RIP Ahmet Ertegun

2muchcoffeeman · Dec 14, 2006

The All-knowing said:
NEW YORK - Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records, a label that popularized the gritty R&B of Ray Charles, the classic soul of
Aretha Franklin and the British rock of the Rolling Stones, died Tuesday at 83, his spokesman said.

Ertegun remained connected to the music scene until his last days — it was at an Oct. 29 concert by the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre in New York where Ertegun fell, suffered a head injury and was hospitalized. He later slipped into a coma.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061214/ap_en_mu/obit_ahmet_ertegun_9

:'(

Many of the best memories of my misspent teens and early 20s happened with a soundtrack of Atlantic's greatest hits.

Chi City 81 · Dec 14, 2006

RIP. I wonder how accurate Curtis Armstrong's portrayal was in "Ray."

shockey · Dec 14, 2006

i got to know ahmet a bit when i covered the cosmos of nasl fame in the early '80s. warner bros. owned the team. i used to tease ahmet about how he turned down a chance to sign jackson browne when browne sent him a demo tape.
ertegun threw the tape in a trash can, telling his secretary, "this kid can't play the guitar and he can't sing."

the secretary had alsso heard the tape, though, and gave it to an ertegun underling by the name of david geffen. geffen soon branched out on his own, creating elektra-asylum, and signed browne, who always gave thanks to geffen on his album jackets.

r.i.p., ahmet. he didn't blow many chances to sign talent.