Koenig was born to a
Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harlib) and
Morris Koenig. His father was a judge; his brother was advertising executive
Julian Koenig. As a child, he collected records and was introduced to the record producing business by
John H. Hammond who served as his mentor. He decided to return to record producing with Jazz Man Records but when he returned to Los Angeles, he found that Stuart and Morden had divorced and she had since remarried to
Nesuhi Ertegun, the founder of
Crescent Records; instead Koenig founded his own label,
Good Time Jazz Records. ==Personal life==