Music industry legend Seymour Stein touched millions of lives, from the fans of the bands he signed in the 1970s and 80s at Sire Records — The Ramones, The Smith, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode — to one of the most iconic pop stars in music history: Madonna.
“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 in an Instagram post on Monday (April 3) featuring a screen shot from her 1992 “Deeper and Deeper” video, in which Stein had a cameo. The quintessential record man and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who was also a vice president at Warner Bros. Records — and who began his career in the industry as a teenage intern at Billboard — died on Sunday in Los Angeles at age 80 from cancer.
Stein signed a then-unknown Madonna to Sire Records in 1982, introducing the world to a singer who would become one of the most iconic pop, and pop culture, figures in modern history. In her post, the singer gave the origin story of their relationship, explaining that she “stalked” New York DJ Mark Kamin for a year at the club Danceteria in the early 1980s until he finally agreed to play her demo of “Everybody” on a Saturday night.
“The Club was packed. An A&R man from SIRE records was there — Michael Rosenblatt.
He heard the music and asked me if he could bring me to meet his boss Seymour Stein,” Madonna wrote. “I Couldn’t get the words ‘Hell Yes’! out of my mouth fast enough!” Unfortunately, she continued, Stein was hospitalized at the time with a heart ailment, but the indomitable singer/dancer was undeterred, holding their first meeting from his hospital bed with the music man who was wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a wife beater tank top.
“He had a cannula up his nose and a saline Drip in his arm! He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat,” she recalled. “I was carrying my giant boombox ready to play My cassette for him immediately! He smiled and laughed when he saw me and asked me if I was related to the Virgin Mary!! Hahahhahahaa. I knew we would hit it off. I played him the song a few times. He signed me to his record label that day!!”
It was a moment that, of course, changed her life forever, launching her journey as a musical artist and pop culture juggernaut. But, she wrote, Stein did something even more important. “Not only did Seymour hear me but he Saw me and my Potential! For this I will be eternally grateful!,” she said. “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. Anyone who knew Seymour knew about his passion for music and his impeccable taste. He had an Ear like no other!”
As anyone who knew Stein would attest, Madonna confirmed that Seymour was “intense,” as well as “wickedly funny, a little bit crazy and deeply intuitive.” She ended the post featuring a series of snaps of the pair from throughout the years with a homage to the man with the golden ear who believed in music, and musicians, with an unrelenting passion and fervor.
“Dearest Seymour you will never be forgotten!! Thank You! Thank you Thank you!,” she wrote. “Shine on!!!”
Check out Madonna’s tribute here and the Stein cameo in”Deeper and Deeper” video (at the 1:45 mark) below.
