Music legend Arif Mardin has died on pancreatic cancer in New York.
Mardin made his name with Atlantic Records with his work with Aretha Franklin. He was with the label 1963 to 2001 before leaving to set up his own label at EMI where he developed the talents of Norah Jones.
His career started in 1956 when he met jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in Turkey who inspired him to take up a scholarship in the USA.
At Atlantic, he first worked as an assistant to co-founder Nesuhi Ethegun before becoming studio manager, then house manager then arranger.
In 1967, he arranged Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You’ album as well as her soul classic ‘Respect’.
What followed in the 60’s was work with The Rascals, Dusty Springfield and Laura Nyro and the 70’s with Hall & Oates, Bette Midler and Roberta Flack.
The major success of his career came in 1974 when he took up production chores for a waning Aussie pop band called The Bee Gees. Mardin produced hits like ‘Jive Talking’ and ‘You Should Be Dancing’, relaunching the band’s career and sending them to supergroup status.
That followed even more successes for Mardin with Rod Stewart, Average White Band, George Benson and Carly Simon.
It didn’t stop in the 80’s either. Mardin worked on Phil Collins first solo album ‘Face Value’ and again with Bette Midler for her now signature tune ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’.
A memorial service for Mardin is expected to be planned for New York and he will be buried in his birth country, Turkey.
