It is a great life, this life of music.
AHMET ERTEGUNAtaturk saw where history was going. He really did in Turkey what we are all hoping somebody will do in [Islamic] countries where fundamentalists thrive, that they get somebody today that has the vision that Ataturk had in 1915.
More Ahmet Ertegun Quotes
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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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There’s been so much bad blood between the Kurds and the Turks.
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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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I first heard Laura Branigan sing live in my brother Nesuhi’s apartment, where we had gone because he had a very good piano. I immediately realized that she had a great pop voice, in the classical sense.
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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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The all-time greatest Atlantic group – The Drifters
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My father was a very religious person. And he prayed five times a day. And he did that throughout his relationship with Ataturk.
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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.
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A singer’s biographical film should have their music and their voice.
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Ataturk saw where history was going. He really did in Turkey what we are all hoping somebody will do in [Islamic] countries where fundamentalists thrive, that they get somebody today that has the vision that Ataturk had in 1915.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
Another one is Eric Clapton. Another one is Phil Collins. Eminem, Kanye West I like all those people.
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Theres two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof.
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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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If I’d have continued it might have killed me. My doctor said I should stick to wine.
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You know you have a multimillion-seller hit – and what you’re working on suddenly has magic.
AHMET ERTEGUN