In mourning, Madonna. Over the weekend, the pop icon posted a heartfelt Instagram tribute to Seymour Stein, the record label executive who discovered and signed her in 1982 following his passing.
The 64-year-old singer announced alongside a carousel of colourful old photographs of herself with Seymour, “Seymour Stein Has Passed Away!” “I need to catch my breath,” she said. He shaped my life and was one of the most influential men I’ve ever known. The “Like a Virgin” singer then described the life of a pop music icon.
In the early 1980s, Madonna was a powerful, tenacious young singer from Michigan making waves in Manhattan clubs like Danceteria. In 1982, after she persuaded a DJ to play a demo of her song “Everyone” at the club, a SIRE records AandR rep approached her about meeting with his boss, Seymour, to discuss her music.
Madonna recalls, “I couldn’t get ‘Hell Yes!’ out of my mouth fast enough”.
The future Grammy winner showed up at his hospital bed carrying a boombox and a cassette tape of her songs in the most Madonna of Madonna moments. “When I first met him, he was lying in a hospital bed wearing boxer shorts, was hooked up to a saline drip in his arm, and had a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. “
When he saw me, he asked if I was related to the Virgin Mary, grinning and laughing. Hahahhahahaa. We’d get along just fine, I was sure. I gave him a few listens to the song. “Seymour signed her up for a $45,000 music deal with SIRE Records right away, which included three singles and the option to record an album.
“I liked the sound of Madonna, the setting, and the name Madonna. In his biography Siren Song, released in 2018, Seymour stated, “I enjoyed it all and played it again.”.
She was “all dressed up in cheap punky clothing, the kind of club girl who looked hilariously out of place on a cardiac unit,” according to him. She showed no interest even when I told her how much I liked her demo”.
She said, “The thing to do now signs me to a record deal.”. The course of my life was altered by this event forever. My career as a musician began at that point. I will always be grateful to Seymour for listening to me and seeing my potential.
She admits, “I’m crying as I write this. “After years of slogging, being broke, and having every door slammed in my face, words cannot describe how I felt at this precise moment. Naturally, Madonna went on to sell hundreds of millions of records, pack stadiums, and establish herself as a once-in-a-generation artist still producing music and performing four decades later.
The Ramones, Talking Heads, and the Pretenders were among the artists Seymour supported, in addition to Madonna, his most famous discovery. He co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and its annual induction ceremony. He leaves behind three grandchildren as well as a sister.
