Death of Gérard Drouot, the producer of AC / DC, Springsteen or Pavarotti concerts in France

With Jackie Lombard, Jean-Claude Camus and Gilbert Coullier, Gérard Drouot was for forty years one of the biggest organizers of rock, pop and jazz concerts in France.

The announcement of his death was made Monday at 8 p.m., time of the curtain raising of the Gérard Drouot Productions shows.

Tonight, in Toulouse, where star pianist Lang Lang is giving a recital at the Halle aux Grains, the teams have hearts full of sorrow.

On January 5, Gérard Drouot, who had health concerns, was taken to the emergency room.

This huge producer finally died Monday morning in Paris at the age of 69.

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Born April 29, 1952, this only son, a native of Reims, first wanted to be a doctor.

In the late 1960s, listening to the Beatles' album

changed everything.

In 1973, he organized a concert by the Caravan group at the Cirque de Reims for the local association of pharmacy students.

At the time, almost no concert was given in a city like Reims.

For several years, he combines medicine and music.

Finally, his passion for live wins.

To the chagrin of his parents, he stopped studying and learned on the job.

Nico in concert at Reims Cathedral

One of his first concerts is that of Tangerine Dream and Nico, the muse singer of The Velvet Underground, organized in the Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral in 1974. A mythical musical mass organized with the blessing of the archbishop and the support by Richard Branson, who has just created the Virgin label in England.

Several thousand young people attend;

the evening is broadcast live on France Inter and has a worldwide impact.

Gérard Drout followed up with Leonard Cohen, still in Reims in 1976.

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Over the next ten years, Gérard Drouot learned the trade at Harry Lapp Organization in Strasbourg, where he set up tours for Nana Mouskouri, Murray Head, Étienne Daho or even Indochine and Charles Aznavour. He also organizes on behalf of other national and international producers concerts in eastern France by Tina Turner, AC / DC and Queen. In 1986, he created his company, GDP - Gérard Drouot Productions. In his forty-year career, he has produced 700 artists, including many legends such as Luciano Pavarotti, Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen, George Benson, Nina Simone and Nile Rodgers. By taste, he favors international artists. With some, he has privileged relations. In Paris, you could meet him walking the streets with Bruce Springsteen. With the members of U2, of which he isis busy for a quarter of a century, the friendship was strong and dinners in good restaurants numerous. When singer Bono and his group signed with the global giant Live Nation, they made it a point of honor that Gérard Drouot kept 50% of their concerts in France.

In the past, when we wanted to go to the Olympia, we made a phone call to Bruno Coquatrix.

That's what the Beatles do.

With AC / DC and Muse filling the Stade de France several nights in a row, we are in a whole new dimension.

The adventurous side of the 70's with suitcases of cash and double ticketing belong to the rock legend.

Today, everything is very square, administrative

Gérard Drouot, Paris Match

Over the years, his profession has changed completely. The competition has become fiercer, there is a lot of money at stake, but it has adapted.

explains this discreet boss in

in 2010.

Sensitive to the zeitgeist, he was one of the first to believe in film concerts.

A niche where its competitors do not venture much.

He also has a taste for shifting.

In December 2018, when the yellow vests sacked Paris, he blackmailed Boy George & Culture Club on the stage of the Opéra Garnier.

The British singer can not believe it and gives a particularly funny and warm concert, which the happy spectators will remember for a long time.

Succession assured

During his career, Gérard Drouot obviously had some regrets. He would have liked to organize the returns on stage of Jean Ferrat, Michel Polnareff and Michael Jackson. His ultimate success was to perpetuate his business. In 2017, GDP posted a turnover of 37 million euros for 2.3 million net income. Unlike many of his competitors, Gérard Drouot does not sell his company to an American show business giant like Live Nation but passes it on to his son Mathieu, now 39 years old.

Trained the hard way by his father since 2008, this tall tattooed fellow is masterfully organizing the Insus record tour in 2016-2017.

In the middle, the compliments fuse.

Mathieu Drouot also renews the house artists by attracting a new generation such as the pianist Lang Lang, the Italian Mexican American revelation Diamante, the Swedish metalheads of Ghost, the formidable Kimberose, James Blunt, Beth Hart, Avenged Sevenfold.

Or even global performing arts brands such as the Harlem Globetrotters and the Australian Pink Floyd Show.

Gérard Drouot is no longer there but the succession is assured.