Giorgio Gomelsky was born in Georgia and grew up in Switzerland and was essentially a Jazz fanatic with impresario skills and a knack for getting publicity. Throughout his career as a manager, club owner, songwriter, film maker and ideas man, Giorgio Gomelsky played significant parts in the careers of sixties icons like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Soft Machine, Graham Bond, Rod Stewart, Alexis Corner, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and later Gong, Henry Cow, John McLaughlin and French experimentalists Magma. Most people of my generation with any interst in the sixties Beat groups are aware of him through his management of The Stones and The Yardbirds as well as his production skills on some of their early records, but it seemed he could take anything on and make a success of it, whether it be running a club, managing a band, making films or owning a record label.
Most of the bands he was involved with made a significant impression, one that didn’t was Blossom Toes. They released, What On Earth as their first single on Gomelsky’s Marmalade label in 1967. The band featured guitarist Jim Cregan, later joining Rod Stewart’s band and Steve Harley’s Cockney Rebel via stints in Stud and Family. The other guitar player, Brian Godding found himself taking part in many interesting projects, Solid Gold Cadillac, Centipede working with Mike Westbrook and Magma. Brian Belshaw played bass, Kevin Westlake, drums. Blossom Toes debut album, We Are Ever So Clean, was a mostly ignored Psychedelic classic.
Gomelsky’s story has many high points and although I can’t seem to find a book on line, a little research will reveal the man, I would suggest starting here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Gomelsky
Having played at Tramps In New York, I heard later that it was one of Gomelsky’s hangouts where he often DJ’d and had a word of advice for the budding artistes that came through town. Another victim of cancer Gomelsky died on the 13th January at the age of 81. Rip Giorgio Gomelsky. Condolences to friends and family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blossom_Toes
No comments yet.