Madonna has paid tribute to Seymour Stein, the record executive who signed her to her first record deal, who has died aged 80.
Stein was the co-founder of Sire Records and was the first executive to believe in Madonna's vision - signing her to Sire in 1983 for her debut single Everybody and her first, self-titled album.
The rest, as they say, was pop history. On Instagram, Madonna paid tribute to the man who "changed and shaped" her world, recounting the story of when she first met Stein, as he was recovering from a heart ailment in the hospital, where she turned up with a boombox and played him Everybody.
He signed her to Sire on the spot. "This moment changed the course of my life forever," Madonna wrote, "and was the beginning of my journey as a musical artist.
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