Legendary Record Company Man Seymour Stein Dead At 80

Legendary record company man Seymour Stein has died at age 80.

Stein was the man who named the term “new wave” to describe his signing Talking Heads. He was the founder of Sire records, signing The Ramones, The Pretenders and Madonna. He also signed and introduced Depeche Mode, The Smiths and The Cure to his label in America.

Stein founded Sire Records with Richard Gottehrer in New York in 1966. Gottehrer produced the debut albums for Blondie and The Go-Go’s.

Seymour sold Sire Records to Warner Brothers in 1978 but remained head of the company and with a bigger cheque went on to sign Seal, Ice-T, Ministry and k.d. lang.

Stein became President of Sire Records and Vice President of Warner Brothers Records until his retirement in 2018.

Seymour was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. He is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame with a Richmond Hitmaker Award and he has also been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Dance Music Awards.

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