Atlantic Records facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Atlantic Records
Parent company	Warner Music Group
Founded	October 1947 (1947-10)
Founder	Ahmet Ertegun Herb Abramson
Distributor(s)	Atlantic Music Group (United States) Warner Music Group (International) Rhino Entertainment Company (Reissues)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	New York City, U.S.

Atlantic Records is a famous American record label. It was started in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. For its first 20 years, Atlantic became known for jazz, R&B, and soul music. They worked with amazing artists like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding.

In 1967, Atlantic became part of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, which is now the Warner Music Group. This helped Atlantic grow and include rock and pop music. They signed big bands like Led Zeppelin and Yes. In 2004, Atlantic joined with another label, Elektra, to form the Atlantic Music Group. Today, Craig Kallman is the chairman of Atlantic. Ahmet Ertegun was the founding chairman until he passed away in 2006.

History of Atlantic Records

How Atlantic Records Started

In 1944, brothers Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun stayed in the United States after their family moved back to Turkey. They loved jazz and R&B music and had a huge collection of records. Ahmet decided to get into the music business. He convinced a family friend, Vahdi Sabit, to invest $10,000. He also hired Herb Abramson, who had experience in the music industry.

Herb Abramson had started his own record label, Jubilee, in 1946. He sold his share of Jubilee and invested $2,500 into Atlantic. Atlantic Records officially began in October 1947. Herb was the president, and Ahmet was in charge of finding new artists and producing music. Herb's wife, Miriam Abramson, managed the company's music publishing. She handled many office tasks until 1949.

Atlantic's first songs were released in January 1948. They focused on modern jazz at first. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ahmet and Herb searched nightclubs to find new talent. Ahmet even wrote songs himself under the name "A. Nugetre."

First Big Hits

In 1949, Atlantic had its first big hit with "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee. It sold 400,000 copies! Later that year, Ahmet and Herb met Ruth Brown. She signed with Atlantic and became their best-selling artist for a while. Her success was so important that Atlantic became known as "The House That Ruth Built."

In 1951, The Clovers' song "Don't You Know I Love You" became Atlantic's first R&B No. 1 hit. A few weeks later, Ruth Brown's "Teardrops from My Eyes" sold over a million copies. In 1952, Atlantic signed Ray Charles, who went on to have many hits like "I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say". In 1953, they signed The Drifters, and their song "Money Honey" was a huge R&B hit.

Tom Dowd's Important Role

Tom Dowd, a recording engineer and producer, was very important to Atlantic's success. He helped make Atlantic one of the first independent labels to record in stereo. In the 1950s, he used special equipment to record songs in stereo, even before it was common.

Atlantic's New York studio was also the first in America to use multitrack recording machines. This allowed them to record different parts of a song separately. Bobby Darin's "Splish, Splash" was one of the first songs recorded this way.

Jerry Wexler Joins the Team

In 1953, Herb Abramson went into the Army. Ahmet Ertegun then hired Jerry Wexler, a reporter from Billboard magazine. Wexler is famous for creating the term "rhythm & blues" to describe the music. He became a vice-president and partner at Atlantic.

Wexler and Ertegun worked together to produce many R&B hits. They noticed that white performers often covered songs by black R&B artists and had more success on the pop charts. For example, Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll" was a No. 1 R&B hit, but Bill Haley & His Comets' version sold over a million copies.

Nesuhi Ertegun's Contributions

Ahmet's older brother, Nesuhi, joined Atlantic in 1955. He became the head of the label's jazz division. He signed many famous jazz artists like John Coltrane. By 1958, Atlantic was one of the biggest independent jazz labels in America. Nesuhi also improved how Atlantic's albums were produced and packaged.

Atlantic Records Grows

Atlantic Records became very successful in the mid-1950s. They started or bought several smaller labels, like Cat Records and Atco. Atco had great success with Bobby Darin. His song "Splish Splash" sold a million copies. He also had hits like "Dream Lover" and "Mack the Knife", which won a Grammy Award.

Working with Leiber and Stoller

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were famous songwriters and producers. They wrote "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and other hits for Atlantic artists like The Coasters and The Drifters. "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters became Atlantic's first No. 1 pop hit.

Producer Phil Spector also worked at Atlantic for a short time. He produced songs for artists like LaVern Baker and Ruth Brown.

The Stax Records Partnership

In 1960, Atlantic made a deal with a small label called Satellite, which later became Stax. This deal was very important. Atlantic helped Stax with promotions and distribution. Jerry Wexler even sent Tom Dowd to improve Stax's recording studio.

Stax and its other label, Volt, gave Atlantic many hits over the next eight years. These included "Green Onions" by The Mar-Keys, "Respect" by Otis Redding, and "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam and Dave.

