A Turkish diplomat's 9-year-old son hears the syncopated glories of Cab
Calloway and Duke Ellington in a London nightclub, beginning a lifelong
passion for American music: That's the origin of Atlantic Records founder
and chairman
... moreAhmet Ertegun's alf-century as label impresario, transforming a
scrappy independent company into a dominant force in American and later global
pop music. The black and red label was home to Ruth Brown, Ray Charles,
Bobby Darin, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, The Coasters, The
Drifters, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Buffalo Springfield,
CSN&Y, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Bette Midler and the Rolling Stones, among
others. Apart from building the company around his own tastes, Ertegun was
a hands-on producer and occasional songwriter who had a hand in many of the
label's early R&B hits, an
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