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 Records 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 Recording Corporation, known simply as Atlantic Records, is a famous American record label. It was started in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. For over 20 years, Atlantic became known for its amazing jazz, R&B, and soul artists. Some of these stars included Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding.

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

The Story of Atlantic Records

How Atlantic Records Started

In 1944, brothers Ahmet Ertegun and Nesuhi stayed in the United States. They loved jazz and R&B music. 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.

Abramson had started his own record label, Jubilee, in 1946. In September 1947, he sold his part of Jubilee and invested $2,500 in Atlantic. Atlantic Records officially began in October 1947. Abramson was the president, and Ertegun was in charge of finding new artists and making records.

Atlantic's first recordings came out in January 1948. At first, Atlantic focused on modern jazz. They also released some country and spoken word records. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ertegun and Abramson looked for new talent in nightclubs.

First Big Hits

In 1949, Atlantic had its first big hit with "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee. This song sold 400,000 copies! Atlantic's success grew quickly. They recorded many songs and even talked with Columbia Records about a deal.

Ruth Brown joined Atlantic in 1949. Her first song, "So Long," was a hit. She became Atlantic's best-selling artist for a while. Her success was so important that Atlantic became known as "The House That Ruth Built."

In 1950, Joe Morris had a hit with "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere." This was the first Atlantic record released in the new 45rpm format. 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. He had many hits like "I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say". In 1953, Atlantic signed The Drifters. Their song "Money Honey" was the biggest R&B hit of the year.

Tom Dowd: The Sound Wizard

Tom Dowd was a very important recording engineer and producer for Atlantic. He helped create the famous "Atlantic sound." He recorded more hit songs than many other famous producers combined.

Atlantic was one of the first labels to record in stereo. Dowd used special equipment to make these recordings. In 1953, Atlantic was the first to release LPs using an early stereo system. By the late 1950s, stereo records became common.

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

Jerry Wexler Joins the Team

In 1953, Jerry Wexler joined Atlantic. He was a reporter who helped create the term "rhythm & blues". Wexler became a vice-president and bought a part of the company. He and Ahmet Ertegun worked closely together. They produced many R&B hits.

Wexler and Ertegun noticed that white artists often had bigger pop hits with songs originally by black R&B musicians. For example, Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll" was a big R&B hit, but Bill Haley & His Comets' version sold over a million copies.

Nesuhi Ertegun and Jazz

Ahmet's older brother, Nesuhi, joined Atlantic in 1955. He became the head of the jazz division. He signed famous jazz artists like John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. By 1958, Atlantic was one of the biggest independent jazz labels in America. Nesuhi also improved how Atlantic's LPs (long-playing records) were made and packaged.

Growing Bigger: Atco Records

Atlantic started new labels to help them grow. One of these was Atco, created in 1955. Atco had great success with Bobby Darin. His song "Splish Splash" sold over a million copies. He also had hits like "Dream Lover" and "Mack the Knife", which won a Grammy Award.

Leiber and Stoller: Songwriters and Producers

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were famous songwriters and producers. They wrote "Smokey Joe's Cafe" for The Robins. Atlantic bought their label, Spark, and hired them. They became the first independent record producers in America. They wrote hits for The Coasters like "Yakety Yak", which was Atlantic's first No. 1 pop hit. They also wrote "Ruby Baby" for The Drifters.

Phil Spector, another famous producer, worked with Leiber and Stoller at Atlantic for a short time. He later started his own successful label.

The Stax Partnership

In 1960, Atlantic made a deal with a small label called Satellite, which later became Stax. This deal was very important. Stax got help with promotions and distribution from Atlantic. Atlantic sent Tom Dowd to help Stax improve its recording studio.

The Stax studio had a racially mixed house band, which impressed Atlantic. Many Atlantic artists went to Memphis to record there. Stax and its other label, Volt, gave Atlantic many hits. 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." She had seven hit singles in a row, including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Respect".

