Ahmet Ertegun RIP

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Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun has died at the age of 83. As previously reported, Ertegun suffered a head injury when he fell at a Rolling Stones concert in New York back in October, and despite initially being described as stable and recovering, Ertegun ultimately fell into a coma, and died on 14 December. A jazz fanatic who moved to the US aged eleven when his father became Turkish ambassador, Ertegun will be buried in his home country, with a memorial service to be held in New York at the start of next year.

Ertegun founded Atlantic with Herb Abramson back in 1947, later joined by Ertegun’s brother Nesuhi Ertegun, who headed the label’s jazz division from 1955 before founding WEA in 1971. From its inception, Atlantic grew quickly, swiftly becoming a hugely successful label, Ertegun himself signing the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.