Ahmet Ertegun was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1923. The son of a Turkish ambassador, Ahmet and his family traveled to Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom before finally moving to the United States.
Ahmet’s interest in music began at a very young age after discovering artists like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington while living in London. Upon moving with his family to the United States, Ahmet frequently attended performances by icons like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald at The Howard Theater in Washington D.C. It wasn’t long before Ahmet and his brother Nesuhi Ertegun soon became involved in the local music scene, organizing concerts and inviting visiting musicians to gather at the Turkish Embassy on Sunday afternoons to play together.
Upon his father’s passing, Ahmet and Nesuhi chose to remain in the U.S. instead of returning to Turkey with their family. Ahmet worked at a local record store where he began to learn about the music retail business while finishing his studies at Georgetown University. In 1946, he partnered with friends Herb and Mariam Abramson and the owner of the local record store where he had been working to found two record labels specializing in Jazz and Gospel music. After the failure of these two labels, Ahmet, with the financial support of Dr. Vahdi Sabit, a longtime family friend and dentist, started his own independent label called Atlantic Records with Herb and Mariam Abramson in 1947.
“We started Atlantic simply because we wanted to sign a few artists whose music we liked, and make the kind of records that we would want to buy.” – Ahmet Ertegun.
Atlantic Records originated in a cramped, ground floor office space in the worn down Jefferson Hotel on 56th Street in New York City. Ahmet signed his first major artist, Ruth Brown, to the label in 1949. Ruth scored major hits for Atlantic Records with the 1950 song “Teardrops From My Eyes” and “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” released in 1953. Ahmet began writing music himself under the pseudonym “Nugetre” due to a lack of interest from major music publishers in the early years. He penned the songs “Don’t You Know I Love You” and “Fool, Fool, Fool” which went on to become hits for the Clovers in 1951.
Ahmet signed Atlantic Records’ definitive artist, Ray Charles, in 1952. He encouraged Charles to pursue an edgier sound and inspired him to develop a playing style that would eventually define boogie-woogie piano and skyrocket Charles to fame. Atlantic Records quickly earned a reputation as a groundbreaking independent label, pioneering R&B, and jazz recordings by artists such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and more.
In 1953, Herb Abramson temporarily left Atlantic Records to serve in the military. Ahmet brought on Jerry Wexler, the Billboard writer who coined the term rhythm and blues, to assume Abramson’s duties in his absence. Wexler quickly became Ahmet’s close friend and critical part of Atlantic’s ensuing success. The label moved to 234 West 56th Street where it operated as an office by day and a recording studio by night. Ahmet, Wexler, and a brilliant young audio engineer named Tom Dowd would move the office furniture out of the way and roll in the recording gear which included the third eight-track recording machine ever made at that time. It was here that they recorded numerous hits including The Drifter’s “Save The Last Dance For Me”.
When Herb Abramson returned from the Army in 1955 he was made head of the Atco, an Atlantic Records subsidiary label, which boasted artists like Bobby Darin and The Coasters. Herb Abramson departed Atlantic Records three years later after failing to produce any significant hits with Darin. Ahmet and Wexler were able to raise money to buy out their partners’ shares of the business and became the sole owners of Atlantic Records along with Ahmet’s brother Nesuhi. Ahmet took Bobby Darin under his wing and encouraged him to adjust his sound to appeal to viewers watching American Bandstand, a television show that had become immensely popular at the time. Ahmet and Darin hit the studio and recorded what would be two of Darin’s biggest hits “Splish Splash” in 1958.
