Jerry Wexler

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Gerald "Jerry" Wexler (* 10. January 1917 in New York City ; † 15. August 2008 in Sarasota , Florida ) was a famous rhythm and blues - producer .

Childhood and youth

Wexler was born in the Bronx , New York, as the first child to a Jewish immigrant family . His father, a window cleaner, had emigrated from Poland in 1912 and later married a German. In 1936, Wexler's mother sent her son to a university in Manhattan, Kansas . From there, the young Wexler made frequent trips to Kansas City , where Count Basie , Big Joe Turner , Bennie Moten, and other swing- era musicians enjoyed great popularity. However, these trips did not help Wexler to achieve any more achievements at the university, so that his mother finally brought him back to New York, where he from now on helped his father with window cleaning.

Wexler also got to know the New York nightlife. He was soon a regular at the Apollo , where he met Ella Fitzgerald and made friends with Milt Gabler . Gabler first drew Wexler's attention to black music groups such as The Rhythmakers and The New Orleans Rhythm Kings. In 1947 Wexler got his first job in the music industry at BMI . However, when he was hit by severe pneumonia , he lost it again. A friend sent him to Joe Carlton, the editor of Billboard magazine, in 1949 . Wexler began as a journalist for Billboard , where he coined the phrase "rhythm and blues" in June 1949 and met many influential people in the music industry, including Herb Abramson and Ahmet Ertegün of the then insignificant Atlantic Records . In February 1949 he was promoted to partner of music publisher Paul Ackerman at the magazine, and from June 1949 Billboard renamed its “Race Music Charts” to Rhythm & Blues Charts . From November 1951 to the end of May 1953 he worked for the music publisher Robbins - Feist - Miller .

Atlantic Records and Stax Records

After Wexler quit his job at Billboard, Ertegün and Abramson offered him a position as editor-in-chief at Atlantic, which he accepted in June 1953. When Abramson had to join the military a year later, Wexler became co-owner of the label alongside Ertegün. In the early 1950s, Atlantic signed R&B stars like Ray Charles , Joe Turner , The Drifters , Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Atlantic signed other R&B stars with Ivory Joe Hunter , the Coasters and Solomon Burke , expanded through many sub-labels, and became the most important R&B label of all.

Then in the 1960s, Wexler heard about Stax Records , flew to Memphis to see it, and loved it. The label had everything he needed for further recordings: his own studio and a talented studio band in the form of Booker T. & the MG's . Wexler then signed a contract with Stax boss Jim Stewart that allowed him to make recordings of performers who were required by Atlantic in the Stax studios. Sam & Dave were the first band Wexler brought to Memphis, and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour was also formed this way in 1965. But in 1966, Stewart saw the profit Wexler was making while doing badly himself, and ended the collaboration.

Wexler took the FAME Studios by Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals (Alabama) , however, a new gold mine soon. Percy Sledges When a Man Loves a Woman was a great success, as were other recordings by Pickett. 1967 followed then I Never Loved a Man (The Way That I Love You) by Aretha Franklin , which was a huge hit, but it came in the recordings to serious disputes between Hall and Franklin's husband Ted White. Wexler and Franklin then left the FAME studios behind; the recordings for the album belonging to the single were finished in New York.

Criteria Studios

That same year, Ertegün sold Atlantic Records for $ 17.5 million. Wexler (as well as Ertegün himself) remained an employee at Atlantic, but due to the sudden wealth he did not have to work as much. He moved to Miami Beach , where he worked on Criteria Records with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway . In the 1970s, Atlantic switched more and more from R&B to rock . Wexler, who was not familiar with such music, now mainly produced musicians from the southern states, such as Dr. John , Duane Allman and Delaney & Bonnie . In 1975 Wexler finally quit Atlantic.

In 1977 he signed with Mo Ostin with Warner Records . With Wexler's help, the Dire Straits and the B-52's were able to gain a foothold in the label. In the 1980s he worked with Dire Straits, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson . In 1987 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . He continued his work in the 1990s.

Jerry Wexler passed away in Florida on August 15, 2008 at the age of 91.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview Billboard November 27, 2004
  2. ^ Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc., February 19, 1949, p. 16 ( books.google.com ).
  3. ^ Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award
  4. ^ Charlie Gillett: Making Tracks - Story of Atlantic Records . Souvenir Press Ltd, 1993, ISBN 978-0-285-62831-1 , pp. 99 .
  5. ↑ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  6. ↑ Bruce Weber: Jerry Wexler, a Behind-the-Scenes Force in Black Music, Is Dead at 91 . In: The New York Times . August 15, 2008, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com ).


personal data
SURNAME Wexler, Jerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wexler, Jerome (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American R&B producer
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , USA
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 2008
Place of death Sarasota , Florida