[死訊] Jerry Wexler (1917 - 2008)

[Brien (B-jam)]

Industry Legend Jerry Wexler Dies At 91

Music industry legend Jerry Wexler, who kick-started his career as a
Billboard journalist in the late 1940s and went on to cultivate the careers
of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin while a partner at Atlantic
Records, has died at the age of 91 at his home in Siesta Key, Fla.

Wexler was born on Jan. 10, 1917, into a Jewish family in the Bronx. After
graduating from the school now known as Kansas State University and spending
a stint in the Army, he was hired in 1947 at BMI, writing continuity copy for
radio stations and plugging the organization's songs.

Later that year a friend recommended him to Billboard, where he was hired
with a starting pay of $75 a week. At Billboard, Wexler invented the term 
"rhythm & blues" to replace the name "race records," which was then the name
of the chart tracking such music.

He stayed at Billboard until 1951, when he went to work for Big Three, the
music publishing arm of MGM Records. The following year, Atlantic Records
tried to recruit him, but Wexler said he would only join if he was made a
partner, and nothing happened. A year later, when co-founder Herb Abramson
joined the Army, Atlantic came back with another offer and this time agreed
to take him in as a partner.

Atlantic had already established itself as an up-and-coming R&B label thanks
to hits from artists like Ruth Brown, Joe Turner, Stick McGhee and the
Clovers, with the just-signed Ray Charles waiting in the wings. If Atlantic
founders Abramson and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun led the way into exploring
rhythm and blues, it would be Wexler who ultimately led the label deep into
Southern soul.

In 1965, he signed a distribution deal for Memphis-based Satellite Records,
which was putting out songs by Carla Thomas. That label would later become
known as Stax. Before long, Stax began a golden era of hits from Wilson
Pickett, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and William Bell, among others.

Before long, Wexler had begun using FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., as a
home base for sessions. "More than any other locale or individual, Muscle
Shoals changed my life -- musically and every which way," Wexler wrote in his
1994 autobiography, "Rhythm & the Blues: A Life in American Music."

The first artist he brought to Muscle Shoals was Aretha Franklin, whose 1967
debut, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You," redefined soul music.

As the '60s wore on, Wexler grew more involved with producing and much less
with running Atlantic, although he was still closely involved in signing Led
Zeppelin, the J. Geils Band and Donnie Hathaway. He left Atlantic for good in
1975, but resurfaced two years later returned as VP of A&R for Warner Bros.
Records.

In his autobiography, Wexler says that with the help of Karen Berg, they
signed the B-52's, Dire Straits and Gang Of Four. During the latter half of
the 1970s, Wexler produced Etta James' "Deep in the Night," Bob Dylan's
Christian album, "Slow Train Coming," Kim Carnes "Sailin'" and Dire Straits
"Communique," among others.

Later in life, Wexler was involved with "The Wiz" soundtrack, the Dylan album
"Saved" and recordings by a young George Michael, Bill Vera, Lou Ann Barton
and Kenny Drew Jr.

Funeral details have yet to be announced.

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http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003839539

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