[Deathwatch] Jerry Wexler, rhythm and blues pioneer, 91

[Deathwatch Central]

Rhythm and blues pioneer Jerry Wexler dead at 91

By Bob Tourtellotte
Fri Aug 15

Pioneering music executive Jerry Wexler, who helped build Atlantic
Records into a rhythm and blues powerhouse in the 1950s and 1960s with
artists like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, died in Florida on Friday
at age 91, Atlantic Records said.

Along with the late Ahmet Ertegun, co-head of Atlantic, Wexler
revolutionized R&B music as the consummate businessman behind an
independent label that had few rivals in its day, spearheading
Atlantic's move into "Southern soul" music.

In addition to Charles and Franklin, Wexler helped develop such acts as
Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett and Roberta Flack, often finding talent in
places like Memphis, Tennessee, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and Miami.

But his influence was not limited to R&B. He helped guide the careers
of many artists, including rockers Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits and the
B-52's, as well as Bob Dylan and country star Willie Nelson.

"Jerry brought a rare combination of creativity, intelligence, wit,
artistic sensibility and business savvy to the evolution of Atlantic
from a small independent label into a major industry force," Atlantic
said in a statement.

Neil Portnow, president of the Grammy-sponsoring National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences, saluted Wexler as a "true music-making
pioneer" whose work "created an amazing legacy of R&B, pop and rock."

Wexler was born in New York City, in January 1917, to a family of
Jewish immigrants. He worked as a window washer with his father before
serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he worked
for music publication Billboard magazine as a journalist, where he
coined the term "rhythm and blues."

A passionate jazz fan, Wexler joined Atlantic in 1953, working
alongside Ertegun, who died in 2006, to compile a roster of talent that
ranged from R&B acts like the Drifters, Solomon Burke, and LaVern Baker
to the Rolling Stones.

Wexler was especially known for bringing his business acumen to bear in
helping Atlantic forge a partnership with the Memphis-based Stax
Records -- the home of Otis Redding and Booker T. & The MG's. -- and
later with FAME studios in Muscle Shoals and Criteria Studios in Miami.


David Ritz, co-author of Wexler's autobiography "Rhythm and the Blues:
A Life in American Music," remembered him as "the last of the old
school record business guys who had to kick and scream and fight to get
his records made, but a New York intellectual as well."

He was named Record Executive of the Year in 1967 for his work with
Aretha Franklin, including the session that produced the smash hit "I
Never Loved a Man (The Way I That I Love You)," and aided the career of
the Allman Brothers by helping their manager, Phil Walden, set up
Capricorn Records.

He was instrumental in signing Led Zeppelin to Atlantic in the 1970s,
but as the label increasingly embraced rock music Wexler tended to
prefer working with Southern blues artists, and his relationship with
Ertegun soured.

He resigned from Atlantic in 1975 and moved to Warner Records, where he
helped bring Dire Straits and B-52's to that label. He also went on to
produce albums for the likes of Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana and Willie
Nelson.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

(Additional reporting by Jennifer Martinez and Steve Gorman)

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary