| 5th November 2006 07:11 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Rock industry giant fights for life after fall at Clinton's party
05.11.06
Thisislondon.co.uk
The man who helped to take the Rolling Stones to superstardom was left fighting for life after falling backstage at a New York performance by the band.
Record mogul Ahmet Ertegun - who signed the band in the early Seventies at a time of uncertainty for them - had been backstage as Mick Jagger and Co performed at Bill Clinton's 60th birthday party last Sunday in Manhattan.
But just before they went onstage, the 83-year-old record label boss slipped and fell, badly injuring his head.
When Jagger - who had begged Ertegun to sign the band 30 years ago - came offstage he was devastated to find his mentor missing. The Mail on Sunday understands Ertegun was put into an induced coma before being taken to hospital.
"Mick was terribly upset," a Stones aide said. "Ahmet was unconscious in the intensive care unit and the doctors at first didn't give him much of a chance. But they are now listing him as stable.
Although his condition is still seriousm they are more optimistic because he has come round under his own steam. He has now been taken off the respirator, is breathing on his own and has even started to say a few words."
At Ertegun's home, his wife Mica, an internationally renowned interior decorator, was too upset to comment.
Turkish-born Ertegun's career has been extraordinary - both in its success and longevity within a notoriously fickle business.
He was studying philosophy at Georgetown University when he borrowed £6,000 from his family dentist to found Atlantic Records with Herb Abramson, who had a few contacts in the record business, in 1947.
Today the New York-based Atlantic catalogue reads like a Who's Who of jazz, R&B and rock 'n' roll. Ertegun also signed Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin.
Ertegun recalled in an interview in 2002 the night that led to him signing the Stones. He said: "I met Mick at midnight at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles. I thought we were just getting together socially.
"Then Mick started to talk about how the Stones contract was up and how they wanted to be on Atlantic somehow I dozed off, which I think impressed him quite a lot."
Atlantic landed the Stones but the label couldn't meet the £25,000 asking price for Elvis Presley's contract in the mid-Fifties. The King signed with RCA Victor instead.
Atlantic is still going strong. In the same interview, Ertegun quipped: "I'm proud of two things - I'm still alive and still employed. I had no idea I would end up spending my life in the music business. I was a great music fan... I thought I knew enough to make a success of it - at least for a while."
Ertegun's fall is the latest setback for the Stones. Jagger, 63, had to overcome laryngitis to sing at Clinton's party and last Friday Art Wood, older brother of Ronnie, died of pneumonia.
In addition, drummer Charlie Watts has fought throat cancer and Keith Richards underwent brain surgery last spring after banging his head falling out of a coconut tree in Fiji.
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| 5th November 2006 07:57 AM |
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| Nellcote |
Jesus H Christ!
Two horrid things within that aritcle TTM.
Ertegun is a pioneer, what a tragic accident.
Here's hoping he pulls thru.
And Ronnie's brother, Art Wood, WTF?
Life's so short... |
| 5th November 2006 09:07 AM |
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| rasputin56 |
And of course, once again...
It's Clinton's Fault© |
| 5th November 2006 09:49 AM |
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| Jumping Jack |
Apparently bad karma follows Willie everwhere, LOL!!! |
| 5th November 2006 09:55 AM |
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| LadyJane |
Terrible news.
Get well Mr. Ertegun.
Poor Ronnie. RIP Art.
LJ. |
| 5th November 2006 11:09 AM |
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| Gazza |
What horrible news about Art Wood. Heres hoping also that Ahmet gets well soon.
For those of you who were drinking with us at the Cabbage Patch at Twickenham just a few weeks ago, that was where Art regularly performed at the Eel Pie Club (as well as the nearby Filthy McNastys), doing his bit to continue the tradition passed down to him by the Stones and others, in keeping the flame of R&B alive in that part of the country
as Keith has said many times, the greatest epitaph a musician can have on his gravestone is "he passed it on". Art definitely 'passed the torch'..
here's some pics Paulywaul sent me today of Art performing. The first three are from the Cabbage Patch in Twickenham in April 2005. The final one from Filthy McNasty's just six months ago.
[Edited by Gazza] |
| 5th November 2006 11:42 AM |
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| GotToRollMe |
Christ, that's awful. Ahmet Ertegun, along with Clive Davis, has always been one of my record industry heroes.
RIP Art Wood. Damn.
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| 5th November 2006 01:54 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I certainly don't wish the man ill, and I hope he makes a complete recovery...but a "record industry hero"? That's like making a hero outta a conquistador or a dictator or a mass murderer.
What? Just because he was a little less scumlike than some of the others, and tried to make nicey-nice with the artists, that makes him a saint? Atlantic, was not any different than any other major. And Ahmet made nicey-nice with the artists to benefit himself and Atlantic more than any other reason. He wanted to develope loyalty in his "stable" so other lable's wouldn't stroll in and steal his dinner off the table. But don't kid yourself...it was still always about Ahmet. He woulda slit your throat if he thought it would get him ahead of the rest. And it was always about the further enrichment of Ahmet. If an artist did well too, that was OK, but not necessary...just as long as Ahmet got his first. So in that, Ahmet was no different than any of the rest of the industry moguls. Ahmet was always more important that his artists.
Record industry execs are all scumbags, no matter how you dress 'em up, or how many famous faces they have their picture taken with. They ain't heroes, not IMO. |
| 5th November 2006 02:01 PM |
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| StarvinMarvin |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
I certainly don't wish the man ill, and I hope he makes a complete recovery...but a "record industry hero"? That's like making a hero outta a conquistador or a dictator or a mass murderer.
What? Just because he was a little less scumlike than some of the others, and tried to make nicey-nice with the artists, that makes him a saint? Atlantic, was not any different than any other major. And Ahmet made nicey-nice with the artists to benefit himself and Atlantic more than any other reason. He wanted to develope loyalty in his "stable" so other lable's wouldn't stroll in and steal his dinner off the table. But don't kid yourself...it was still always about Ahmet. He woulda slit your throat if he thought it would get him ahead of the rest. And it was always about the further enrichment of Ahmet. If an artist did well too, that was OK, but not necessary...just as long as Ahmet got his first. So in that, Ahmet was no different than any of the rest of the industry moguls. Ahmet was always more important that his artists.
Record industry execs are all scumbags, no matter how you dress 'em up, or how many famous faces they have their picture taken with. They ain't heroes, not IMO.
The difference between Ahmet and those who came after him is that unlike most record industry execs, Ahmet actually LOVES music. He's a music lover first, and a businesman second. Most other record company execs are businessmen who don't know or even care about the music. Without Ahmet, we never would have been able to hear some of the greatest music ever made. He's not saint, I'll give you that, but he should not be lumped in with the other msuci industry scumbags. |
| 5th November 2006 02:03 PM |
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| StarvinMarvin |
One other point - I think that a lot of fans are being unfairly critical of The Stones cancelling/postponing shows. They are going through a rough patch. Give them a break. At least tehy haven't scrapped the whole tour. I'm sure that a lot of other bands would postpone/cancel tours if the brother of one of the band members had just died. Some people here are being unreasonable c***s. |
| 5th November 2006 02:17 PM |
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| Bitch |
Really sad about Ron Wood's brother, although I dont see much of a resemblence. I wonder if Ronnie got to go home for the funeral, that would be a big sacrifice for the family if he diddn't make it. Sad. I saw Little Richard a few months ago at HOB, and he told the audience he just burried his brother on Tuesday the same week, and he was almost in tears. He dedicated a song to his brother, which was a nice thing to do. I wonder if Ronnie might have felt better with a public acknowledgement of his brother's passing and playing one of his songs might have been appreciated by the audience too. |
| 5th November 2006 02:19 PM |
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| erikjjf |
quote:
Bitch wrote:
I wonder if Ronnie got to go home for the funeral
According to Stonesdoug, Ronnie went home directly after the 2nd Beacon show. |
| 5th November 2006 02:26 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Art Wood would want the show to go on. Ronnie knows that. So the show goes on.
>He's a music lover first, and a businesman second.<
Ok man, you go ahead and believe that if you want. His personal PR is impeccable, gotta give him that.
IMO, the whole "music lover first" thing was nothing more than a gimmick to impress the artists in his stable and to garner loyalty with them. I'm not saying that he didn't give a shit at all because he obviously did, I'm just saying that he gave a shit because he saw early on that it was in Ahmet's best interests to give a shit. It was his schtick, his gimmick. And I gotta give it to him...it worked like a charm.
And don't kid yourself...the music that Ahmet put out...it was gonna get put out by someone eventually anyhow. And he put lots of shit out as well as good stuff. He'd take a handful of stuff and throw it up against the wall. Whatever stuck is what he went with. He had excellent instincts that way. But he didn't really do anything new or unique when it came to signing bands or artists.
Ahmet was still an industry mogul, and he was a ruthless prick. Not hero material, IMO, unless that Michael Douglas character from "Wall Street" is a hero. |
| 5th November 2006 02:28 PM |
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| FotiniD |
Shit! Poor Ronnie!  It hasn't been a good year for the guys, has it?
RIP Art Wood.
Hope Ahmet Ertegun gets better. |
| 5th November 2006 02:33 PM |
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| danielharris627 |
oh my god!! RIP art!!
I hope he gets better too |
| 5th November 2006 02:33 PM |
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| GotToRollMe |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
I certainly don't wish the man ill, and I hope he makes a complete recovery...but a "record industry hero"? That's like making a hero outta a conquistador or a dictator or a mass murderer.
What? Just because he was a little less scumlike than some of the others, and tried to make nicey-nice with the artists, that makes him a saint? Atlantic, was not any different than any other major. And Ahmet made nicey-nice with the artists to benefit himself and Atlantic more than any other reason. He wanted to develope loyalty in his "stable" so other lable's wouldn't stroll in and steal his dinner off the table. But don't kid yourself...it was still always about Ahmet. He woulda slit your throat if he thought it would get him ahead of the rest. And it was always about the further enrichment of Ahmet. If an artist did well too, that was OK, but not necessary...just as long as Ahmet got his first. So in that, Ahmet was no different than any of the rest of the industry moguls. Ahmet was always more important that his artists.
Record industry execs are all scumbags, no matter how you dress 'em up, or how many famous faces they have their picture taken with. They ain't heroes, not IMO.
I actually agree with most of what you say. "Hero" might not be the best word here, and "saint" he definitely ain't. But yeah, considering how most record execs operate, he was "a little less scumlike than some of the others," and for that I give the guy credit.
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| 5th November 2006 04:30 PM |
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| MP |
So sorry, Ronnie for your loss. Prayers are with you and family. |
| 5th November 2006 06:31 PM |
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| glencar |
Didn't Ronnie's other brother die last year? RIP Art. |
| 5th November 2006 06:58 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
You know, another thing about Ahmet...the way he has used his position at the RnR HOF is a disgrace. Just look at the disparity of Atlantic artists...a lot of them marginal, and certainly not "Rock n Roll"...as opposed to some of the truely deserving that are outside looking in. It's obvious that he is using the HOF as a big marketing tool for Atlantic and its associate labels. The HOF should have been a really cool thing, but Ahmet has turned it into a joke.
Still, I hope he recovers. |
| 5th November 2006 08:30 PM |
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| Soldatti |
All my prayers for Woody. |
| 5th November 2006 09:45 PM |
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| tumbled |
Yes. Art was a sweet-art. see page 20-21 of according to rolling stones.
SSalot. I like you a lot, you are very smart, but I think there is more that you do not know about about Ertegun and that is that he loves the influences. and supported our foundation and still does so do not be so harsh in your judgment without full info. http://www.rhythm-n-blues.org/pubs/101_334_1405.CFM
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| 5th November 2006 10:54 PM |
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| rogerriffin |
We´re with you Ronnie.
Hope Ahmet get well soon. |
| 5th November 2006 11:21 PM |
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| MikeyC613 |
According to the film Ray, Ahmet wrote "Mess Around" and sang it to Ray Charles. He encouraged Ray to find his own sound. I don't know much about him personally, but the Director, Taylor Hackford (Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll) makes him look like a music freak minus the musical talent. |
| 6th November 2006 01:18 AM |
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| Jiving Sister Jan |
Very sad news indeed.
[Edited by Jiving Sister Jan] |
| 6th November 2006 05:04 AM |
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| corgi37 |
Sounds like SS got knocked back for a job at Atlantic once and hasnt let it go.
Let it go, man. Let it go. |
| 6th November 2006 10:02 AM |
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| nankerphelge |
Sad news about Ronnie's brother.
I don't know much about Ahmet, but I give the guy credit for staying in the business so long. Talk about swimming with sharks. I sure can't fault him for lining his pockets and building Atlantic -- that's called running a business, and it seems to me that is the whole point. Otherwise, move to Montana, stock up canned goods and ammunition, and wait for the end. Did he screw his artists -- maybe less than others, but he must have bought them dinner first if someone with the mind of Mick Jagger still cares about him 35+ years later!
[Edited by nankerphelge] |
| 6th November 2006 12:32 PM |
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| monkey_man |
Sheesh, the hits keep coming for these guys:
ROCKER Sir Mick Jagger was frantic with worry last night after his frail 95-year-old dad was rushed to hospital after taking a tumble at home.
Joe Jagger is believed to have punctured a lung and broken two ribs after the fall on Friday morning. He was rushed to Kingston hospital in South West London where he is on a general surgical ward.
The Rolling Stone is being kept informed of his dad’s condition.
Mick, 63, and the rest of the band are currently in San Francisco as part of their Bigger Bang world tour.
The singer remains close to his dad and took him to Buckingham Palace to collect his knighthood in December 2003.
A pal of Mick’s said last night: “He and Joe speak often and are very close.
“Mick is being kept informed of his dad’s condition. It is a worry as Joe is so old.”
Joe lives near the home Mick used to share with ex-wife Jerry Hall, 50, in Richmond, Surrey.
It is believed his home helper took him to hospital.
She confirmed he was in hospital yesterday but did not comment further.
Joe is said to be in a “poor condition” but one that is not life threatening. Another source said: “He has bad injuries.”
The former PE teacher’s wife Eva died of a heart condition in 1993.
They had two children — rock legend Mick and his brother Chris. |
| 6th November 2006 12:37 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Sure it's a business...and a nasty business at that. That was my whole point. Can't do what Ahmet did without being a shark himself. So he sends flowers the morning after he anal rapes you, instead of leaving you bruised and battered like all the others. He still banged yer bung. Like I said before just because he isn't as big a scumbag as some others doesn't mean that he still isn't a scumbag.
In 10 years it won't matter anyhow. Music will be recorded, produced, and distributed by the bands themselves anyhow, and there will be no need for record companies. Then record industry execs and A&R shitbags can slink back into the slime holes that they crawled out of. |
| 6th November 2006 06:43 PM |
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| Gazza |
Obituary from today's edition of "The Independent"
Art Wood
Frontman of the Artwoods
Published: 06 November 2006
Arthur Wood, singer and graphic artist: born London 7 July 1937; twice married (one son); died London 3 November 2006.
In the mid-Sixties, the mod favourites the Artwoods were tipped as the next big thing to follow the Yardbirds and the Animals. Formed by the vocalist Art Wood, the five-piece group regularly played on Eel Pie Island and at the 100 Club in London. They covered some great rhythm'n'blues material, released five singles, an EP and an album on Decca and even appeared on Ready, Steady, Go! However, they are better remembered now as the band for which Jon Lord played keyboards before launching Deep Purple.
Art Wood and his brother Ted also had an important influence on the career of Ronnie, the youngest Wood brother, who was also in a mod group, the Birds, and went on to join the Creation, the Jeff Beck Group and the Faces, and has been the Rolling Stones guitarist since 1975. In fact, the Faces evolved from a short-lived group called Quiet Melon which Art Wood formed in 1969. "Ron and the members of the Small Faces were between jobs at the time and completely skint," he recalled.
"I had some studio time so we rounded up Rod Stewart, Kenny Jones, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane and Kim Gardner and recorded the songs "Engine 4444" and "Diamond Joe". We played a few Quiet Melon gigs afterwards. But then Rod and Ronnie blew me off, the little bastards, and went on to become hugely famous as the Faces. Oh well."
Born in 1937, Art was the first child of Arthur Wood, a tugboat skipper who also led a 24-piece harmonica big band, and his wife Lizzie, a polisher who later gave up her job at the HMV plant in Hayes to look after Art and Ted. Both boys came down with whooping cough during the Second World War and their father moved the Anderson air-raid shelter from the garden into the house and gave the boys crayons and drawing books to take their minds off the bombings.
In 1950, Art Wood enrolled at Ealing School of Art, and took a keen interest in typography, graphic design and fine art. He was the first from the college in a long line of wannabe musicians which would include both his brothers, Pete Townshend of the Who, Freddie Mercury of Queen and David Bowie. "Ealing was very unusual," Wood remembered.
"It was a straight art school when I first went there in 1950. But it soon started to get this very musical feel to it. Everyone was getting very experimental. It was the beatnik era, the beginnings of what would become skiffle, it was all happening! Anyone who had even the remotest artistic or musical bent was just carried away! "
In 1955 Art Wood received his National Service papers and spent the next two years posted in Devizes, Wiltshire, where he formed a skiffle group. When he returned to London, he began playing interval gigs at the Regal in Uxbridge with the Art Wood Combo. While Ted became a jazzer, Art was the blues and rock'n'roll fan, covering the songs of Chuck Berry and Fats Domino and occasionally teaching them to Ronnie, who acted as the peacemaker when his older brothers argued about music.
By 1962, Art was one of several singers with Blues Incorporated, the ensemble led by Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies which featured Charlie Watts on drums and also gave guest spots to Mick Jagger, Paul Jones and Long John Baldry. They took over the Marquee Club and inspired the British rhythm'n'blues boom which followed.
In 1964, the Art Wood Combo became the Artwoods, with a line-up comprising Wood, Lord, the guitarist Derek Griffiths, drummer Keef Hartley and bassist Malcolm Pool. They turned professional, secured a residency at the 100 Club in Oxford Street and signed to Decca Records. The group developed a formidable reputation as a live attraction and issued five singles, including dynamic versions of Leadbelly's "Sweet Mary" and Sam and Dave's "I Take What I Want", an EP called Jazz In Jeans and an album entitled Art Gallery - all now very collectable - between November 1964 and November 1966.
While none of their Decca 45s charted in the UK, they developed a following in continental Europe generally, and France in particular, thanks to appearances at La Locomotive in Paris, although a paucity of original material did for them. In 1967, they had a one-off single - "What Shall I Do?" - on Parlophone before changing their name to St Valentine's Day Massacre and posing as gangsters to try and cash in on the popularity of the film Bonnie and Clyde. "We released a single of the old Bing Crosby hit 'Brother Can You Spare Dime?'", Wood said. "It was an ill-fated venture, which I would prefer not to dwell on, virtually signalling the end of the band apart from a few heavy-hearted gigs with a changed line-up."
Art Wood attempted to form the ArtBirds and then Quiet Melon with Ronnie, but eventually joined his brother Ted in setting up West Four, a graphic design business. "They used to interweave, the art and the music," Art said. "West Four did commercial art: brochures, leaflets, book jackets, classical album sleeves for the Phillips label, as well as the bands Ted and myself were in."
He also played with the Downliners Sect, another British beat group, and occasionally performed at mod conventions with a revised line-up of the Artwoods. In 1998, the three Woods recorded two tracks for Money Due, an album credited to Art Wood's Quiet Melon, and appeared together at the Eel Pie Club in Twickenham. "Me and Ted were always happy that at least one of us made it," Art told Terry Rawlings, author of Rock on Wood (1999), "and Ronnie made it big enough for all three."
Pierre Perrone
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1959081.ece |
| 6th November 2006 10:18 PM |
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| StarvinMarvin |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
Sure it's a business...and a nasty business at that. That was my whole point. Can't do what Ahmet did without being a shark himself. So he sends flowers the morning after he anal rapes you, instead of leaving you bruised and battered like all the others. He still banged yer bung. Like I said before just because he isn't as big a scumbag as some others doesn't mean that he still isn't a scumbag.
...And it also takes a special kind of asshole to "anally rape" an old man who is quite possibly on his deathbed. Let it go, dude. The world isn't all black and white. |
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