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Herb Abramson (November 16, 1916–November 9, 1999) was a record company executive and producer.

He was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York City and initially studied to be a dentist. But he landed a job with National Records producing such performers as The Ravens, Billy Eckstine and Joe Turner. Herb founded his first record company, Jubilee Records, in 1946 with Jerry Blaine. Herb aspired to record jazz, R&B and Gospel recordings. Though Blaine was having some success recording Jewish novelty records, this genre did not interest Abramson, so he sold his interest in Jubilee to Blaine. Herb and his wife Miriam were close friends with fellow jazz buff Ahmet Ertegün and together they founded Atlantic Records in 1947. Herb was president of Atlantic and Ahmet was vice-president. Both Herb and Ahmet handled the creative end of the business and Miriam handled the business end.[1]

In 1953, Herb was drafted into the Army which put him out of touch with the company which nevertheless enjoyed great success while he was away. Jerry Wexler joined Atlantic as a partner in Herb's absence while Herb retained the title of president of the company. When Herb returned from the Army in 1955, he found Atlantic a changed company. Ahmet's brother Nesuhi had joined Atlantic in 1955 as a partner and was enjoying great success in jazz LPs. Ahmet and Jerry were recording R&B hits which crossed over into pop. Complicating things was his faltering marriage to Miriam which would end in divorce.[2]

To give Herb something to do, Atco Records was formed in 1955 as a division of Atlantic which Herb would run on his own.

This did not solve Herb's problems completely, despite's Atco's success with such artists as The Coasters. One of Herb's artists, Bobby Darin, was going hitless. But Darin endeared himself to Ahmet and Jerry through his musical talent. When Herb announced that he was dropping Darin, Ahmet objected and decided to record three tracks with Darin. Two of them, Splish Splash and Queen Of The Hop became the breakthrough hits for Darin.

Ahmet's success with Bobby Darin after Herb's repeated failures was the last straw for Herb, who left Atlantic Records in 1958, selling his stake in the company to now ex-wife Miriam Bienstock (who married music publisher Freddy Bienstock) and Nesuhi Ertegün. Ahmet Ertegün became president of the company. Herb would start new record labels including Triumph, Blaze and Festival. His most successful post-Atlantic recording was Hi Heeled Sneakers by Tommy Tucker. But he did not enjoy anywhere near the success that he had with Atlantic Records.

Herb set up his own recording studio in the late 1960s - A-1 Sound Studios - on the ground floor of a hotel off Broadway and 72nd Street. Johnny Nash and Lloyd Price were among the artists who recorded there.

In 1998, he received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. He died in Henderson, Nevada, USA in 1999.

• White, Adam. "Herb Abramson, Atlantic's 1st president, dies at 82", Billboard, BPI Communications Inc., 7. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (in English)