Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Jerry Wexler, the feisty Atlantic Records executive who coined the term ``rhythm and blues'' and produced some of the standout recordings by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, has died. He was 91.

Wexler, who suffered from congenital heart disease, died this morning at his home in Sarasota, Florida, the Associated Press reported.

Along with Sam Phillips of Sun Records, Wexler helped define the role of the modern record producer. He oversaw Charles's rollicking classic ``What'd I Say'' in 1959 and recorded Bob Dylan's first Grammy Award-winning song, ``Gotta Serve Somebody,'' two decades later.

A native New Yorker, he was one of the first industry executives to capitalize on the pool of talented black and white musicians in the Deep South. He worked the console at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, and Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he helped give birth to American soul music with songs such as Pickett's ``In the Midnight Hour'' and Franklin's ``I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You).''

``Wexler was cutting records as if they were short stories,'' Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson told the online magazine Salon in 2000. ``He brought a depth of literature to a music that was basically treated as if it was primitive.''

Wexler was an ardent music fan who parlayed his knowledge and journalism degree into a job at Billboard magazine in the late 1940s. There, he succeeded in substituting ``rhythm and blues'' for ``race records,'' the term used at the time for the work of black performers.

`Slow-Cooking Gumbo'

A street-smart city kid, Wexler said he enjoyed the pool hall more than school as a youth, but he became a voracious reader and developed eclectic tastes in food and music.

``I was simmered in a slow-cooking gumbo of New Orleans jazz, small Harlem combos, big bands, Western swing, country, jukebox race music, pop schmaltz,'' Wexler explained in ``Rhythm and the Blues,'' a 1993 autobiography he wrote with David Ritz.

Wexler became a part-owner of Atlantic Records in 1953 and quickly assumed control of day-to-day operations. He championed the sale of the company to Warner-Seven Arts in 1967, though he stayed as an executive until 1975. In later years, he divided his time between homes in Sarasota and East Hampton on New York's Long Island.

Window Washer's Son

Gerald ``Jerry'' Wexler was born on Jan. 10, 1917, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. He was the eldest of two sons born to Jewish immigrants Harry and Elsa Spitz Wexler.

Harry Wexler, who had emigrated from Poland in 1912, was a window washer while his wife's family, who were from Germany, owned a bakery.

After graduating from Manhattan's George Washington High School at age 15 in 1932, Wexler attended City College for two semesters before dropping out. He then enrolled at Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (later renamed Kansas State University).

Wexler's grades suffered as he frequented Kansas City jazz clubs and juke joints more than 100 miles from the college campus to see performers such as Count Basie and Big Joe Turner.

He returned to New York and worked with his father washing windows and hanging out with friends and smoking marijuana. In 1936, he fell in love with Shirley Kampf, and proposed marriage in 1941. The couple had three children and divorced 32 years later.

Wexler was inducted in the Army in 1942 and spent much of World War II processing test scores of Air Corps personnel.

In 1946, Wexler returned to Kansas and completed his undergraduate degree in journalism. Back in New York, he landed a reporting job at Billboard magazine in 1947 and stayed until 1951, when he became a promoter for a music publishing company.

He brought two songs to Mitch Miller, the newly hired pop music executive at CBS, who soon had hits at the top of the charts with ``Cry,'' recorded by Johnny Ray, and Hank Williams's ``Cold, Cold Heart,'' sung by Tony Bennett.

Atlantic Years

Wexler turned down an offer to join Atlantic Records in 1952 as a promotion man. He liked co-owners Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson but explained that the arrangement would only work if he became a partner. Ertegun laughed, then a year later sold Wexler a 13 percent stake, increased to 30 percent in following years.

By 1955, Ertegun and Wexler had scored 30 top 10 hits on the R&B charts with recordings by Charles, LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown and the Drifters. Turner's lascivious ``Shake, Rattle and Roll'' (1954), later covered in a cleaner version by Bill Haley & His Comets, is now considered a rock 'n' roll classic.

The label signed Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two clever New York songwriters and producers. That collaboration led to a series of hits by the Coasters, including ``Yakety Yak.''

Aretha Franklin

Later, reflecting on his management style, Wexler said he was a despot who delegated poorly and had a hair-trigger temper. In the recording studio, however, he showed respect for artists, who were usually well served by his attention to detail and tireless search for suitable material and musicians. He gained renown for his collaboration with Franklin on 14 albums over eight years.

``Her judgment was impeccable, her execution miraculous and all I could do was provide the right setting or offer the occasional suggestion,'' Wexler said.

Wexler produced Franklin's version of Otis Redding's ``Respect'' at Atlantic's New York studios in February 1967. The song shot to No. 1 on the charts and established the former gospel singer as the ``Queen of Soul.'' In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked ``Respect'' as the fifth-best song of all time.

Toll on Family

Wexler was the consummate music industry insider. He spoke at the funeral of Redding in Macon, Georgia, after the singer died in a plane crash. Four years later, the executive returned to the same town to eulogize another artist he produced, guitar virtuoso Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident.

``Jerry Wexler I found very intellectual, with great perspective on things,'' former Warner Bros. Records Chairman Mo Ostin said in ``Follow the Music,'' a history of Elektra Records published in 1998.

Wexler's work habits took a toll on his family. By his own account, he was often preoccupied and largely ignored his children until they neared adulthood. All three became successful in the music business, though the eldest, Anita, also became a heroin addict for 15 years. She conquered her addiction but died in 1989 from AIDS.

While trying to help his daughter, Wexler married Renee Pappas, a woman 30 years younger, in 1973. The marriage ended in divorce.

Wexler left Atlantic in 1975 and later joined a sister label -- Warner Bros. Records -- in 1977 as its East Coast representative. There, he helped sign Dire Straits and the B-52s.

Ertegun, Wexler's long-time partner to whom he dedicated his autobiography, died in December 2006.

In addition to his wife, the playwright and novelist Jean Arnold, Wexler is survived by his son, Paul, and daughter, Lisa.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathryn Harris in Los Angeles at kathrynH@bloomberg.net; Mark Schoifet in New York at mschoifet@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 15, 2008 12:39 EDT