Before she was known as the Queen of Pop, Madonna was an unknown Manhattan club act, who had aspirations of making it big as a singer.
She owes it all to one man: Seymour Stein, who served as her fairy godfather of sorts; after all, after meeting him, everything fell into place for her, and it began her decades-long successful run.
"Seymour Stein has left us!! I need to catch my breath," the singer-songwriter wrote in an Instagram post following the death of the Sire Records legend. "He was one of the most influential men in my life! He changed and shaped my world."
She began explaining how she "stalked" Dj Mark Kamin for a year at a club called Dancetaria in the early 1980s before he finally gave her a shot.
Madonna played him a demo of a song called "Everybody," but apparently, another person was listening to her demo, an A&R man from Sire Records named Michael Rosenblatt.
"He heard the music and asked me if he could bring me to meet his boss Seymour Stein," Madonna continued. "I couldn't get the words 'Hell Yes!' out of my mouth fast enough!"
Meeting Seymour Stein
The "Like a Virgin" singer recounted meeting Stein for the first time. Ironically, it was probably the same way she said her final goodbyes to him as well: he was on a hospital bed.
"When I met him he was laying in a hospital bed wearing his boxer shorts and a wife beater!
"He had a cannula up his nose and a saline Drip in his arm! He was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
"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!"
She went on to narrate how Stein instantly asked her to sign under his label after hearing her play her demo, and she credited him for her success.
"This moment changed the course of my life forever," Madonna wrote. "And was the beginning of my journey as a musical artist. Not only did Seymour heard me but he saw me and my potential! For this, I will be eternally grateful!"
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Stein's Success
Aside from Madonna, Stein had a hand in launching the careers of some of music's biggest artists like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Ice-T, the Pretenders, the Cure, the Smiths, and more.
He reportedly died after a long battle with cancer last Monday. He was 80.
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