Your site will load in 16 seconds
Skip This >>

Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein dies aged 80

April 3rd 2023 at 10:00AM
Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein dies aged 80

Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein has died aged 80.

Mandy Stein, his filmmaker daughter, said the music industry executive died at home in LA on Sunday (April 2) of cancer. 

In a statement, 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 humour. 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.”

As the co-founder of Sire Records, Stein signed artists including Madonna, the Pretenders, Ramones and Talking Heads, as well as The Smiths in the US.

“I thought Johnny [Marr] was the best young guitarist I’d seen since young Peter Green in the original Fleetwood Mac,” Stein told Music Week in 2018.

Stein launched Sire as an independent label with Richard Gottehrer in 1967. The label partnered with Warner Music in 1976.

Discussing his approach to signing acts, in 2016 the A&R and label exec told Music Week: “I’m a song man first and foremost, and I often put that ahead of musicianship and performance in judging new bands – both of the latter tend to improve as time goes by, but the songs always come first.”

Other acts signed to Sire included Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Soft Cell and the Replacements.

In 2005, the executive was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in recognition of his lifetime achievement.

In 2018, Stein was honoured with the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award during the organisation’s Special Merit Awards ceremony and tribute concert in Los Angeles. The award was presented to Stein by Henry Rollins, who described the veteran exec as the “ultimate visionary indie, hearts-and-minds music executive of all time”.

In 2018, Stein departed Warner Music after more than 40 years. His autobiography, Siren Song: My Life In Music, was published in the same year.

Explaining his departure at the time, Stein said: “Writing and promoting my autobiography, Siren Song, along with the news of my Grammy Award, brought a flood of memories from my earliest days at Sire right up to the present. I was very fortunate during my youth to learn from so many great indie label people, like Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler at Atlantic, and my greatest mentor, Syd Nathan at King Records. I went on to work with so many other great indies around the world as Sire grew to become the legendary brand it is today. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all the amazing artists – far too many to name – who have called Sire home over the years.” 

He added: “I’ve enjoyed much of my time at Warner, but in truth I long for my indie roots and the greater independence that I experienced back in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. So the time has come to move on to the next phase of my career, leaving Sire in the hands of Rani Hancock, whom I sincerely wish all the luck in the world. I’m very proud that Sire was named the No. 15 label of the past 100 years in a major poll conducted by Variety earlier this year. I trust that it will continue to be a place where great songs and great artists will live for many years to come.”

Artists, executives, broadcasters and more from the music industry have taken to social media to pay respect to Stein's life and legacy. You can read a selection below:

 

 
 
 
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

author twitter FOLLOW Andre Paine


For more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to receive our daily Morning Briefing newsletter

subscribe link free-trial link

follow us...

Copyright © Future Plc 2024