A famed music executive who discovered Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones has died aged 80.
Seymour Stein, who co-founded Sire Records and launched the Material Girl singer’s career in the ’80s, died on Sunday in Los Angeles following a long battle with cancer, his family confirmed to Variety.
Stein was the machine behind megastars such as Madonna, The Smiths, The Cure and The Pretenders and was known in the industry as the “king of 80s pop”.
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His career, which began in the 60s, began with releasing the early blues tracks by Fleetwood Mac through the label Sire Records.
In 1974, he left the label to focus on nurturing new talent and producing. His biggest commercial success was Madonna, whom he signed after he heard her demo Everybody.
The singer paid an emotional tribute to Stein on Instagram, thanking him for giving her a chance in the early 80s.
“Seymour Stein has left us! I need to catch my breath. He was one of the most influential men in my life!! He changed and shaped my world,” Madonna wrote.
Madonna said Stein’s employee had heard her play at a club and asked if she would meet him in hospital, where he was recovering from heart surgery.
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The Like A Virgin singer says this moment changed her life forever.
“Not only did Seymour hear me but he saw me and my potential! For this I will be eternally grateful!” she continued on Instagram.
“I am weeping as I write this down. Words cannot describe how I felt at this moment after years of grinding and being broke and getting every door slammed in my face.”
Madonna’s heartbreaking tribute comes just a little over a month after she lost her brother, Anthony Ciccone, in February this year.
The singer’s older brother died age 66 of respiratory failure and throat cancer.
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In his 2018 memoir Siren Song: My Life In Music, Stein recalled meeting Madonna for the first time in the cardiac ward where he was recovering.
“She was all dolled up in cheap punky gear, the kind of club kid who looked absurdly out of place in a cardiac ward,” Stein wrote.
She wasn’t even interested in hearing me explain how much I liked her demo… she didn’t take long to cut through all the small talk and go straight for the kill.
“Peering into the back of my head with those Madonna eyes, she said, ‘And now, you give me the money.’
Stein went on to sign Madonna for a $45,000 (approx. $66,000) contract to release three singles.
She went on to release three number one albums, 23 top-10 hits and 10-number one singles with Stein’s label before launching her own in 1992.
Stein is survived by his daughter Mandy and his three grandchildren.
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