In Memory Of Ahmet Ertegun

Like so many other music fans, I have long been an admirer of the accomplishments of Ahmet Ertegun. The book Music Man chronicles the start of Atlantic Records and is an incredible peek behind the scenes of the earliest days of the music industry.

I started working at Warner in 1992. In those days, Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker were still at Warner Bros. and Jac Holzman (the founder of Elektra) was running Discovery Records. Once a year a few of us would head down to the U.S. for a national sales convention and there was always an opportunity to bend the ear of one of these industry giants or sit in on some of their own war stories.

As the years moved forward though, many of the original mavericks moved on or were moved out as the industry evolved. I remember one convention when all of the people that molded music as I knew it stood on the stage at one time taking their bows. A year later, only Ahmet remained.

Whenever an artist got signed to Atlantic Records one of their biggest thrills was being brought up to Ahmet's office where he would regale them with stories of signing the Rolling Stones, hanging out with Led Zeppelin or recording Aretha Franklin. My one and only meeting with Ahmet took place in an elevator.

It was about ten years ago. We were at a Warner convention in Washington. It was 1am and we were coming back to the hotel from seeing a band I have long forgotten. We got in the elevator and before the door closed we could see Ahmet shuffling towards us with a couple of pretty young friends. Never one to be shy, I was quick to introduce myself to him after the doors closed.

"Nice to meet you kid," he said in a gruff voice that has stuck to me to this day. I asked him his thoughts on how the industry was changing and he launched into a personal diatribe. "It's the fucking bean counters that are ruining the business," he griped. "They're telling us what we can and can't sign. The fucking bean counters are screwing it up."

Our floor came up and the doors opened. As we walked out I turned to say it was nice to have met you. It was the one and only meeting with Ahmet, but it sure was memorable.

By the way, we have survived the bean counters.