By Dean Goodman
Reuters
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 9:38 PM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ahmet Ertegun, a Turkish diplomat's son 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 83.
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.
"The soul of Ahmet Ertegun will forever be our guiding spirit, and as long as there is an Atlantic Records, it will be Ahmet Ertegun's company," said Craig Kallman, the chairman and Chief executive of the Warner Music Group Corp. unit.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's 60-year career was unrivaled in its longevity and depth. Along the way, the bald, goateed bon vivant became a superstar cutting a dashing figure in the world's best ballrooms and seediest nightclubs.
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 had the regard of the musicians in a way no other executive has ever had, because of his own deep musicality and abilities and his legendary appetite for the music life," said Jann Wenner, editor and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine.
Added rock producer Rick Rubin: "Regardless of who else came to the party, if Ahmet was there, he was the coolest guy in the room. The world is a remarkably better place thanks to Ahmet's vision.
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, Hootie and the Blowfish, Kid Rock, James Blunt, and Gnarls Barkley.
Launched in 1947 as a short-term outlet for Ertegun's fixation with the jazz and blues that was largely unknown to most Americans, Atlantic has grown into one of the world's biggest record companies. Ertegun was founding chairman, surviving various ownership changes since he and his partners sold the label in 1967 for $20 million.
ROCK PIONEER
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. Recordings by sophisticated urban singers such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker and the Clovers, struck more of a chord with mainstream buyers than the raw blues emanating from Chicago.
"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."
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.
In the seventies rock acts Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones joined the roster. During the 1990s, Hootie and the Blowfish's debut album "Cracked Rear View" became the biggest selling debut in the label's history.
Ertegun was also closely associated with the Three Tenors, the superstar combo of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.
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 the black underbelly of the nation's capital, soaking up the forbidden culture. They quickly 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. He died in 1989.
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."
Charles left for richer pastures in 1959, but remained devoted to Ertegun, until his death in 2004.
"Anything he would ask me to do, I would do it," Charles told Vanity Fair in 1998. "I love him to death."
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.
© 2006 Reuters
