Ahmet Ertegun 1923-2006

Reuters
December 14, 2006

Ahmet Ertegun, whose passion for America's black music inspired him to launch Atlantic Records and the careers of acts ranging from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin, died in New York on Thursday, the record label said. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 31, 1923. His father, a lawyer, served as Turkish ambassador in Switzerland, France, England and the United States.

With his older brother Nesuhi, he explored black neighborhoods in Washington and they amassed more than 20,000 78 rpm records. Realizing that he knew more about music than most label owners, he co-founded Atlantic in 1947 with blues expert Herb Abramson and a $10,000 loan from a Turkish dentist. Its first smash was a 1948 rerecording by bluesman Stick McGhee of the novelty ditty "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee." Nesuhi came aboard in 1956, and established the jazz division, producing the likes of John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Ertegun and his second wife, Romanian-born interior designer Mica had no children. The avid collectors had homes in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Paris and Turkey. He will be buried during a private ceremony in Turkey, and a memorial service will be held in New York next year. Atlantic said the tireless socialite and deal-maker had been in a coma at Weill Cornell Medical Center since October, when he slipped backstage at a New York concert by the Rolling Stones, who recorded for the label during the 1970s.

One key to Atlantic's early success was its artist-friendly nature. When Ray Charles, who signed to Atlantic in 1953, was on the road and felt inspired to record, Ertegun and producer Jerry Wexler would fly out to him. Thus were born such gems as "I've Got A Woman" and "What'd I Say." Atlantic solidified its status as the dominant label of its time when it partnered in the 1960s with Memphis-based Stax Records to bring southern soul musicians such as Redding, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & the MGs to worldwide fame.Atlantic's roster included huge stars: Professor Longhair, the Drifters, Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Cream, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dusty Springfield, Genesis, AC/DC, the Bee Gees, Bette Midler, the Allman Brothers Band, the Three Tenors and Hootie and the Blowfish.

One night he would hobnob with high-powered friends like Henry Kissinger and David Geffen and speak in his aristocratic accent. The next, he would relate unprintable anecdotes to impressionable young rock stars he was trying to sign to the label, outdrinking them in the process. He was one of the first recording executives to sell music by black artists to white youngsters looking for something exciting in the conformist Eisenhower era of the 1950s, and in so doing, he helped pioneer rock 'n' roll.

"From gospel, blues and jazz emerged R&B and rock & roll, the most popular music of all time," Ertegun wrote in 1997. "No music of any other country travels worldwide. Thanks to Black America for our great art form."