The Legendary Ahmet Ertegun, R & B and Jazz Music Industry Pioneer

Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun discovered and recorded many of the great musical talents of the 20th century. John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones have all recorded on Atlantic Records over the years. Mr. Ertegun died on December 14, 2006 after being in a coma for several months. He is considered one of the giants behind the scenes of the music industry, and like many of the stars he helped promote the story of Mr. Ertegun's life is almost legendary.

His father was a diplomat, the Turkish ambassador to Switzerland, to France, to the Court of St. James in Britain, and to the United States during the Roosevelt administration. Ahmet Ertegun was born in 1923 in Istanbul, Turkey and studied at Georgetown University. He also loved to go to music clubs in Washington D.C. where musicians were playing rhythm and blues, or "race music" as it was called in the 1940s.

In 1947, Ertegun borrowed $10,000 from his family dentist and founded Atlantic Records in New York City with a partner, Herb Abramson. He acted as producer and even occasionally as songwriter while recording musicians he had seen on the rhythm and blues club circuit.

Atlantic Records released two of the biggest R & B hits of 1954, "I Got a Woman" by Ray Charles, and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Big Joe Turner, which became one of the first rock and roll hits when it was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1955.

Ertegun lost out on a chance to sign Elvis to Atlantic Records, but that was one of the few talents he let slip away. In the next few years, now joined by his brother Nesuhi at Atlantic, he signed jazz greats John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In 1957, Atlantic took a chance on a new technology and began releasing albums in stereo.