A champion of punk and new wave, his label helped break Talking Heads, the Replacements, Dead Boys, the Smiths, the Pretenders, the Saints, and many others
With an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music, he championed acts including the Ramones, Talking Heads and the Pretenders on his label Sire, and helped found the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Seymour Stein, the brash, prescient and highly successful founder of Sire Records who helped launched the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads and many others, died on Sunday at age 80.