Madonna calls Seymour Stein ‘one of the most influential’ people in her life after record exec’s death

By Dan Heching, CNN

Madonna needed to “catch (her) breath” while remembering Seymour Stein — the record executive who initially signed her in the early ’80s — after learning that he had died over the weekend at the age of 80.

The iconic entertainer posted a series of pictures of herself with the former Sire Records chief to her Instagram on Monday, writing in the caption that he was “one of the most influential” people in her life.

She added that he “changed” and shaped her “world,” going on to recount the famous tale of how they were initially connected.

After explaining how she “stalked” a DJ at the famous New York City nightclub Danceteria, Madonna said she finally got him to play “Everybody” — the song that would eventually become her first single — which was heard by an “A&R man” from Sire Records.

“He heard the music and asked me if he could bring me to meet his boss Seymour Stein,” Madonna wrote, adding that she couldn’t “get the words ‘Hell Yes’! out of my mouth fast enough!”

She then explained that Stein was in the hospital at the time, but mentioned how she jumped at the opportunity to meet him nonetheless.

“He smiled and laughed when he saw me and asked me if I was related to the Virgin Mary!” the “Vogue” singer wrote of the executive, later adding, “I knew we would hit it off. I played him the song a few times. He signed me to his record label that day!!”

Madonna wrote that the “moment changed the course” of her life, identifying the encounter as the beginning of her “journey” as a musical artist.

“Not only did Seymour hear me,” she wrote, but he saw her and her potential. “For this I will be eternally grateful!”

“I am weeping as I write this down,” the superstar said toward the end of her remarks. “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.”

Stein, who co-founded Sire Productions as a precursor to Sire Records, was also responsible for signing notable music acts such as the Talking Heads, the Ramones, and the Pretenders, among others.

He paved the way for Madonna to release her first self-titled studio album just shy of forty years ago, in July of 1983.

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