American record company. It was founded in New York by Herb Abramson and Ahmet Ertegun (b 1923), both jazz and blues enthusiasts, in 1947, primarily to issue African American music; it achieved considerable commercial success with recordings of musicians whose work encompassed jazz, blues, and rhythm-and-blues. Ertegun’s brother Nesuhi (1917–89) joined the organization in 1955, and supervised artists and repertory for the LP catalogue; around the same time the company established a new label, Atco, which was chiefly devoted to popular music. During the late 1950s and early 1960s the company made significant recordings marking the emergence of the free jazz style, but by the middle of the decade it was primarily known for soul music; in 1966, at the height of the company’s success in this field, it founded the Vortex label for the release of jazz records. During this period Atlantic and its subsidiaries recorded many significant artists: the singers Lavern Baker, Ray Charles, Ben E. King, Esther Phillips, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding; the vocal groups the Coasters, and the Drifters; and the jazz musicians Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Charles Mingus, the Modern Jazz Quartet, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. It also presented gospel groups and important white popular musicians, including Bobby Darin and Sonny and Cher.
In 1967 the company was bought by Warner Bros., which in turn was purchased two years later by the Kinney Corp.; Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, however, continued to direct Atlantic. With the emergence of Aretha Franklin, further recordings by Redding and Pickett and such new artists as King Curtis, Roberta Flack and the Temptations, Atlantic became one of the most significant labels in soul music. It also gained a huge presence in rock with recordings by international groups including the Bee Gees, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young), Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Yes, Genesis and AC/DC. Its prominent jazz artists included Keith Jarrett, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Manhattan Transfer. While Ahmet Ertegun remained directly in charge of Atlantic, Nesuhi moved in 1971 into the position of president and chief executive officer of the conglomerate WEA (Warner Brothers-Elektra-Atlantic); in 1985 he became its chairman and co-chief executive.
Atlantic remained a leading popular music label in the 1990s through such singer-songwriters as Tori Amos and Jewel and rock groups including Stone Temple Pilots and Hootie & the Blowfish. Corporate reorganization also gave Atlantic a presence in classical music when it took over US distribution of the European labels Teldec, Erato and Finlandia with recordings by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim and others. In country music, an Atlantic Nashville division was set up in 1991 with a roster including Rickie Skaggs and John Michael Montgomery. The label was now less prominent in black music, although it issued recordings by Anita Baker and the gospel star Bebe Winans.
C. Gillett: Making Tracks: Atlantic Records and the Growth of a Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry (London, 1975)
M. Ruppli: Atlantic Records: a Discography (Westport, CT, and London, 1979)
J. Picardie and D. Wade: Atlantic and the Godfathers of Rock ’n Roll (London, 1993)
G. Marsh and G. Callingham, eds.: East Coasting: the Cover Art of New York’s Prestige, Riverside and Atlantic Records (Zürich, 1993)
BARRY KERNFELD, HOWARD RYE, DAVE LAING