Music giant who gave R&B its name dies at 91

SARASOTA - Jerry Wexler died Friday at his home on Siesta Key, surrounded by his family and mourned by an grateful stars who say the former Atlantic Records executive understood them better than anyone.

It was Wexler who first called their music "rhythm and blues."

"He was the one of the best men I ever met," singer Percy Sledge said in a phone interview from Spain, where he was performing at a music festival. "Jerry Wexler was always there for me. I wouldn't have had a career if it wasn't for him.

"He believed in me. He thought my voice was different from other artists at the time. He was just so different from other people in the music world. He could hear things that other producers couldn't hear."

Wexler signed or produced some of the biggest names in the business: Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, Dusty Springfield, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Sam & Dave, Cher, the Allman Brothers Band and Dr. John.

And he kept contacts in the music world long after he retired to Florida. Local musicians collected snapshots with him.

Barbara Strauss, producer of Sarasota's annual blues festival, met Wexler 20 years ago and found in him a friend for life.

"The last time I talked to him," Strauss said, "he said to me, 'Little girl, I'm checking out.' He knew. He was ready to go."

Strauss said Wexler, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, would regale her with stories of being the co-head of Atlantic Records, and of all the famous singers and musicians he had worked with. In these stories, there was never a hint of bravado.

They were such buddies, she would call him once a week to get caught up with him -- and to check up on him.

Friday, Strauss got the phone call she was dreading.

Her friend had died at home about 3:45 a.m. after a lengthy bout with congenital heart disease. He was 91.

Both his son, Paul, and daughter, Lisa, were present at the time of his death.

"The number of artists that he was involved with and helped significantly or just made great records with, the list is almost unbelievable," Paul Wexler said. "And many of them are gone now."

Jerry Wexler started out as a writer and editor for Billboard magazine in the 1940s and coined the phrase "rhythm and blues" to replace the magazine's use of "race records" in its chart listings.

Wexler was lured to Atlantic Records in 1953 by co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, who wanted him to be the head of his publishing company.

When label president, Herb Adamson, enlisted in the military, Wexler took his place. From there, he put his deft ear for R&B to good use.

Under his watch, Atlantic quickly cornered the R&B market with the likes of LaVern Baker, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, The Coasters, The Drifters, Solomon Burke and Ivory Joe Hunter.

The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Wexler was born in 1917 in the Washington Heights section of New York City.

He studied journalism in another Manhattan: at Kansas State College (now University). His education was interrupted in 1941 when he was drafted by the Army. After his discharge, he earned his degree.

He started out as a song plugger for BMI publishing company, then spent four years at Billboard, where he covered song publishers and label owners, including Ertegun.

They became kindred spirits.

"I reviewed a lot of Atlantic records," Wexler said in a Herald-Tribune interview in 2006. "And I don't know whether it was prescient, or whether I was indulging in favoritism" -- he chuckled -- "but I gave them terrific reviews, because I thought they were great records. So we sort of bonded."

At Atlantic, Wexler and Ertegun worked together on all aspects of the business, from scouting for new talent to meeting with disc jockeys to get their records played.

"We got to know each other because we were both collectors of old jazz 78s," Wexler said in a Herald-Tribune interview the day after Ertegun's death in 2006.

"We were obsessed with it ... we would go to the Salvation Army depots and old furniture stores and open old Victrolas. You'd even go into basements, past mad dogs sometimes, to see if they had any old records there."

Strauss said she was always riveted by Wexler's stories.

"He was so bright," she said. "I always love to tell stories and be the center of attention, but not around Jerry. You wanted to take everything in. He had firsthand knowledge of the music industry and how it all happened.

"And his memory was unbelievable. He could tell you who played what instrument on an album 50 years ago. It was uncanny."

Wexler had a hand in some of the most memorable radio hits of the era, among them Franklin's "Respect," Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour," Springfield's "Son-of-a Preacher Man" and Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman."

Wexler left Atlantic in 1975, but the success did not stop. He jumped to Warner briefly, where he brought in Dire Straits, the B-52's and Gang of Four.

He then produced albums for Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, George Michael, Dire Straits, the Staple Singers, Etta James, Allen Toussaint, Linda Ronstadt and José Feliciano.

He was "the last of the breed of the street-smart but highly intellectual and creative producers whose passion for the music ruled everything," said David Ritz, co-author of Wexler's 1993 memoir, "Rhythm and the Blues."

Ritz spent countless hours with Wexler and knows his career from top to bottom.

"His proudest feat were the Aretha productions," Ritz said. "He brought her to superstardom and brought her back to her roots."

Ritz said Wexler was "a joy to work with. Great energy, humor, larger-than-life personality; charming in that New York, tough guy way, with a heart of gold."

A private service will take place in the coming weeks in Sarasota, Paul Wexler told the AP, and his tombstone will read: "He changed the world."

"I don't think I'm overreaching," he said.

In addition to his son and daughter, Wexler is survived by his wife, novelist Jean Alexander.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.