Who owns atlantic records

That's what I heard when I first heard a recording by Ray Charles and we went out and bought his contract. Hits like 'What'd I Say', helped keep Atlantic afloat. And while it was a relatively small amount of money, Ertegun had begun to think big. Otherwise we would have gotten him. In , Abramson found himself in the military. This left a void in the admittedly small Atlantic hierarchy. This was filled by Billboard record reviewer Jerry Wexler.

But I went right into the studio with Ahmet and he trained me and showed me what to do. And let's face it: We were all in on a pass, because none of us were musicians, but we… called the sessions and we survived.

The studio was not a separate studio. It was a room that was shared by me and Jerry Wexler. We had two desks and a grand piano. The two desks were my desk and Jerry's. That was our office.

In the evening we piled one desk on top of the other, and move them to a corner. Then we'd have enough room to put an orchestra in there and mic them.

We brought out some chairs, and that was our studio. It was a great way to avoid paying for studio time. We put in a little control room and we hired Tommy Dowd, who was a young engineer who worked at various studios here, and later worked for the Voice of America.

But he was a part time engineer, recording in that room. Tommy was our first and best engineer. He got a great sound under truly Spartan conditions. We made a lot of hit records in that room.

In addition to the production work that Ertegun and Wexler were doing, Atlantic had hooked up with a team of two talented West Coast writers and producers. Contracted in , Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller brought with them their own hit making apparatus. They had this group who we later called the Coasters. They were called the Robins at the time they were recording for Jerry and Mike's label.

We wanted to sign that group, and we also wanted them to continue producing them. So, we signed the group, and we made a production deal with Leiber and Stoller. I guess they were the first so-called independent producers.

We had a long series of hits with them. Indeed, between and , Atlantic had 84 hits in the Hot Yet with all the pop success, Atlantic continued to make those records that they set out to make in the beginning. In , Ahmet's brother Nesuhi joined the company to explore the relatively new LP market, as well as continuing the company's commitment to jazz. When Nesuhi joined me at Atlantic, he oversaw our entry into the LP business. A true music man, Nesuhi never recorded an artist he didn't like, and throughout his life he was a champion of new music, a huge defender of musicians' rights.

They also started exploring other areas. In , Abramson had signed a young college drop-out named Bobby Darin. In three tries, however, they were unable to generate a hit. Ertegun decided to take a crack at it. Lightening up on the usual Atlantic approach, he cut a novelty ditty, 'Splish Splash', that went to 3 pop and started both Darin's career and Atlantic's involvement with 'white' rock and roll.

I think the first recordings I made with Bobby Darin were very important records. That was a great career. I produced most of those albums. I produced just about everything that came out on Atlantic. And then, we got very lucky with a couple of acts. By this time, I had latched onto Eric Clapton. Then we signed up Buffalo Springfield.

I signed them up in California. And suddenly, we're in the new music. In the new white rock and roll syndrome. So we became sort of a well rounded record company, and managed to grow year by year. While Ertegun skates over this major move, the subtle shift in focus that it represents is notable for many reasons.

With the earlier acts, a certain level of integrity leavened the pop songs. Even Sonny and Cher were a notch above a lot of the forgettable pop music that was charting circa Yet, while Atlantic was working acts like these, other companies had started aggressively working the next big thing in pop music, the British Invasion bands.

However, as the list Ertegun offers illustrates, Atlantic hopped that steamship a bit late, catching it on the second wave. We didn't have those artists. I had to get into that area.

We couldn't just sit by. Besides, I love that music. We heard Clapton together for the first time, and I said, 'Well, that is an artist I want. These signings were also remarkable.

Led Zeppelin's was, in fact unprecedented. Not only was their advance purported to be the largest ever offered a new band, they were also given total control over everything from record production to merchandising.

Similarly, to entice the Rolling Stones Ertegun offered them what amounted to a production and distribution deal for their own label a deal Zeppelin would echo some years later with their own Swan Song imprint. In the mean time, Atlantic was still a major power in black music, particularly black music that went pop. In addition to adding to the label's revenue, it added a musical jolt at a time when they were beginning to really need it, especially where two of the label's big soul signings, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, were involved.

