Stevie to be at Montreux Jazz Fest 06/30/06

[GiniLeaE]

Originally Posted by Janis_no1

.... um i dont know who this Ahmet Ertegun is....

Anytime I hear Mr. Ertegun's name (and yes, I've recognized it since I was a teen surprisingly!) I think of my favorite entertainers. His name is synonomous with the most well known names in the music business because he is responsible (for the most part) for their success in the industry. Most important to me would have to be Stevie, the Bee Gees, Tori Amos and the late and great Laura Branigan. No one else in the music business has discovered and produced such a large amount of talent (not even Sir George Martin!). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He was interviewed by CNN once and you can find the video link here in their archives. Here's some old articles below to show just how important he truly is!

Interrogating Ahmet Ertegun
By A.L. Bardach
Posted Friday, Feb. 25, 2005, at 1:13 PM ET

In 1947, Ahmet Ertegun, the 24-year-old son of a distinguished Turkish diplomat, borrowed $10,000 from his dentist and, with his older brother Nesuhi and another friend, formed Atlantic Records. Over the next 50 years, Ertegun would discover, sign, popularize, and/or produce Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding—who called him "Omelette"—Bette Midler, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave, Cream,, Led Zeppelin, the Coasters, John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, Roberta Flack, the Spinners, the Allman Brothers, Genesis, Foreigner, Pete Townshend,, Buffalo Springfield, the Blues Brothers,, and Phil Collins, among others.

The Bee Gees w/ Ahmet @ their 20th Anniversary Party

Ahmet's Atlantic: Shake, Rattle and Roll
By RICHARD CORLISS
Posted Saturday, Jul. 28, 2001

Ahmet Ertegun will be 78 on Tuesday. I don't know who'll be attending his party, but I know who could sing "Happy Birthday": Ray Charles, Mick Jagger, Aretha Franklin, Robert Plant, Bette Midler, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Cher, Phil Collins, Roberta Flack, the Bee Gees, Tori Amos, and whatever members of the Coasters and the Drifters are still prowling the oldies shows. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller could rewrite the anthem, give it a bluesy feel. Let Phil Spector produce the tune, with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page on guitar. And in the heavenly choir: Clyde McPhatter, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, Bobby Darin, Chuck Willis, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Greg Allman and Dusty Springfield.

These are just some of the rock and pop luminaries signed by Atlantic Records, the label Ertegun founded with Herb Abramson in 1947 and headed for most of the next half-century. In the '50s, with Charles and Darin, he juggled and helped merge black and white music. In the '60s, Atlantic was the top exponent of both Brill Building pop and Muscle Shoals soul. The company kept finding and promoting good sounds, and in 1987, on the outfit's 40th anniversary, Ertegun and his longtime partner Jerry Wexler were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

POP CONCERT: LAURA BRANIGAN
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: September 11, 1983

It was more than two years ago that the chairman of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, the man responsible for Bette Midler's recording career, ''presented'' his latest protegee, Laura Branigan, in a concert at the Bottom Line. Since that concert, at which Miss Branigan seemed to be casting about for a musical identity, the singer has had three hits - ''Gloria,'' ''Solitaire'' and ''How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?'' - that have more or less established her as an American echo of European pop singers like the women in Abba.

Miss Branigan has a thin, tense soprano with a buzzing vibrato and reasonable powers of projection. But like her European counterparts, she lets a mechanical precision of phrase squelch any natural emotiveness.

On Friday at Carnegie Hall, where she was backed by a seven-piece band and two vocalists, Miss Branigan applied her careful, high-strung delivery to songs like the Who's ''Squeeze Box'' and Carole King's ''Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,'' as well as to her hits.

The more challenging the song - and the Who's idiomatic and naughty ''Squeeze Box'' is a quirky little rock gem - the more Miss Branigan sang by rote, showing little personality or rhythmic verve. But delivering her hits - especially ''Gloria,'' which is a cheerleader's delight - Miss Branigan animated her mechanical skill with an engaging exuberance.