Jerry Wexler R.I.P.
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
Jerry Wexler, who as a reporter for Billboard magazine in the late 1940s christened black popular music “rhythm and blues”, and who as a record producer helped lead the genre to mainstream popularity, propelling the careers of Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and other performers, died yesterday, Friday 15 August, at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 91.
The New York Times has written a comprehensive and fitting obituary, a tribute to one of Soul music’s founding fathers. Read it here.
Tonight’s session of Gerry’s Joint at The Boogaloo will be dedicated to the late, great Wexler.
Rest in peace.