Legendary Jewish music exec Seymour Stein dies at 80

Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records, which brought such musical powerhouses as the Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna to the public light, died Sunday morning in Los Angeles at age 80 after a long battle with cancer.

According to Variety, a well-curated mixtape of Sire releases from the ’80s and ’90s is like the soundtrack to an era. Depeche Mode, Ice-T, Lou Reed, the Pretenders, the Smiths, the Cure, Seal, the Replacements and many other artists released some of their greatest music on Sire.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post during a 2014 visit to Israel, the Jewish Stein recalled how his observant parents were not thrilled that he decided to venture into the music business.

“Music captured me when I was very, very young. Even before I knew what being in the music business meant, I wanted to be in it. Naturally, my parents would have liked to have seen me be a doctor or lawyer,” said Stein, who grew up in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood.

“I didn’t have the talent or the patience to be a musician; I just wanted to be in the music business, and I had a knack for listening to things and being able to tell whether they would be hits, even before rock & roll. I was very fortunate. It’s given me the most fantastic life.”

Breaking into the music business

By the time he was 23, in 1966, with the rock & roll revolution in full swing, Stein founded his own label, Sire, together with a songwriter/producer he met while working in the mid-’60s in the legendary New York songwriting factory The Brill Building – Richard Gottehrer – a 25-year-old friend and songwriter/producer who had already hit the big time with 1960s produced-and-written hits like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy.”

Unlike most major label executives in that suit-and-tie era, who relied on scouts to descend to the trenches to see new artists, Stein saw himself as a person with his ear to the ground, which he used well in the mid-1970s.

“The major labels were in these big buildings. They didn’t go down to the Bowery [the New York neighborhood housing the punk music laboratory CBGB]; they thought the Bowery was a rough area. We were working from the streets. We were not executives, we were shleppers,” Stein said.

What he discovered were young bands playing raw music that brought rock back to its basics – bands like The Ramones and Talking Heads. Most major labels wouldn’t have touched them with a 10-foot pole.

Stein said he was blown away by the energy and talent, and signed them on, spurring a movement – some called it punk, some called it new wave – whose influence is still felt today.

Stein also signed an unknown Madonna after hearing a demo in the hospital while recovering from open-heart surgery. The singer logged a solid-platinum track record for the company from 1983-1990. Six of her albums attained multi-platinum status, and two – Like a Virgin (1984) and the compilation The Immaculate Collection (1990) – received Recording Industry Association of America’s “Diamond Record” awards for sales of more than 10 million.

Additionally, Stein was instrumental in bringing Israeli superstar Ofra Haza to an international audience. She became Israel’s first successful musical export in the 1980s, with her Middle Eastern Yemenite pop mixes that became big dance hits.

But according to Stein, it wasn’t Haza’s nationality that attracted him – it was the music.

“I met her and I was very much taken by her. I think she could’ve become a world star,” he added, lamenting her untimely death in 2000.

Summing up his career, Stein told the Post that he was grateful for the opportunities he’s had. “The music business gave me my life. I’m not particularly talented in any way, shape or form, other than I have good ears and I’m a fan of music. I can’t play an instrument, but I can spot talent,” he said.

Stein is survived by his daughter, film director and producer Mandy Stein.