Ahmet Ertegun is 83 today

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Ahmet Ertegun is 83 today. Happy birthday Ahmet!

To list the achievements of Atlantic records is impossible and silly.

Ahmet was my first hero. In 1959, at 15, I decided, as much by intuition as evidence, that I could rely on finding great records if I bought ones licensed from Atlantic, whether I knew anything else about them or not. So I started pre-release ordering Atlantic singles and discovered early soul music and Ray Charles.

I thought it was very counter-intuitive that a business should be capable of making records to suit me. I’d been anti-authoritarian since the age of seven and associated big business with that authority. I guessed that the proprietors of Atlantic were people like me - fans and record collectors. If I’d lived in New York, I’d have sat outside Atlantic’s front door until they gave me a job.

As it was, I let Ahmet, Nesuhi and Jerry Wexler educate me.

Happy birthday Ahmet! And many more of them.

MG