The Soul Music Era

Aretha Franklin signed with Atlantic in 1966. Columbia Records had tried to make her a jazz singer, but Jerry Wexler wanted to bring her back to her gospel roots. She quickly became known as the Queen of Soul. Wexler produced her at Fame Studios in Alabama. She had seven straight singles that made the Top 10 on both the US Pop and Soul charts, including "Respect" and "Chain of Fools".

In 1961, Solomon Burke signed with Atlantic. He had hits that blended soul and country music. The "British Invasion" of the mid-1960s led Atlantic to change its British distributor. They signed a deal with Polydor and released music by bands like Cream.

Becoming Part of Warner Bros.

By 1967, Jerry Wexler thought Atlantic should be sold to a bigger company. Ahmet Ertegun didn't want to sell, but he eventually agreed. In October 1967, Atlantic was sold to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts for $17.5 million. This company is now the Warner Music Group.

After the sale, Atlantic's deal with Stax Records ended. Atlantic kept the rights to all the Stax recordings they had distributed in the 1960s. Jerry Wexler's role at Atlantic changed, and he eventually left. Ahmet Ertegun took more control of the label and became a major leader in the Warner music group.

In 1968, Atlantic started a new label called Cotillion Records. It released blues, soul, and later progressive rock and disco music. Atlantic also started signing more rock bands, British groups, and singer-songwriters.

The Rock Music Era

In the 1970s, Atlantic became very successful with rock music. This was partly thanks to Ahmet Ertegun, who believed in finding talent in the UK.

Signing Led Zeppelin and CSN

In 1968, Peter Grant brought tapes of a new British rock band, Led Zeppelin, to New York. Atlantic signed them to a five-year contract. Led Zeppelin recorded many albums for Atlantic. After their contract ended, they started their own label, Swan Song, but Atlantic still distributed their music.

In 1969, Ahmet Ertegun helped sign Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) to Atlantic. This group was formed by members of three popular 1960s bands: Stephen Stills (from Buffalo Springfield), David Crosby (from The Byrds), and Graham Nash (from The Hollies). Their first album was a huge hit, selling many copies and becoming a classic.

Yes and Other Rock Bands

The British band Yes also became very popular on Atlantic. They were known for their progressive rock music and long albums. Their albums were very successful in both the US and the UK.

John Kalodner, an A&R manager, helped Atlantic sign many major rock acts in the late 1970s. These included Foreigner, AC/DC, Peter Gabriel, and Phil Collins. Foreigner's first album sold over 4 million copies, and they became one of Atlantic's biggest successes.

Atlantic also helped the British band Genesis become a major act in the US. Ahmet Ertegun was very involved in their 1978 album ...And Then There Were Three.... He became good friends with the band's drummer and singer, Phil Collins. Ertegun also encouraged Phil Collins to start his solo career.

Long Branch Warehouse Fire

On February 8, 1978, a fire destroyed most of Atlantic's old tape archive. The tapes were stored in a warehouse in New Jersey. About 5,000 to 6,000 reels of tape were lost or damaged. This included many unreleased recordings, alternative takes, and rehearsal tapes from 1948 to 1969. Luckily, the master tapes of released music were stored elsewhere and survived.

40th Anniversary Concert

In May 1988, Atlantic Records celebrated its 40th anniversary with a big concert. It was broadcast on HBO and featured many of their famous artists. Some rock legends like Led Zeppelin and Crosby, Stills, and Nash even reunited for the show.

Atlantic Records in the 2000s

In 2001, Atlantic closed its country music division. In 2004, Atlantic and Elektra Records merged into one label.

In 2006, Atlantic Records did not allow "Weird Al" Yankovic to release his parody song "You're Pitiful". Even though the original artist, James Blunt, approved, Atlantic said it was too early in Blunt's career. Yankovic released the song online for free. In his music video for "White & Nerdy", he even edited Atlantic's Wikipedia page to say "YOU SUCK!"

In 2007, Atlantic celebrated its 60th anniversary. They released a CD called Atlantic 60th Anniversary: R&B Classics Chosen By Ahmet Ertegun. That year, Atlantic also reached a big milestone: more than half of its music sales in the US came from digital products like downloads and ringtones.

Atlantic Records Today

In the early 2020s, Atlantic Records started looking for new talent on social media platforms like TikTok. They signed artists like Flyana Boss and Efflo. In 2024, Atlantic Records signed New Zealand and South Korean singer Rosé, who is a member of the girl group Blackpink, for her solo music.

Notable Sublabels

Images for kids

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  Atlantic Records logo from 1947 to 1966, and again from 2004 to 2015.

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  Atlantic logo used from 1966 to 2005, and from 2015 to 2024.

See also

In Spanish: Atlantic Records para niños

• Atlantic Records discography
• Atlantic Records Group
• List of Atlantic Records artists
• List of record labels: 0–9