Seymour Stein, whose Sire Records launched Madonna’s career and signed such early punk rock and new wave icons as the Ramones and Talking Heads, died Sunday morning in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his daughter Mandy confirms to Variety. He was 80.
Though Stein’s imprint, which he co-founded in New York in 1966, enjoyed major-label distribution, he approached the record business with an independent’s zeal, and took a multitude of risks on unproven, often underground talent that paid off on the charts. Depeche Mode, Ice-T, Lou Reed, the Pretenders, The Smiths, The Cure, Seal, the Replacements, Aphex Twin and many more artists released some of their greatest music on Sire, whether via a direct signing or a licensing deal. A well-curated mixtape of Sire releases from the ‘80s and ‘90s is like the soundtrack to an era.
As Talking Heads’ late manager Gary Kurfirst told the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on the occasion of the exec’s induction in 2005, “Seymour’s taste in music is always a couple of years ahead of everyone else’s.” He was indisputably one of the greatest A&R executives in modern music history.
Sire made its first mark in the late ’60s and early ’70s by releasing early work by the blues-rock incarnation of Fleetwood Mac and the Dutch art-rock band Focus (the latter with the unlikely hit single, “Hocus Pocus”). But Stein plunged wholeheartedly into the punk scene in the late ’70s, signing many of the genre’s top acts from New York, the U.K. and Australia. Sire enjoyed similar success with post-punk and new wave acts like the Pretenders, The Cure and Depeche Mode, among many others.
He cannily forged business alliances with a host of European independent labels, marketing name acts developed by such imprints as Rough Trade, Beggars Banquet and Creation in the US.
His most lucrative discovery was Madonna, who was still a relatively unknown Manhattan club act when Stein signed her in 1983. The singer vaulted to superstardom on Sire, ringing up three No. 1 albums, 10 No. 1 singles and a total of 23 top-10 hits before launching her own Maverick imprint in 1992.
In a statement Sunday night, Mandy Stein said, “I grew up surrounded by music. 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 humor. 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.”
Read more at Variety.com.
