Few report executives have had performed such a task in shaping the music enterprise as Ahmet Ertegun. The good co-founder of Atlantic Data helped steer the careers of numerous famous person acts and was additionally a distinguished songwriter, producer, and philanthropist.
The urbane Turkish-American entrepreneur was born on July 31, 1923, in Istanbul, and his impression on the music world began quickly after the tip of World Battle II. He died at 83 in December 2006, however to this present day, the requirements he set are aspired to by the trendy technology of label heads.
Ertegun’s distinctive perception and acumen have been an enormous affect on the emergence of such R&B figureheads as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Wilson Pickett, and rock legends together with Cream, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and lots of others. The private relationships he constructed with these and so many different artists gave him an aura that went far past the music he helped convey to the world.
In February 2007, Billboard journal’s particular version paying tribute to Ahmet included a profile of his worldwide achievements by this author. We reprint a part of it right here.
“The tales of Ahmet Ertegun’s worldwide adventures as an govt and a socialite are legion. And simply whenever you assume you’ve heard all of them, up pops one other musician touched by his presence to contribute extra reminiscences.
“What set the late co-founder of Atlantic Data aside from his contemporaries was his world view. The report enterprise to him was by no means nearly the USA. Simply as his father had been a globe-covering Turkish ambassador, Ertegun really had a window on the world of music, and thru it he noticed cultural prospects for which scores of his worldwide artists will eternally be grateful.
“At 77, [Ertegun] traveled to London to be visitor of honor [at a star-studded industry event] in 2001. He was offered with the Music Trade Trusts Award…for his contribution to the worldwide careers of such British greats because the Rolling Stones, Cream, Sure, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, and lots of others.
‘I feel partly British’
“‘They don’t give that award to foreigners, do they?’ Ertegun requested this author simply earlier than flying to the UK. He defined: ‘I feel partly British, because I spent part of my youth in England. I was a great fan of British music even from the jazz days of the 1930s, when I was a very young boy. Prior to living in England, we’d been in France and Switzerland, however England felt a lot nearer to America.’
“One recollects that on the awards night time, approaching the rostrum for a sometimes memorable speech and strolling with a stick, he stated: ‘There’s no reality within the rumor that considered one of my rappers did this.’
“The musical alternate program between the UK and the USA was one which Ertegun helped set up. It introduced wealthy rewards for the aforementioned Brits and such others as the Bee Gees, Dusty Springfield, and Anglo-American acts Foreigner and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
“And that alternate labored each methods. In 1967, it took a bundle of artists on Atlantic’s mighty Stax label to Europe for a revue tour that represented essentially the most soulful expertise within the younger lives of many future British stars.
“One of many artists on that itinerary, Sam Moore, then of Sam & Dave, tells Billboard that he had the latest, well timed alternative to interrupt bread and make good with Ertegun. ‘I was doing a listening party [for his Overnight Sensational album] at the Cutting Room in New York,’ Moore says, ‘and the following factor I knew, in walks Ahmet, with out an entourage. He and I sat down and we talked, and it was essentially the most wonderful time.
‘This guy was ok’
“‘All the years Dave and I were with Atlantic, I never thought he cared that much about me. But I found out later on, man, this guy was ok. Everybody that came up under Ahmet, they all learned from Ahms. He set the mold. There was so much respect, not fear, for this man.’
“Ertegun stated in 2001: ‘With the advent of R&B, and the last gasps of the blues in America, a new crop [of musicians] arose. Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, people who were not imitators. They somehow swallowed the pill and became natural blues players. They play like originals, and I idolise them.’
“Clapton’s colleague in Cream, Jack Bruce, tells a narrative that in some way evokes the atmosphere of Ertegun’s jetsetting days and his consolation in rock star firm. ‘He was in London at [manager and impresario] Robert Stigwood’s workplace in mid-winter, and requested me if I’d give him a elevate to his lodge. I had this very unusual automotive referred to as an Adams Probe.
“It was [something like] 2 toes 6 inches excessive. To get in, you needed to open the roof. I used to be speculated to be driving him to no matter posh lodge. We went down the steps in Brook Road, and it had been snowing. Ahmet stated ‘Where’s the automotive?’ There was this little mound of snow, and I stated ‘It’s below there.’
“More seriously, Bruce salutes Ertegun as a genuine frontiersman. ‘The nice thing about all of those guys – Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Ahmet – was that they were all in there pretty much from the beginning. Ahmet was very much into the music and very innovative. Where would we be without him?’”
