Seymour Stein – a legendary executive responsible for launching the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, the Ramones and more – has died at the age of 80.
His passing was confirmed by his youngest daughter Mandy, who told The New York Times that he died in his Los Angeles home on Sunday (April 2) after a battle with cancer.
Stein was born in New York City on April 18, 1942. He became enamoured with the music industry in high school, and at 15 (in 1957), worked a summer internship at King Records in Cincinnati. He became a clerk for Billboard just a year later, and in 1961, took on a permanent role at King.
It was in 1966 that Stein – alongside record producer Richard Gottehrer – would found Sire Productions. The pair each invested $10,000 (today amounting to a little under $93,000) and started out by introducing the underground sounds of British prog-rock to the American market. By the mid-1970s, Sire was a force to be reckoned with in the US’ new wave and punk scenes, with Stein signing both the Ramones and Talking Heads in 1975.
Stein’s biggest moves came in the early 1980s, signing The Pretenders at the turn of the decade, and Madonna in 1982. He remained Sire’s president – as well as the vice president of Warner Bros. Records – until he retired from the music industry in July of 2018. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (which he co-founded in 1983) in 2005, and in 2016, was crowned with the Richmond Hitmaker Award in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
The same year he retired, Stein published his autobiography, Siren Song: My Life In Music. A year prior, at age 75, he came out as gay.
Have a look at some of the tributes shared to honour Stein over the past few hours:
Last time I saw Seymour Stein, Los Angeles 2019 posing with Rodney. He always got it. RIP Seymour pic.twitter.com/Z23dVPe3mO
— Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ (@chrissteinplays) April 3, 2023
Swift rebirth my friend. 🙏🏼
— k.d. lang (@kdlang) April 3, 2023
RIP Seymour Stein. I’ll always be grateful to Seymour for signing me (a then-47 year old trans woman) to a demo deal at one of my fave labels ever. For him it was always all about the music. Eternal thanks to @mdnathan for making that miracle happen. https://t.co/GqvZS0Kodp
— Cait Brennan (@PlanetCait) April 2, 2023
Have a nice flight home
It's a good day for flying
RIP, Seymour Stein https://t.co/t6ihwOHwnd— greg mottola (@gregmottola) April 3, 2023
In all of my encounters with Seymour, I found him to be as kind as he was intelligent and a genuine and true disciple of music. The glee with which he pulled facts, figures and record label minutiae from his mental warehouse was absolutely contagious. https://t.co/a7i7VMgNmv
— Stephen Bray (@MaestroBray) April 3, 2023
RIP Seymour Stein. A legend.
— Ethan Kaplan (@ethank) April 2, 2023
Made bold moves & some bad ones. But even if he didn't always understand what they were doing, he backed artists to do what they do. As @bellesglasgow once sang: "Seymour Stein, sorry I missed you/Have a nice flight home/It's a good day for flying." https://t.co/61D80kJZP1
— Bernard Zuel (@BernardZuel) April 3, 2023
Seymour Stein is as legendary to A&R as John Hammond or Clive Davis. Thank him for signing The Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders, Echo & the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, English Beat, Replacements, the Smiths, the Cure, Madonna, k.d. lang, Ice-T, Regina Spektor,and many more. https://t.co/K8czhyAKbT
— Paul Myers (@pulmyears) April 3, 2023
You may or may not know the name, or the logo, but rest assured, some of your favorite albums, songs, bands… are your favorites because of #SeymourStein
Culture-shaping is truly what he did. https://t.co/r5TtXwYC3N
— Record Store Day (@recordstoreday) April 3, 2023
In Memoriam: Entrepreneur, record executive, and co-founder of Sire Records, Seymour Stein began his career in music as a teenager, clerking at Billboard and learning the business from King Records’ founder Syd Nathan. At Sire’s helm, Stein signed such acts as the Ramones… 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ii40qndWWl
— Rock Hall (@rockhall) April 3, 2023
Legend. RIP Seymour Stein.https://t.co/Lr8vfUGHq4 pic.twitter.com/iPea29tVNo
— Artoffact Records (@artoffact) April 3, 2023