Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records and a visionary who was instrumental in defining pop culture as we know it, has died. He was 83.
He was linked to music until the end. It was during a Rolling Stones performance celebrating former President Clinton's 60th birthday, that Ertegun slipped and fell, sustaining head injuries. He slipped into a coma in early November and died Thursday.
The son of a Turkish ambassador, Ertegun founded Atlantic Records in 1947, with a $10,000 loan from his dentist. The label initially made its mark bringing African-American music into the mainstream, signing artists such as Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown and the legendary Ray Charles. He's also credited with propelling Aretha Franklin to her status as the Queen of Soul.
A true visionary, Ertegun realized the potential of rock in the sixties and diversified, signing the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream and a number of others. His influence in shaping the music industry as we know it earned him induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 (which he also founded.
He was a man who loved the music scene, and his like will not be seen again.
"I've been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging ... you know you have a multimillion-seller hit — and what you're working on suddenly has magic," he said. "That's the biggest."
It was that passion that made Ahmet Ertegun more than a record executive — he had an uncanny ability to tap into into the pop consciousness and interpret
it into hit music. And he did it for almost sixty years.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
There's an excellent Charlie Rose interview with Ertegun, taped in 2005, available on PBS.
In the 50s and 60s Erteguns label, Atlantic records, was the leader in introducing innovative and exciting American music.