The Last Sultan

The Last Sultan (2011) is a biography by American journalist Robert Greenfield chronicling the life and career of Ahmet Ertegun, a Turkish-American businessman and songwriter who cofounds Atlantic Records and fosters the careers of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and many other musical acts. According to Publishers Weekly, Greenfield "gives us a vivid saga of the industry in its salad days, and of the unholy but fertile union of money and music."

Born in 1923 in Istanbul, Turkey, Ertegun belongs to an aristocratic Turkish family led by his father the lawyer and diplomat, Munir Ertegun. Much of his early love of music comes from his brother, Nesuhi and his mother, Hayrunnisa, a talented keyboardist and string instrumentalist. At the age of nine, Nesuhi instills in his brother a love of jazz by bringing him to a Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway concert in London. Three years later, Munir accepts a position as the Ambassador of the still-young Republic of Turkey to the United States, relocating his family to Washington, DC. As evidence of Munir's influence and persuasiveness as a diplomat, Greenfield cites the fact that Munir convinces the MGM film studio to halt production on a film adaptation of the novel Forty Days of Masa Dagh, which implicates Turkey in mass killings of Armenians during World War I. Greenfield suggests that Ertegun inherited much of his father's imperiousness along with his outsized personality.

Despite growing up in Bethesda, Maryland and attending an affluent private school, Ertegun would frequently venture into predominantly black neighborhoods in Washington, DC to see both local music acts and national stars such as Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Ertegun credits these excursions as well as his Turkish identity with allowing him to adopt a broader, more open-minded worldview than many of his wealthy peers: "I began to discover a little bit about the situation of black people in America and experienced immediate empathy with the victims of such senseless discrimination, because, although Turks were never slaves, they were regarded as enemies within Europe because of their Muslim beliefs."



In 1944, Ertegun graduates from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Around this time, Munir dies. As a show of respect for Turkey—and to persuade the republic to align with the United States rather than the Soviet Union—US President Harry Truman orders that Munir's body be returned to Turkey on the USS Missouri. When Hayrunnisa returns to Turkey, Ertegun stays in DC while Nesuhi relocates to Los Angeles.

In 1946, Ertegun meets Herb Abramson, a dental student working his way through college as an A&R talent scout for National Records. With financing from a family friend, Ertegun and Abramson launch Atlantic Records the following year with a focus on jazz, gospel, and the nascent R&B genre. When asked by his wife why he prefers the music industry over dentistry, Abramson responds, "I never saw a hip filling." Over the next two years, they record and release twenty-two records which all fail to break through to audiences. Finally, in 1949, Atlantic releases its first hit record, Stick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee."

Over the next four years, Ertegun and Abramson travel the US South to scout for talent. In Florida in 1953, they come across a young talent, Ray Charles. Already signed with the struggling Swing Time label, Charles's contract is bought out by Atlantic for $2,500. With Atlantic, Charles releases several modest hits including "Mess Around" and "I've Got a Woman." Working with an artist as talented as Charles makes Ertegun realize that while he knows a lot about music, he knows little about how to record a hit song or run a music label. Around this time, music journalist Jerry Wexler and Ertegun's brother, Nesuhi, join Atlantic as partners. The label reaches its biggest early success in 1959 with the release of Charles's massive hit, "What'd I Say."



Over time, Wexler supplants Abramson as the driving force behind the label, leading to a rocky relationship with Ertegun. The two frequently disagree, most famously on whether to pursue the Beatles. Ertegun believes the Beatles are "derivative," preferring artists like Charles and Aretha Franklin, who signs with Atlantic in 1967. At Atlantic, Franklin records her definitive track, a raucous cover of "Respect" by Otis Redding, another Atlantic signee. All the while, Ertegun carries on a hard-partying lifestyle, consuming substances and pursuing women with a spirit of debauchery usually reserved for the rock stars he represents. The Frank Zappa film 200 Motels refers to Ertegun's partying when a character snorts a bathmat used by Ertegun and gets high.

Even after R&B's glory days in the 1960s, Ertegun works hard to keep Atlantic relevant. Unlike many of his peers, Ertegun instinctively knows members of Led Zeppelin will become enormous stars and signs them early on in their careers. In 1971, he also convinces the Rolling Stones to distribute their records in America through Atlantic, despite more lucrative offers. Around this time, Ertegun signs Crosby, Stills, and Nash, reportedly convincing them to collaborate with Neil Young. In 1987, Ertegun is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2006, at the age of 83, Ertegun suffers a tragic accident backstage at a Rolling Stones benefit concert. He trips and falls, suffering an injury to his head. Though immediately rushed to the hospital and showing signs of improvement, Ertegun falls into a coma, dying two months later.



The Last Sultan is a fascinating look at rock and roll history and one of the men who shaped it.