Ahmet Ertegun - 2006 Injury and Death

2006 Injury and Death

At the age of 83 on October 29, 2006, Ahmet Ertegun attended a Rolling Stones benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre for the Clinton Foundation, which was attended by former US President, Bill Clinton. Prior to the show Ahmet was backstage in a VIP social area that was known on the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour as the "Rattlesnake Inn" when he tripped and fell, striking his head on the concrete floor. He was immediately rushed to the hospital after the fall (the Rolling Stones' performance that evening was captured by Martin Scorsese in the documentary film entitled Shine a Light). Although Ahmet was initially in stable condition, he soon took a turn for the worse. This announcement was made by Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page, during the band’s induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Ahmet slipped into a coma and died weeks later on December 14, 2006, with his family by his side, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Ahmet Ertegun was buried December 18 in the Garden of Sufi Tekke, Özbekler Tekkesi in Sultantepe, Istanbul, in Üsküdar, İstanbul, next to his brother, his father, and his Sheikh great-grandfather Şeyh İbrahim Edhem Efendi, who was once the head of the tekke in his native Turkey. At the garden were hundreds of mourners, including his wife Mica, members of the Ertegün family, Turkish dignitaries and various entertainers.