Who is Dr. Luke?

Lucasz Gottwald is a good Jewish doctor. He goes by “Dr. Luke”, and he’s an MD—a Doctor of Music, with a specialization in neurology and addiction.  (Although Dr. Dre may have been the first to achieve this degree.)  Dr. Luke is famous for crafting melodies that get stuck in the heads of millions, songs that release neural impulses that make people want to get up and dance like the teenagers they are—or aren’t.  Last week he won ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year award along with his dream-teamer, Swedish pop maestro, Max Martin, for his whopping success on the pop charts.

Dr. Luke is behind the megahits of Katy Parry (from “I Kissed a Girl” to her latest “ET”) and Britney Spears (from “Circus” to her latest “Till the World Ends”). He’s responsible for the rise of Ke$ha, having produced her debut chart-topping party anthem “TiK ToK” with fellow Jewish producer, Benny Blanco (whose publishing company is called “Matzah Ball Music”). TiK Tok made headlines when IDF soldiers posted a ” title=”online sources” target=”_blank”>online sources, could go either way: Gottwald was an English baptismal name meaning ‘the son of Godard’ as well as the Anglicization by Ashkenazi Jews of Jewish surnames. It could also be a German composite of God (got) and rule (wald). “Lucasz” recalls an apostle, which lends to some sort of Christian connection. According to ” title=”cover story interview with Billboard” target=”_blank”>cover story interview with Billboard, the former house guitarist of Saturday Night Live attributes his quest for pop perfection in part to being a “neurotic New York Jew.” According to the article, Dr. Luke also makes house calls to artists desperate for a hit because he seems to have gotten the formula for a pop hit down to a science.

And as a good (and, turns out, neurotic) Jewish doctor, he has messianic tendencies. His latest hit