Music industry veteran Seymour Stein started working at Billboard magazine in New York as a teenager. In 1966, he formed Sire Productions with record producer Richard Gottehrer, which eventually lead to Sire Records. A huge fan of the Record Research books, Seymour and Joel Whitburn became fast friends, sharing a mutual passion for music and the charts.
Seymour had a great eye for talent and signed many artists, including the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Pretenders and Madonna. Here’s a sampling of some of Sire’s biggest chart hits through the decades …
1970s
Hocus Pocus – Focus
Couldn’t Get It Right – Climax Blues Band
Rockaway Beach – Ramones
Rivers Of Babylon – Boney M
Pop Muzik – M
1980s
Tainted Love – Soft Cell
Genius Of Love – Tom Tom Club
Back On The Chain Gang – Pretenders
Burning Down The House – Talking Heads
I Melt With You – Modern English
Like A Virgin – Madonna
White Horse – Laid Back
People Are People – Depeche Mode
Chains Of Love – Erasure
1990s
I’ll Be Your Everything – Tommy Page
Constant Craving – k.d. lang
Far Behind – Candlebox
Kiss From A Rose – Seal