THE popular notion is that without Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, there wouldn't have been rock 'n' roll. But it may be closer to the truth to say there wouldn't have been rock 'n' roll without Ahmet Ertegun.
The co-founder of Atlantic Records loved to say he was just lucky to have worked with such landmark artists as Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Cream.
Yet everyone who has cared about pop music over the last half-century should feel fortunate to have had Ertegun. The son of a Turkish ambassador to the U.S., he made contributions to the American pop scene that were as passionate and irreplaceable as any of the artists on his label.
Generations of music entrepreneurs and executives -- David Geffen, Chris Blackwell, Doug Morris, Jimmy Iovine and countless others -- have cited him as a hero and role model.
Through it all, Ertegun, a shy, sophisticated man with a great appreciation for art, carried himself with dignity and humility.
He did few interviews because he felt the spotlight should always be on the musicians, but I managed to get him to sit down a few times to talk about building Atlantic. His eyes twinkled as he talked about first hearing Eric Clapton in London in the mid-'60s, or about watching Bobby Darin grow from the novelty of "Splish Splash" to the mainstream boldness of "Mack the Knife."
The quality that struck me most was his genuine respect for the music and the musicians.
Most owners of R&B record companies in the '50s were opportunists -- often record store owners or jukebox operators who started labels in hopes of picking up some extra bucks. They had little respect for artists or, in many cases, the music.
Along with Sam Phillips, who launched Elvis Presley on Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., Ertegun helped guide artists to a musical vision that he felt was both exciting and could serve as a bridge to what he felt so keenly from his foreign background was a missing piece of the American dream: racial equality.
Ertegun and his older brother, Nesuhi, who also had a prominent career in the music business, grew up with a love of jazz.
As youngsters in London, they saw Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, and their father later hosted jazz musicians, black and white, at the embassy in Washington, a move that raised some eyebrows in that segregated era. In his teens, Ahmet Ertegun sponsored what was believed to be the first integrated jazz concert in Washington.
