American record industry legend Seymour Stan passed away on April 2nd local time at the age of 80.
A spokesperson for the Stan family confirmed to the media that Stan passed away at his home in Los Angeles, USA on the morning of April 2nd local time, after a long battle against cancer.
Stan was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1942 and entered the music industry at the age of 13, writing reviews for Billboard magazine. In 1961, at the age of 19, Stan switched to King Records, a company that included singers such as "Godfather of Souls" James Brown. In 1966, Stan and producer and songwriter Richard co founded Sail Records in Manhattan.
As one of the founders of Sail Records and one of the few non singers to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stan's experience is undoubtedly a legend.
An important job for record company owners is to identify good music and discover valuable singers. In this regard, Stan has performed quite well. He discovered numerous shining bands and musicians, including punk pioneer Raymond, New Wave (a type of music genre) voice avatars (formed in 1974 by the British rock band), and pop diva Madonna.
In 1982, Stan was hospitalized for heart disease, during which he completed the most successful signing of his career - signing a record contract with Madonna. At that time, Madonna attracted widespread attention in the industry for her single "Everybody". Due to concerns about being "ahead of her" by other companies, Stan signed a record contract with Madonna while in bed.
Although he doesn't know how to play instruments or operate recording studios, Stan has a pair of "good ears" that can make him a genius to "hear". When he was in his 70s, he still traveled around the world, like a hunter searching for prey in the forest, searching for new people all over the world.
As Sid Nathan, the producer of King Records, once said, the substance flowing through Stan's veins is shellac (a material used to make 78 RPM records). "In early 1957, a nervous teenager was sitting with his father in an office in the city center, facing a tough record producer. He said to the skeptical father, 'Listen, your son's veins are filled with shellac. If he doesn't do this (music industry), it will ruin him.'" The New York Times reported.
