According to The New York Times, Jerry Wexler, the producer who helped shape the landscape of modern music by propelling iconic artists such as Aretha Franklin to fame and popularizing genres and styles—even dubbing black popular music rhythm and blues in the 1940s—has passed away due to congestive heart failure. He was 91.

The report goes on to say that Wexler was a vice president at Atlantic records beginning in the 1950s when he worked primarily with black musicians (later including Franklin and Ray Charles) and eventually signed Led Zeppelin and produced records for Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, and Dire Straits.

The Times reports that growing up in New York City, Wexler frequented record stores and Harlem jazz clubs before attending college in Kansas where he immersed himself in Kansas City’s blues scene. When he returned to New York after serving stateside in the Army, Wexler worked as a reporter for Billboard music charts and magazine.

The report continues to say that he caught the attention of Atlantic’s Ahmet Ertegun who asked him to join the record company in 1953. In the ’60s, still drawn to the sounds of groove-oriented and southern music, Wexler brought Otis Redding and Dusty Springfield among others to record at Stax’s recording studio in Memphis and forging a sound based on spontaneity and improvisation.

“He played a major role in bringing black music to the masses, and in the evolution of rhythm and blues to soul music,” Jim Henke, vice president and chief curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said in an interview with the Times. “Beyond that, he really developed the role of the record producer. Jerry did a lot more than just turn on a tape recorder. He left his stamp on a lot of great music. He had a commercial ear as well as a critical ear.”

The Times adds that Wexler is survived by his wife and two children.