Herbert Charles Abramson (November 16, 1916 – November 9, 1999) was an American record executive, record producer, and co-founder of Atlantic Records.
Life and career
Abramson was born in 1916 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He studied to be a dentist but got a job working for Al Green at National Records, Blaine was having some success recording Jewish novelty songs, but this genre did not interest Abramson, so he sold his interest in Jubilee to Blaine. Abramson and his wife Miriam were close friends with jazz fan Ahmet Ertegun, who recognized Abramson's talent. He approached Abramson with a label proposal, and they founded Atlantic Records in 1947, Abramson returned home from Germany with a pregnant girlfriend who became his second wife.
Ahmet Ertegun and Abramson formed Atco Records in 1955 as a division of Atlantic. Ahmet Ertegun became president of the company. Abramson started new record labels including Triumph, Blaze, and Festival. His most successful post-Atlantic recording was producing "Hi-Heel Sneakers" by Tommy Tucker (released on Checker Records),
Abramson developed a method of cutting concentric grooves for a record so a different recording could be heard depending on which groove the tonearm landed on. That process was used on a series of "Magic Records" that Abramson produced which were marketed for children. After leaving Atlantic, Abramson sold the patent to Mattel which used the process to develop the Chatty Cathy talking doll.
In 1998, he received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
He died in Henderson, Nevada, in 1999, at the age of age 82.