The "British Invasion" of bands like The Beatles changed the music scene. Atlantic started working with British bands. In 1966, they signed a deal with Polydor Records, which included the band Cream. Cream's album Disraeli Gears became a Top 5 hit. Atlantic also started signing more rock bands in the 1970s.

Joining Warner Bros.

By 1967, Jerry Wexler felt it was time for Atlantic to join a bigger company. He was worried about the future of independent labels. Ahmet Ertegun didn't want to sell at first, but other partners agreed with Wexler. In October 1967, Atlantic was sold to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts for $17.5 million.

After the sale, Atlantic and Atco continued to operate mostly on their own. However, the deal meant that Atlantic now owned all the Stax recordings they had distributed. This caused the partnership with Stax to end in 1968.

Atlantic also started a new label called Cotillion Records in 1968. This label released blues, soul, rock, and other types of music. It helped launch the career of Luther Vandross.

The Rock Music Years

In the 1970s, Atlantic became a major force in rock music. This was partly thanks to Ahmet Ertegun, who looked for talent in the UK. Jerry L. Greenberg took over from Jerry Wexler and helped Atlantic succeed in this new era.

Signing Led Zeppelin and CSN

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

In 1969, Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) signed with Atlantic. This supergroup was formed by Stephen Stills (from Buffalo Springfield), David Crosby (from The Byrds), and Graham Nash (from The Hollies). Ahmet Ertegun helped make this happen. Their first album was a huge hit and sold many copies.

The British band Yes also became very popular with Atlantic. They were a leading band in progressive rock. Their albums, like Fragile and Tales of Topographic Oceans, were very successful in the US and UK.

New Talent in the Late 70s

John Kalodner was an important A&R manager for Atlantic in the late 1970s. He helped sign many major acts like Foreigner, AC/DC, Peter Gabriel, and Phil Collins. Kalodner was known for signing bands that other labels had turned down.

Foreigner, created by Mick Jones and Ian McDonald, was one such band. Their demo tapes were rejected by many labels, including Atlantic at first. But Kalodner believed in them. Foreigner's first single, "Feels Like The First Time," was a big hit. They became one of Atlantic's biggest successes, selling over 80 million albums worldwide.

In 1978, Atlantic helped the British progressive rock band Genesis become a major act in the US. Ahmet Ertegun was very involved in their album ...And Then There Were Three.... The song "Follow You, Follow Me" became Genesis's first hit single in the US.

Phil Collins, the drummer and singer for Genesis, also started a solo career. Ahmet Ertegun strongly supported him. Ertegun even suggested changes to Collins's first solo single, which helped it become a hit.

The Long Branch Warehouse Fire

On February 8, 1978, Atlantic Records lost many of its old recordings in a fire. The fire destroyed a warehouse in Long Branch, New Jersey. This warehouse held thousands of tapes, including unreleased songs and early recordings from 1948 to 1969.

Luckily, the main master tapes of released songs were stored in New York and survived. But many unique stereo recordings and early multitrack masters were lost. Over time, some "lost" tapes have been found in other places. These include recordings by Ray Charles and John Coltrane.

40th Anniversary Concert

In May 1988, Atlantic Records celebrated its 40th anniversary with a huge concert. It was broadcast on HBO and lasted almost 13 hours. Many famous Atlantic artists performed, and some bands like Led Zeppelin and Crosby, Stills & Nash reunited for the show.

Atlantic Records in the 2000s and 2020s

In the early 2000s, Atlantic Records changed ownership. In 2004, Elektra Records and Atlantic merged.

In 2006, there was a discussion about James Blunt's song "You're Beautiful" and a parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic called "You're Pitiful". Atlantic felt it was too early in Blunt's career for a parody. Yankovic later released other parodies instead.

In 2007, Atlantic celebrated its 60th anniversary. They released a CD of 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.

In the early 2020s, Atlantic Records started looking for new talent on social media platforms like TikTok. They have signed new artists who became popular online, such as Flyana Boss.

Notable sublabels

Images for kids

• 

  Atlantic Records logo from 1947 to 1966.

• 

  Atlantic Records logo from 1966 to 2005.

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