Richards: ‘I shall miss’ Ertegun

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones says that with the death Thursday of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, “the old recording industry goes with him” and further said the Turkish-born ambassador’s son who started the influential R&B; and rock record label in 1947 was “as much a father to us as he was a formidable guy to do business with.”

After the Rolling Stones’ original contract with Decca Records ended in 1971, the group signed a multimillion-dollar deal to start its own Rolling Stones Records label distributed by Atlantic.

Ertegun suffered a brain injury from which he never recovered after a fall during a private performance by the Stones on Oct. 29 at a birthday party for former President Bill Clinton.

“One only has to look at the incredible roster of artists that he worked with to realize that we have lost a giant,” Richards said in a statement issued Saturday. “I shall miss him and that low chuckle.”

-- Randy Lewis