Since 1998, Michel Drucker has hosted the show Roll on Sunday, which gives pride of place every week to an artist, who looks back on his career, accompanied by those who mattered in his personal and professional life. This Sunday, December 31, 2023, for the last issue of the year, Michel Drucker received the singer Laurent Voulzy on his emblematic red sofa. Discreet for several years, his latest studio album Belem dates back to 2017, and his last live album Mont Saint Michel was released in 2019. In 2020, he also released a compilation of his greatest hits, including Rockcollection, The power of the flowers, The grenadine heart And Belle-Île-en-Mer, Marie-Galante.
At the start of the show, Michel Drucker made a point of telling viewers that Laurent Voulzy and he had been friends for many decadesand had shared together a few years ago a terrible tragedy, which could have cost them their lives: by posting a photo of them on board a helicopter, Michel Drucker instantly piqued his guest, who understood very well where the host was coming from. “So, I have a funny memory yes… We were hot” explained the 75-year-old singer… Indeed. As the two men told viewers, the helicopter they were in while filming a show almost collapsed in a ravine.
“This is the last time we see each other”
“We were above a ravine in the air. At the top, the helicopter had to start for the first time. We started the sequence again, it wasn’t working yet. The third time, the helicopter was no longer moving, but it was shaking ! And there, we felt that the void existed below” remembers Laurent Voulzy, who has kept a clear memory of this traumatic episode. At that moment, Laurent Voulzy and Michel Drucker were certain that they would not make it, and that they would collapse to the bottom of the ravine: “You looked at me, and we said: This is the last time we see each other“ remembered the host of France Télévisions with emotion.
A drama reminiscent of another…
“I looked at you, you had a lot of composure, but you told me: There is a problem there” concluded Laurent Voulzy, who prefers to laugh about it several years later, even if this terrible episode could have ended in macabre circumstances, which inevitably recall the helicopter crash that occurred on the set of the show Dropped from TF1. On March 9, 2015, three of the adventurous celebrities of this new adventure program which was to be hosted by Louis Bodin were killed in a head-on collision between two helicopters: the swimmer Camille Muffatof the boxer Alexis Vastine and the navigator Florence Arthaud. Seven other people, including members of the production and the drivers of the two helicopters, were also killed…