ROCK DOC will take you from backstage at a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon concert in the early seventies, where Neil's production company, Circus Talents, Ltd. was providing production services, to the office operating rooms of elite New York surgeons where Neil Ratner MD was Director of Anesthesia.

As a teenager, Neil was an aspiring rock n’ roll drummer but ended up on the other side of the business working as both a tour manager for Emerson, Lake, & Palmer and providing production for the Pink Floyd. After a bad attack of kidney stones and a stint in the hospital, Neil had an epiphany and decided to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a doctor. He finished college, learnt Spanish, spent four years at a medical school in Mexico, completed two years of surgical training and an anesthesia residency, and helped create the new specialty of office-based anesthesia in Manhattan. In doing so, Dr. Ratner became an expert in the use of the new drug, Propofol, a drug that would play a significant role in Neil's future.

Although Dr. Ratner encountered many celebrities in his anesthesia practice, one would change his life... Michael Jackson. Eight years after establishing his anesthesia practice, Michael Jackson walked into an office in which Neil was the Director of Anesthesia. Neil became a trusted friend of Michael's from 1994 to 2002, periodically going on tour and spending time with Michael at Neverland. Read in ROCK DOC how their relationship profoundly affected both...


Rock Doc is Neil’s remarkable journey about Rock & Roll and Michael Jackson, Nelson Mandela, a prison sentence with very unexpected results and how helping the poorest of the poor became a key part of his life.

REVIEW

In 1971, I was a young accountant working with my father. We were introduced to Emerson, Lake and Palmer through a lawyer. I had no idea who they were, they sounded like a firm of solicitors.  Four months later I was their manager.

I went to New York and met their agent, the legendary Frank Barcelona. He advised me to hire a tour manager. I was so green I did not know what a tour manager did. I met Neil Ratner and hired him as our tour manager. We became fast friends and I brought him back to London to work for the band. 

Years later he moved on and I continued to manage ELP and later AC/DC, Billy Squier, Cyndi Lauper, Foreigner, Gary Moore, The Scorpions and Zucchero.

When Neil and I met again he told me his extraordinary story and I encouraged him to write this book. When I read Rock Doc I love that Neil follows his dreams through good and bad. His life in Rock ‘n Roll, being a doctor, working with Michael Jackson, in jail in Fort Dix and his road to redemption. 

Stewart Young ( Music Manager Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Foreigner, Zucchero and formerly AC/DC, Billy Squier, Cyndi Lauper, Gary Moore, The Scorpions)