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 ERTEGUNAt 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.
More Ahmet Ertegun Quotes
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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 -
The main thing is that Ataturk saw the desperate condition of the countries that had not had an industrial revolution.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
My father believed very strongly in Ataturk. Ataturk was a very powerful man and a man of great vision.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
Theres two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder.
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 -
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 -
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.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
The first time I heard Clyde McPhatter singing with the Dominoes at the Apollo I just fell off my chair
AHMET ERTEGUN -
I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
I’ve been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
Everybody at Atlantic knew that we had a winner in this young lady, and she came through with great hits that will be remembered for many years to come.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
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.
AHMET ERTEGUN -
A singer’s biographical film should have their music and their voice.
AHMET ERTEGUN