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 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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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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Laura had an instinctive feel for music and melody, and her delivery was sensational.
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There’s been so much bad blood between the Kurds and the Turks.
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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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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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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.
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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 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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A singer’s biographical film should have their music and their voice.
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There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder.
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The all-time greatest Atlantic group – The Drifters
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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 did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.
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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.
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I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.
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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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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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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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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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It is a great life, this life of music.
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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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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.
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My first wife was a theater person.
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I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.
AHMET ERTEGUN