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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Ahmet Erteg眉n

Portrait of Ahmet M. Ertegun, in Washington, D.C., 194-.
Photographed by: William P. Gottlieb.

Ahmet Ertegun was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records.

Ahmet and his brother co-founded the New York Cosmos Association football (soccer) team of the North American Soccer League.

He was instrumental in bringing soccer legends like Pel茅, Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer to the club. They transformed the Cosmos into a “dream team”.

Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting facts about him;

1. He was born in 1923 in Istanbul, Turkey to a musician mother

Ahmet was born in 1923 in Istanbul, Turkey. His mother, Hayrunnisa, was an accomplished musician who played keyboard and stringed instruments. She bought the popular records of the day, to which Ahmet and his brother, Nesuhi listened. 

His father, Mehmet Munir, was the legal counsellor to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and was later appointed as the Republic of Turkey’s ambassador to the United States of America. 

When Ahmet was 14, his mother bought him a record-cutting machine, which he used to compose and add lyrics to instrumental records. 

2. Ahmet’s brother introduced him to Jazz music at the age of nine

His older brother Nesuhi introduced him to jazz music, taking him at the age of nine to see Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway orchestras in London. 

Ertegun and his brother frequented Milt Gabler’s Commodore Music Shop, assembled a collection of over 15,000 jazz and blues 78s, and became acquainted with musicians such as Ellington, Lena Horne and Jelly Roll Morton.

Ahmet and Nesuhi staged concerts by Lester Young, Sidney Bechet and other jazz giants. They also travelled to New Orleans and to Harlem to listen to music and develop a keen awareness of developing musical tastes. 

3.  His love for music pulled him into the heart of Washington, DC’s black district

Portrait of Boyd Raeburn, Ahmet M. Ertegun, and Ginnie Powell, recording studio. Photo Sourced from

His love for music also pulled him into the heart of Washington, DC’s black district where he would routinely see such top acts as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.

The Ertegun brothers brought a jazz sensibility (and many jazz artists) into R&B, successfully combining blues and jazz styles from around the country.

Atlantic helped challenge the primacy of the major labels of the time by discovering, developing, and nurturing new talent.

It became the premier rhythm and blues label in a few years and, with the help of innovative engineer/producer Tom Dowd, set new standards in producing high-quality recordings.

4. Ertegun together with his friend formed the Atlantic records

Ahmet Ertegun with his friends. Photo Sourced from

In 1946, Ertegun became friends with Herb Abramson, a dental student and A&R man for National Records, and they decided to start a new independent record label for the gospel, jazz, and R&B music.

Financed by family dentist Dr Vahdi Sabit, they formed Atlantic Records in September 1947 in New York City. The first recording session took place that November. 

5. He was a citizen of both America and Turkey

Ertegun who was born in Istanbul, Turkey was a citizen of Turkey by birth and immigrated to the USA when he was young and later earned American citizenship. The young Ahmet Ertegun grew up in that worldly realm.

Ertegun helped foster ties between the U.S. and Turkey, his birthplace. He served as the chairman of the American Turkish Society for over 20 years until his death. He also co-founded the New York Cosmos soccer team of the original North American Soccer League

6. His father was an ambassador to several countries

Portrait of Ahmet M. Ertegun and Nesuhi Ertegun. Photographed by: William P. Gottlieb.

Ahmet’s father was an ambassador for Turkey his country to several countries including the USA and died in 1944.

In 1925, his father Ataturk Ertegun sent the elder Ertegun to serve as the Turkish representative to the League of Nations. His father later became the dean of the diplomatic corps in Washington.

In the next 20 years, he was the Turkish ambassador to Switzerland, France, the Court of St. James under King George V and the United States during the Roosevelt administration.

7. At 21 Ahmet had received a bachelor’s degree

At 21, he had earned a bachelor’s degree at St. John鈥檚 College in Annapolis, Md. He then started taking graduate courses in medieval philosophy at Georgetown University.

“In between, I spent hours in a rhythm and blues record shop in the black ghetto in Washington,鈥� he told the graduates of Berklee College of Music in Boston on receiving an honorary degree in 1991. 鈥淎lmost every night, I went to the Howard Theater and various jazz and blues clubs.鈥�

He continued 鈥淚 had to decide whether I would go into a scholastic life or go back to Turkey in the diplomatic service, or do something else,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat I loved was music, jazz, blues, and hanging out.鈥� And so, he told the students, he did what he loved.

8. Ahmet married twice in his life and had no children of his own

Lotti Golden with Ahmet Ertegun. Photographed by: Anita Golden.

He married twice in his life though he never had children of his own. On 6 January 1953 Ertegun married Jan Holm (n茅e Enstam), a Swedish-American actress, fashion model, and set designer.

She was the daughter of Carl Enstam and the former wife of Walter Rathbun. She and Ertegun had no children and divorced in about 1956.

In1961 he married Ioana Maria “Mica” Grecianu, the former wife of Stefan Grecianu and a daughter of Gheorghe Banu, a Romanian doctor and statesman.

Mica later became a well-known interior designer and a co-founder of the decorating firm MAC II. The couple had no children.

9. They sold Atlantic to Warner Bros in 1967 for $17 million

Ahmet, his brother and friend Wexler sold Atlantic to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1967 for $17 million in stock.

Wexler later admitted that, because of assets like the rights to the hit movie Woodstock and the accompanying record, the deal paid them less than half of what the label was worth.

Wexler had seen the other 1950s independent record labels disappear with the waning popularity of rhythm and blues, and said only Ertegun’s foresightful adaptation of signing white rock musicians turned out to be the basis of Atlantic’s continued success.

10. Ahmet died on 14th December 2006 aged 83 years

He died in 2006 aged 83 On October 29, 2006, Ertegun tripped, striking his head on a concrete floor, at a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre. He was immediately taken to hospital. Ertegun fell into a coma and died on December 14, 2006, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Ertegun was buried on December 18 in the Garden of Sufi Tekke, Ozbekler Tekkesi in Sultantepe, Uskudar, Istanbul, next to his brother, his father, and his sheikh great-grandfather Seyh Ibrahim Edhem Efendi, who was once the head of the tekke in his native Turkey.

He left behind a huge legacy and was in 2017 inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in recognition of his work in the music business.