Nesuhi Ertegun
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Nesuhi Ertegun | |
---|---|
US | |
Parent |
|
Relatives | Ahmet Ertegun (brother) |
Awards | Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
Musical career | |
Occupation(s) | Record producer, label executive |
Years active | 1941–1987 |
Labels | Atlantic Records |
Nesuhi Ertegun (
Early life
Born in
From an early age, Nesuhi's primary musical interest was jazz. He had attended concerts in Europe before his family moved to the United States.[1]
Career
While living at the
Although his main interest was initially
In 1955, he was preparing to work for
As a producer at Atlantic he worked with
In 1971, Nesuhi founded WEA International, now Warner Music Group. While at WEA International, Nesuhi demonstrated tremendous independence and character, often going against the wishes of his US counterparts. In the 1980s, Nesuhi released the single "Girls, Girls, Girls" by then unknown Latin-American rockers Renegade, demanding a domestic release of their debut album Rock N' Roll Crazy!. The domestic label had demanded the band members change their names to "less ethnic" sounding names. Nesuhi was incensed by the demand, and set out to introduce the record and the act internationally with the band's given names. He remained head of the Warner Records International Division until he retired in 1987.
Death and legacy
With Ahmet, he also co-founded the
Ertegun died on July 15, 1989, at the age of 71, from complications of cancer surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan) in New York City.
Nesuhi Ertegun was inducted posthumously into the
Nesuhi was an avid collector of Surrealist art. His collection (along with that of his friend Daniel Filipacchi) was exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York in 1999 in "Surrealism: Two Private Eyes, the Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections"—an event described by The New York Times as "a gourmet banquet", large enough to "pack the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from ceiling to lobby with a powerful exhibition".[4]
See also
Notes
- ^ For more on this seminal period in Ertegun's career, see Cary Ginell's Hot Jazz for Sale: Hollywood's Jazz Man Record Shop (Origin Jazz Library, 2010), which includes biographical details and images of Ertegun from his early life before he joined Atlantic Records in the mid-1950s.
References
- ^ Maharaj, David (1989-07-16). "Nesuhi Ertegun, 71; Producer, Record Industry Leader". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ David Edwards and Mike Callahan - The Atlantic Records Story
- ^ Ertegun Hall of Fame
- ^ Grace Glueck, "Art Review: Trolling the Mind's Nooks and Crannies for Images", The New York Times, June 4, 1999.
Sources
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Biography of Nesuhi Ertegun
- Guggenheim Museum Publications (1999). Surrealism: Two Private Eyes, the Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.