By Stéphane C. Jonathan
The French concerts of Bruce Springsteen, AC / DC or Elton John, it was him. Producer Gérard Drouot has just passed away, swept away by leukemia.
He was one of the giants of the performing arts in Europe. Concert producer Gérard Drouot has just passed away at the age of 69, after long months of fighting against leukemia.
Its activities began in 1973 in Reims, his hometown, with the organization of a concert by the English rock group Caravan, for the benefit of the association of pharmacy students. He was then only 21 years old. The following year, he welcomed Leonard Cohen and soon the group Soft Machine.
It was during the 70s that Gérard Drouot gained the full confidence of the top rock and international variety, producing French concerts of Mike Oldfield, AC / DC, Queen, the beginnings of U2, but also of Charles Aznavour, Ange, Indochine, Daniel Balavoine… In May 1986, he founded GDP (Gérard Drouot Productions) and his catalog of artists continues to grow: Bruce Springsteen, Lenny Kravitz, the ex-Led Zeppelin Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Elton John, Santana…
Behind the scenes of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, among the musicians of the Irish group U2, in July 2009.
GDP
At the beginning of this century, Gérard Drouot brought back on stage his idol, Leonard Cohen. His last “big hits” are the Rolling Stones concert at the Orange Vélodrome stadium in Marseille and the two Van Morrison concerts at the Olympia at the start of 2020. Gérard Drouot has also been the producer of numerous film concerts, notably “Le Grand Bleu” »By Luc Besson accompanied by a group led by the original composer Eric Serra.
In 2013, he appointed his son Matthieu Deputy CEO of GDP, who said in a press release: “We will never forget his selflessness, his advice and he is leaving much too soon. As he said so rightly in the face of adversity “we are mad with rage” ”.