The stink of the studio was upon our records, you know? It became highlighted by a problem that I had with Wilson Pickett. We had signed him, but I just couldn't get off the ground with him. I got the idea of taking him to Memphis. We were getting these great records from Stax. I knew the Stax thing, the rhythm section, Booker T. So we did head arrangements, and he got along fantastically with the guys, especially with Cropper.

And then I left and they stayed and kept cutting. He came down later and did two more sessions down there. It was really a seminal record in rock. Everyone knew she had talent and possibly the most expressive voice anyone had ever been gifted. Yet, John Hammond had her for several years at Columbia.

Perhaps it was the lingering effects of Columbia's long time anti-rock stance from the Miller years — they couldn't see setting a voice like that in such "crude" music — but for nearly eight years they could just barely buy Franklin a hit.

Then she signed with Atlantic. We recorded down in Muscle Shoals or Memphis or whatever, with the kind of musicians that excited her, and she excited them. It worked very well. I think that Jerry Wexler made some of the most important recordings of all time with Aretha. While the principals stayed on, there were now, for the first time, people to answer to. Okay, so official reasons for merging: 1 'To have global facilities at your disposal.

It's very American to expand. That's the real reason every time. Every time for everybody. But I guess you're not supposed to say that. If Ahmet wanted to make a record, he'd make a record. Same with Nesuhi or I. We would discuss it may times if there was enough money involved, and if somebody really wanted to do something, the others never said no. So we worked without a budget. Of course, this gave a big case of faint hearts to the Warner Brothers' accountants after we merged.

That's like saying you're existing without oxygen or something. While pro forma moves were made to assuage this aspect of the new owners, very little else changed at Atlantic. They kept signing artists, releasing records and getting bigger. It's interesting to note how long many careers lasted on the label. Aretha Franklin recorded for Atlantic for nearly a decade, as did Darin. All the Coaster's hits were for the label, all Led Zeppelin's records.

Her current album is probably one of the best she ever did. It looks like a very big hit. She's one of the finest singers in American pop history. Atlantic was powered through a great deal of the seventies on the strength of many acts from the late 60s. They were on the dance music tip as it rose out of the underground, with Chic. In turn they were rewarded with their all-time best selling single, 'Dance, Dance, Dance'. They also were able to sign acts with a certain amount of cachet from other bands.

But all these people, of course had huge talent. In , 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 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. 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 Success with Darin prompted Ahmet to pursue other, more commercial pop acts.

Ahmet and Wexler recognized that Atlantic's audience was expanding to include young, white teenagers from the midwest. Atlantic's success provided Ahmet with the lifestyle of a successful record executive, going from club to club, drinking and dancing well into the early hours of the morning with famous celebrities, models, writers, and musicians. With the 's came many changes for Ahmet, Atlantic Records, and the rest of the world.

Ahmet met Ioana Maria Banu, known as Mica by her friends, and the two fell desperately in love and were married in April, The popularity of soul music surged with the dawning of the civil rights movement and Atlantic got busy releasing music recorded by Wexler and Dowd with iconic artists like Otis Redding , Percy Sledge , Solomon Burke , Wilson Pickett , and Aretha Franklin.

Ahmet, meanwhile, continued pursuing pop acts for Atlantic Records, soon signing Sonny and Cher and rock act Buffalo Springfield. Fortunately for Ahmet, Warner requested that he, Wexler and Nesuhi still be involved in the company and Ahmet was able to negotiate a new deal on their behalf.

In , after a dramatic and intense courtship, Ahmet signed The Rolling Stones to Atlantic Records following the band's commitment to Decca.

Jerry Wexler left Atlantic Records in with his protege Jerry Greenberg taking over his responsibilities. Wexler's departure devastated Ahmet who had considered Wexler to be one of his closest friends and business partners.