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Madonna leads the tributes to Seymour Stein

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 4 April 2023

Madonna has led the tributes to Seymour Stein, the Sire Records founder and record industry veteran who has died aged 80. Recalling their first meeting, which led to her signing to Sire, Madonna said that Stein “was one of the most influential men in my life”, adding: “He changed and shaped my world”.

Stein’s daughter Mandy confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter on Sunday that her father had died of cancer in LA. She added: “I didn’t have the most conventional upbringing, but I wouldn’t change my life and my relationship with my dad for anything, and he was a loving and caring grandfather who took pleasure in every moment with his three granddaughters”.

“He gave me the ultimate soundtrack, as well as his wicked sense of humour”, she added. “I am beyond grateful for every minute our family spent with him, and that the music he brought to the world impacted so many people’s lives in a positive way”.

Born in New York, Stein began his music career as an intern at trade magazine Billboard in the late 1950s. He subsequently moved to an internship and then permanent role at King Records, the label best known for launching the career of James Brown.

A stint at Red Bird Records followed, before Stein teamed up with songwriter Richard Gottehrer to launch Sire Records in 1966. Initially the label focused on licensing recordings from UK and other European artists and releasing them in the US, mainly targeting something of a niche market.

However, things began to ramp up in the 1970s when Sire started directly signing new artists, enjoying considerable success with the Ramones and then Talking Heads. Though the label’s connections with the UK continued, with Sire becoming the American home for artists like The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Erasure and My Bloody Valentine.

Having become part of the Warner Bros music company in 1978, Sire’s biggest successes came in the 1980s after Stein signed Madonna to his label.

Explaining how that came to be in a post on Instagram yesterday, Madonna recalled how “I stalked a DJ named Mark Kamin for a year at a club called Danceteria in the early 80s”.

“He finally agreed to play my demo of a song called ‘Everybody’ on a Saturday night”, she explained. “The club was packed. An A&R man from Sire Records was there – Michael Rosenblatt – he heard the music and asked me if he could bring me to meet his boss Seymour Stein. I couldn’t get the words ‘hell yes!’ out of my mouth fast enough!”

“Unfortunately Seymour was in the hospital for a heart ailment!”, she went on. “I didn’t care. Let’s Goooooo! When I met him he was laying in a hospital bed wearing his boxer shorts and a wife beater! He had a cannula up his nose and a saline drip in his arm! He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat”.

“I was carrying my giant boombox ready to play my cassette for him immediately! He smiled and laughed when he saw me and asked me if I was related to the Virgin Mary!! Hahahhahahaa. I knew we would hit it off. I played him the song a few times. He signed me to his record label that day! This moment changed the course of my life forever”.

That, she added was “the beginning of my journey as a musical artist. Not only did Seymour hear me but he saw me and my potential! For this I will be eternally grateful! I am weeping as I write this down. Words cannot describe how I felt at this moment after years of grinding and being broke and getting every door slammed in my face”.

“Anyone who knew Seymour knew about his passion for music and his impeccable taste”, she added. “He had an ear like no other! He was intense – wickedly funny – a little bit crazy and deeply intuitive. Dearest Seymour you will never be forgotten!”

Although it was hard to match the successes of Madonna, Sire continued to sign new artists throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and into the 21st Century, working with acts as diverse as Ministry, kd lang and Ice-T along the way.

Stein himself also had various stints supporting other labels within the Warner Music group and continued to work as an A&R for the major until his retirement in 2018, with his passion for seeking out the latest new talent never waning.

He also co-founded the US Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in 1983, being inducted himself into said institution in 2005.