THE GENIUS WHO SIGNED MADONNA

...and The Smiths, Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders, Depeche Mode, Cure, Ice T, Seal

- MARK JEFFERIES

MUSIC was Seymour Stein’s life, and his instincts were legendary as he launched landmark acts from the Ramones to Madonna. 

The Sire Records founder has died aged 80, but he leaves a musical landscape still shaped by his genius and gut-feeling for a hit tune.

Nothing would get between Stein and a great new act – not illness, incapacitation or the prospect of having to jet over to Essex from his native New York.

He even signed Madonna in a hospital bed while recovering from an operation.

As well as shaping the New York music scene through New Wave and beyond, he introduced the US to top acts including Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths, The Cure and Seal.

Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr yesterday hailed him as a “legendary record man”. Echo and the Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch said Stein had “the best taste and ears I’ve ever known”. The Charlatans singer Tim Burgess agreed, saying: “Sire was a sign of great taste and quality. He knew good music.”