My father was a very religious person. And he prayed five times a day. And he did that throughout his relationship with Ataturk.
AHMET ERTEGUNI used to drink a bottle of vodka a day, every day, for about 40 years and it never occurred to me it’d kill me.
More Ahmet Ertegun Quotes
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I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.
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The songwriters whom we think of being the greatest songwriters usually write one hit and six or seven flops.
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It is a great life, this life of music.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
You know you have a multimillion-seller hit – and what you’re working on suddenly has magic.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day, every day, for about 40 years and it never occurred to me it’d kill me.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
At a time when it was very brave to do because Ataturk was cutting off the heads of the imams. And people thought that that was foolhardy of my father.
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A singer’s biographical film should have their music and their voice.
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Everyone felt like they knew Ray Charles and in a way they did, because he was embodied by his music.
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I came close to signing Elvis Presley. I offered $25,000 for his contract and they asked for $45,000 and I just didn’t have the other $20,000.
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My first wife was a theater person.
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People like Clyde McPhatter who came out of the black churches – like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin – were all church singers who became great pop singers because gospel singing is very close to the blues.
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Whenever a songwriter writes a big hit, then the next 20 songs they write – no matter how bad they are – get recorded.
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The first time I heard Clyde McPhatter singing with the Dominoes at the Apollo I just fell off my chair
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Theres two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof.
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The Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame will provide a center where the lives and the artistry of the greatest jazz musicians will be celebrated, and where people will come to learn about jazz, something to which my brother devoted his lifes work.
AHMET ERTEGUN






