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.
AHMET ERTEGUNPeople 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.
More Ahmet Ertegun Quotes
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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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I consider Laura to be one of my best signings, and I am proud to have had such a great singer in my career in the record business. We miss her dearly.
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The main thing is that Ataturk saw the desperate condition of the countries that had not had an industrial revolution.
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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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I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.
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You know you have a multimillion-seller hit – and what you’re working on suddenly has magic.
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I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.
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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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I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.
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The all-time greatest Atlantic group – The Drifters
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There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder.
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Another one is Eric Clapton. Another one is Phil Collins. Eminem, Kanye West I like all those people.
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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.
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It is a great life, this life of music.
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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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