NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Ahmet Ertegun, the Turkish diplomat's son who shaped popular music in the United States by founding Atlantic Records, died Thursday of a brain injury at 83.
Ertegun never recovered from a fall Oct. 29 at former U.S. President Bill Clinton's 60th birthday party at the Beacon Theater in New York, The New York Times reported. Ertegun was backstage waiting for the Rolling Stones, one of the many groups he signed for Atlantic.
Ertegun's love for jazz began when his older brother and future business partner, Nesuhi, took him to hear Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway in London in 1932. The family later moved to Washington, and Ertegun graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., and studied medieval history at Georgetown before founding Atlantic with a loan from his dentist.
"I had to decide whether I would go into a scholastic life or go back to Turkey in the diplomatic service, or do something else," he told students at the Berklee School of Music in Boston in 1991. "What I really loved was music, jazz, blues, and hanging out."
Ertegun helped turn rhythm and blues into rock 'n' roll. In 1954, Atlantic released Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" with Ertegun as one of the backup singers.
His Atlantic lineup included Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, Bette Midler, Eric Clapton and Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as many stars of modern jazz.
