Seymour Stein, record executive who signed Madonna, dead at 80

LOS ANGELES — Seymour Stein, a record executive whose label launched the careers of Madonna, the Ramones and the Talking Heads, died Sunday. He was 80.

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Stein died in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, a spokesperson confirmed to Variety. His daughter also confirmed Stein’s cause of death to The New York Times.

Stein, who co-founded Sire Records and was its chairman, also worked with Brian Wilson, the Cure, Ice-T, the Smiths, Lou Reed, K.D. Lang and Seal during his more than 50-year career, according to the newspaper. Groups like Depeche Mode, the Pretenders and the Replacements also released music on Stein’s label, Variety reported.

Stein, who helped found the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was inducted into the music body in 2005.

“Seymour’s taste in music is always a couple of years ahead of everyone else’s,” Talking Heads manager Gary Kurfirst said when Stein was inducted.

Stein was noted for his vast knowledge of 20th-century pop music, the Times reported. He could recite the lyrics, chart positions and flip sides of notable records dating to the 1940s, according to the newspaper.

“He knows all the lyrics to every song you’ve ever heard,” Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders once said.

Sire Records released early work by Fleetwood Mac in the late 1960s and also promoted Focus, a Dutch art-rock band famous for the rock-yodeling song “Hocus Pocus,” Variety reported. “Hocus Pocus” became the label’s first hit in 1973, rising to No. 9 in the U.S.

Stein’s signature find was Madonna, who he signed in 1983, the entertainment news website reported. She responded with three No. 1 albums, 10 chart-topping single and 23 top-10 hits for the label through 1992, Variety reported.

Stein was recovering from a heart condition when he summoned Madonna Ciccone to his hospital bed, according to a book the record executive wrote.

“Just tell me what I have to do to get a record deal in this town,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Stein said. “You’ve got a deal.”

“Being liked was not my goal in life,” Stein once said, according to the Times. “My business was turning great music into hit records.”

Seymour Steinbigle was born on April 18, 1942, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, according to the newspaper.

Landing a job at Billboard after graduating from high school, Stein was part of the team that introduced the Hot 100 in 1958, according to the Times.

He worked at the King and Red Bird label in the 1960s that produced the No. 1 hit, “Chapel of Love” by the Dixie Cups in 1964.

Stein co-founded Sire Records in 1966 with Richard Gottehrer, according to the Times. The label’s first No. 1 hit was M’s new wave single, “Pop Muzik.”

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