I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have always been one who could sit and discuss the business side of the music industry for hours and hours on end. I still to this day, love reading biography books of the greats of the music business. Guys like Clive Davis, David Geffen and Ahmet Ertegun - where they came from to the empire they built fascinates me. Guys like this have built the foundation of what the music business is, was and will become. They have worked with all the greats - from Led Zepplin, to Aretha Franklin, to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, to Whitney Houston, the Rolling Stones, Otis Reading….the list is seriously endless. They didn’t have the tricks of the trade back then, there were no set standards then, no “footsteps” to follow in - everything that they created was just that - their creation. Pure wisdom, creativity, intelligence and most of all passion and the drive where failing is not an option. Not to mention a whoooole lotta luck. These are some of the most significant people in the music business. Period.
It is with great sadness that I turn on my computer this morning to read that 83 year old Ahmet Ertegun - Founder of Atlantic Records, is in a very deep coma and on life support after a terrible fall he took on October 29th at a Rolling Stones concert.Â
According to a news report, Dr. Howard Riina, his neurosurgeon, told Reuters in a telephone interview that the music industry legend “sustained a severe brain injury after a fall. He’s in a deep coma and in critical condition. His chance of a meaningful recovery is small.”
Say a little prayer for Mr. Ertegun and his family - that although the chance is small, that he comes through this coma and does have a meaningful recovery.
 For me, as I always do, whenever I feel like a need a little pep talk, I head over to the Berklee College of Music website, where they have a full transcript of the speech that Mr. Ertegun made to the graduating class of 1991. Check it out here:
www.berklee.edu/commencement/past/ertegun.html
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