Seymour Stein — who signed Madonna, helped compile some of the first Billboard Hot 100s, and was the namesake for a Belle & Sebastian song — died of cancer Sunday morning. He was 80. His daughter, Mandy Stein, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. Stein’s career in music began at age 16, working after school for Billboard. He co-founded Sire Records with Richard Gottehrer in 1976, which eventually became a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Sire helped bring the first wave of punk to the masses, signing the Ramones, the Dead Boys, the Undertones, and the Talking Heads. Later Sire artists included the Smiths, k.d. lang, the Cure, Harvey Danger, the Pretenders, Luna, My Chemical Romance, Tegan and Sara, Wilco, and Regina Spektor. But its biggest coup was signing Madonna. “I signed her because I believed in Mark Kamins, who I thought was the greatest DJ, and he wanted to be a producer,” Stein said. “The third or fourth thing he brought me was Madonna. And yes, I was very involved in the beginning. Then I realized, ‘This woman is smarter than all of us. Just get out of her way.’” Stein stayed a chairman of Sire until 2018, after 51 years with the company and WMG.
