-rock in an encore under the pedal and in the “scratch”. The opportunity for young and old to (re)discover an artist who passed under the radar and in the shadow of Jean-Pierre Mader, Claude Nougaro, Gold and Emile et Images.
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