Seymour Stein, music executive who discovered Madonna and Talking Heads, dies

03 April 2023 , 02:33

928     0

Talking Heads' David Byrne, Seymour Stein and Madonna (Image: WireImage)

Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records who helped launched the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads and many others, has died.

The 80-year-old, who helped found the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and was himself inducted into the Rock Hall in 2005, died of cancer in Los Angeles, according to a statement by his family.

His daughter Mandy Stein said: "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 1942, Stein was a New York City native, and by his mid-20s had co-founded Sire Productions, soon to become Sire Records.

Seymour Stein and Sting during 21st Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (WireImage)

Obsessed with the Billboard music charts since childhood, he was known for his deep knowledge and appreciation of music. During the 1970s era of New Wave, a term he helped popularise, he signed record deals with Talking Heads, the Ramones and the Pretenders.

Cheryl told off by director after blunder on stage amid West End debut

Talking Heads manager Gary Kurfirst told the Rock Hall around the time of Stein's induction: "Seymour's taste in music is always a couple of years ahead of everyone else's."

In the early 1980s he heard the demo tape of a little known singer-dancer called Madonna.

"I liked Madonna's voice, I liked the feel, and I liked the name Madonna. I liked it all and played it again," he wrote in his memoir "Siren Song," published in 2018, the same year he retired.

Stein was hospitalised with a heart infection when he first learned of Madonna, but was so eager to meet that he had her brought to his room.

"She was all dolled up in cheap punky gear, the kind of club kid who looked absurdly out of place in a cardiac ward," he wrote. "She wasn't even interested in hearing me explain how much I liked her demo. `The thing to do now,' she said, 'is sign me to a record deal."'

Sire artists also included Ice T, the Smiths, Depeche Mode, the Replacements and Echo and the Bunnymen, along with the more-established Lou Reed and Brian Wilson, who recorded with Sire later in their careers.

Katie Mansfield