Ahmet Ertegun Biography

Browse All Artists

by genre

• All Genres
• Pop
• R & B
• Hip-Hop
• Rock & Alternative
• Country
• Latin

Ahmet Ertegun, along with his brother Nesuhi, plus engineer/producer Tom Dowd, producer Jerry Wexler, and others such as writer Jessie Stone, helped create and hone the Atlantic Records jazz, R&B, and pop empire in the '50s and '60s. The Erteguns arrived in America from Turkey and forged a company to record, distribute and publicize the sounds of Black America, which at that time were largely going ignored. Ahmet Ertegun also made Atlantic a prime label for cabaret recordings, commissioning and issuing albums by Mabel Mercer and Bobby Short. He doubled as a songwriter in the '50s, issuing a number of singles under a slightly revised listing of his name. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide