biography
| name: |
Ertegun, Ahmet (Munir)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1923– )
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| biography:
| Recording producer and song publisher, born in Istanbul, Turkey. The son of the Turkish ambassador to the USA, he and his brother Nesuhi Ertegun effectively grew up in Washington, DC, and were greatly attracted to American jazz and popular music. Ahmet attended St John's College, MD and studied for a doctorate at Georgetown University, but he abandoned a conventional career when in 1947 he co-founded Atlantic Records (with Herb Abrahmson). Nesuhi concentrated on producing jazz records with such musicians as John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, while Ahmet worked with Big Joe Turner, the Drifters, Professor Longhair, the Rolling Stones, and others. He also played a role in bringing such Southern musicians as the Allman Brothers into the mainstream of popular rock. The cosmopolitan Ahmet was at home among the jet set, but he also had a hands-on role in producing many records, and the Atlantic label became one of the most important in the history of 20th-c music because of the technical, financial, and personal support the company gave to several generations of emerging musicians. |
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