Seymour Stein, who discovered the Ramones, Madonna, and more, dead at 80

SAN DIEGO — Seymour Stein was never a household name to most music fans before his Sunday death from cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 80. But he certainly was to the Ramones, the Talking Heads, Madonna, Ice-T, Depeche Mode and the dozens of other artists Stein signed to Sire Records, which he co-founded in New York in 1967.

Moreover, Stein was the behind-the-scenes missing link between such disparate acts as the English blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac in the 1960s, the Dutch prog-rock band Focus in the early 1970s, and the The Pretenders and Richard Hell & the Voidoids later in the same decade.

“I never believed in press for myself,” Stein said in a 2005 Union-Tribune interview previewing his induction that year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“It was one thing to have artists like the Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna, who couldn’t stop getting press. But I had other artists who never got press. And because of that, I never wanted any. I didn’t want an artist to say: ‘Hey! Why are you getting media attention and we’re not?’ And they would be right, because their careers are very fragile.

The 1980s saw Stein sign dozens of young acts. Along with Madonna and Depeche Mode, the list included the San Diego-bred band The Unknowns, while the 1990s saw San Diego’s Candye Kane record her standout album, “Swango,” for Sire.

Artists who thrived at Stein’s label included The Replacements, k.d. lang, The Cure, Seal, Aphex Twin, the Smiths, Ride, Madness and Echo & The Bunnymen. Stein was also instrumental in boosting Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Brian Wilson and Lou Reed, whose careers underwent dramatic revivals after being signed to Sire.

Born Seymour Steinbigle on April 18, 1942, the Brooklyn native began working in the music industry while he was still in his teens. He thrived behind the scenes, whether signing rising young artists to Sire, obtaining U.S. licensing deals for Sire with hip indie record labels in other countries, or co-founding the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983.

Stein was himself inducted into the hall in 2005 as a non-performing Lifetime Achievement honoree. It was the same year that The Pretenders — one of Sire Records’ most notable successes — were also inducted.

Introducing Stein, gangsta-rap pioneer Ice-T said: “Seymour was looking for somebody who had something to say. When you take Mighty Lemon Drops, the Ramones, Madonna, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Ministry, Ice-T, you put them together, it doesn’t seem like they go together. But they do. They all had an edge. That’s what Seymour was into.”

Chrissie Hynde, the mastermind of the Pretenders, was in awe of Stein’s musical range.

“He knows all the lyrics to every song you’ve ever heard!” she once said.

In a separate 2005 interview from their Connecticut home, Weymouth’s husband, ex-Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz, praised Stein’s tenacity.

“They say James Brown is the hardest working man in show business, but I think it’s Seymour,” said Frantz, who with Weymouth co-leads the dance-rock band the Tom Tom Club.

“He would get up at 4 a.m. to do phone calls to England, then be in the office at 9:30 a.m. and work all day. Then, he’d take bands out for dinner to woo them, then check out more bands in the clubs after that. It seemed that anywhere you went in the world, Seymour was there. He’s made a lot of money, but I feel like he’s earned it.”

And music was everything to Stein, who has spent most of his life pursuing his passion.

At the age of 13, he began hanging out at the Manhattan offices of Billboard, the record industry’s most prestigious weekly publication, where he drew attention by fastidiously reading through 15 years of back issues.

Billboard honcho Paul Ackerman was so impressed that Stein was soon hired to write concert reviews for Billboard. By 16, the magazine had hired him to work with record-charts editor Paul Noonan, with whom he developed the formula for compiling Billboard’s original Hot 100 singles charts.

Upon graduating from high school, Stein was hired by Cincinnati-based King Records, the home of such R&B and country-music greats as James Brown and the Stanley Brothers.

After 2 1/2 years, he returned to New York in 1963 to work for Red Bird Records, a label co-owned by songwriters Mike Lieber and Jerry Stoller (of “Hound Dog” and “Stand By Me” fame).

Stein and ex-Strangeloves member Richard Gottehrer formed Sire Productions in 1966; one of their first finds was Chain Reaction, a young band led by future Aerosmith singer Steve Tyler. Sire Records was born a short while later.

While visiting London in 1967, Stein and Gottehrer became partners in Blue Horizon, the English record label whose roster was then headed by Fleetwood Mac.

Stein struck gold in 1971 when he signed the Dutch prog-rock band Focus, which in 1973 scored an international hit with “Hocus Pocus.” He fared nearly as well with two English groups he signed during the same time period, Renaissance and Climax Blues Band.

By 1975, a musical revolution was incubating at CBGB’s, the now-legendary New York Club that spawned the Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Blondie and many more. Stein was ready.

“I didn’t look at it as a transition,” he said in the 2005 interview. “I wasn’t a latecomer. As a record company, I was the first (to go to CBGB’s and sign bands). So Sire exploded, and we had a great run.”

Stein’s memoir, “Siren Song,” was published in 2018, the same year he retired. He never became a household name, but the music he helped nurture and promote will continue to resonate for years to come in households worldwide.

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