Fact #131972
When:
Short story:
Gay Mercader is born in Barcelona, Spain, Europe. He will become one of the most successful music promoters in Europe, working with The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Bryan Ferry and many others.Full article:
Gay Mercader : I was born in Barcelona, but I was raised in Paris. I come from a very upper class family, you know? I went to the same school as Sarcosi. I like to live well. I’m 66 and my girlfriend, she is 36, and she is wonderful.
In the late 60s I knew the guy who sold the smack to Jim Morrison of The Doors which killed him. The story has surfaced in Marianne Faithfull’s biography, but it has been twisted. He wasn’t a dealer. He was just someone who wanted to find a way to approach his heroes, and the way he found was to have smack and coke or whatever. His mother owned a big newspaper business empire in North Africa, they were were very wealthy, they had an incredible mansion in Marrakesh.
So, anyway, in 1971 there was almost no-one in Spain who knew how to promote rock, but I was more familiar with it because I had grown up in Paris.
I started promoting rock in Spain in 1971. I did Elton John, Traffic, Clapton and in 75 I did Genesis, but the big break for me was in 1976 when I did The Stones at the Plaza De Toros Monumental in Barcelona. Spain was barely on the rock’n’roll map back then. It was Emerson, Lake And Palmer who recommended to the German promoter Fritz Rau who recommended me to The Stones.
AC/DC is one of a kind. I first did them in 1981, (Jan 15th 1981, Palacio Municipal Deportes, Barcelona, Spain) and I’ve done them ever since, even though I am now officially retired. That first show was a 5,000 seater. They’ve always been a very cool bunch of guys. Even their drummer, Phil Rudd, was a good guy, handsome young man, the girls loved him.
I find that the less I work in the industry the more interested I become in the history of the music.
Even though I have retired, I remain in touch with the ones I love, like Keith Richards, Bryan Ferry, Sting and, of course, AC/DC, who always call and ask me personally if I can do it for them. So, of course, I say yes. It’s a privilege to have a band who specifically want you. I also get on well with their agent, Chris Dalston, which is good because if the agent isn’t cool, I don’t need it any more. I’m retired. When I was running my company, I had to consider the staff who I employed, so I would fight hard to get acts, but not now.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, for Audience magazine in September 2015)
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In the late 60s I knew the guy who sold the smack to Jim Morrison of The Doors which killed him. The story has surfaced in Marianne Faithfull’s biography, but it has been twisted. He wasn’t a dealer. He was just someone who wanted to find a way to approach his heroes, and the way he found was to have smack and coke or whatever. His mother owned a big newspaper business empire in North Africa, they were were very wealthy, they had an incredible mansion in Marrakesh.
So, anyway, in 1971 there was almost no-one in Spain who knew how to promote rock, but I was more familiar with it because I had grown up in Paris.
I started promoting rock in Spain in 1971. I did Elton John, Traffic, Clapton and in 75 I did Genesis, but the big break for me was in 1976 when I did The Stones at the Plaza De Toros Monumental in Barcelona. Spain was barely on the rock’n’roll map back then. It was Emerson, Lake And Palmer who recommended to the German promoter Fritz Rau who recommended me to The Stones.
AC/DC is one of a kind. I first did them in 1981, (Jan 15th 1981, Palacio Municipal Deportes, Barcelona, Spain) and I’ve done them ever since, even though I am now officially retired. That first show was a 5,000 seater. They’ve always been a very cool bunch of guys. Even their drummer, Phil Rudd, was a good guy, handsome young man, the girls loved him.
I find that the less I work in the industry the more interested I become in the history of the music.
Even though I have retired, I remain in touch with the ones I love, like Keith Richards, Bryan Ferry, Sting and, of course, AC/DC, who always call and ask me personally if I can do it for them. So, of course, I say yes. It’s a privilege to have a band who specifically want you. I also get on well with their agent, Chris Dalston, which is good because if the agent isn’t cool, I don’t need it any more. I’m retired. When I was running my company, I had to consider the staff who I employed, so I would fight hard to get acts, but not now.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, for Audience magazine in September 2015)