Forget Haldi-Doodh: Stevie Nicks Donates $3 Million To Her Voice Doctor Because Gargling Is For Amateurs

Let's be honest, yaar. When we get a sore throat before a big karaoke night or a cousin's sangeet, our ultimate jugaad is drinking hot haldi-doodh, chewing on some ginger, or doing salt-water gargles while making weird dinosaur noises in the bathroom. But if you are rock legend Stevie Nicks, you don't rely on these basic dadi maa ke nuskhe. No, boss! When this 78-year-old queen wanted to thank her Beverly Hills ENT specialist, Dr. Joseph Sugerman, she didn't just send him a WhatsApp 'Thank You' sticker or a box of premium Kaju Katli. She casually dropped a massive financial bomb of 3 million dollars—that’s roughly 25 crore Indian rupees—to the University of Southern California (USC) to set up a fancy academic chair in his honor. Talk about the ultimate doctor's fee!

Can you even imagine this level of appreciation? Here in India, if a doctor cures our chronic cough, we might refer three relatives to his clinic, give him a five-star Google review, and call it a day. But Dr. Sugerman, whose name literally sounds like a sweet dessert, has been keeping Stevie’s legendary vocals in top-gear through endless world tours and late-night studio sessions. Fifty years of looking down people's throats has finally paid off in the most glamorous way possible. Thanks to Stevie's massive dhamaka donation, USC's Keck School of Medicine has established the "Stevie Nicks and Joseph Sugerman, MD, Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology." Yes, that is a super long word for an ENT department, but when you have that much cash, you can make people pronounce whatever you want.

Now, Stevie’s love affair with USC isn't a new-age romance; it dates back to 1979 when Fleetwood Mac invited the university's marching band to play on their track 'Tusk'. That’s basically the American version of inviting a Punjabi dhol crew to spice up your rock song at Dodger Stadium! The singer has always been incredibly protective of her voice. Back during the pandemic, she openly admitted that catching Covid and losing her singing voice would literally kill her. Fair enough, because if your voice is worth millions of dollars, you wouldn't want to risk it sounding like the broken exhaust pipe of a diesel auto-rickshaw.

The first lucky doctor to sit on this newly minted, multi-million-dollar chair is Dr. Michael M. Johns, a world-class vocal expert who probably feels like he just won a lottery ticket without even buying one. So, the next time your local family doctor cures your seasonal flu, please don't just say "Thank you, doctor saheb, next week fees de dunga." Take some inspiration from Stevie, though maybe scale it down to a nice cup of cutting chai and a hot samosa unless you have a spare 25 crores lying under your mattress. Until then, keep gargling, keep singing, and let's pray our vocal cords never cost us a fortune!