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.
AHMET ERTEGUNI 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.
More Ahmet Ertegun Quotes
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My first wife was a theater person.
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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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If I’d have continued it might have killed me. My doctor said I should stick to wine.
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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 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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I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.
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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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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’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.
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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 songwriters whom we think of being the greatest songwriters usually write one hit and six or seven flops.
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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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Everyone felt like they knew Ray Charles and in a way they did, because he was embodied by his music.
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The all-time greatest Atlantic group – The Drifters
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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.
AHMET ERTEGUN