Sire Records

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Sire Records

Sire Records is an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
record label, owned by Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third-largest of the big four music industry, the others being Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Universal Music Group....
and distributed through Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an United States record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. It is also affectionately known as "Warners" and 'the Bunny', based on the Bugs Bunny cartoons released by Warner Bros....

label was founded in 1966

1966 in music

Events*January 3 - Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out".*January 8 - Shindig! airs for the last time on American Broadcasting Company, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein

Seymour Stein

Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard in 1958....
and Richard Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer is an United States songwriter, record producer and record label executive.Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back " and "I Want Candy"....
. Its early releases as a record label were issued in 1968

1968 in music

Events*January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding....
, distributed by London Records

London Records

London Records is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 in music through 1979 in music, then becoming a semi-independent label....
. From the beginning, Sire introduced obscure British bands to the American market. Early releases included the Climax Blues Band

Climax Blues Band

The original Climax Chicago Blues Band, later to become known as the Climax Blues Band was formed in Stafford, England in 1968 and continued until 1988....
, Barclay James Harvest

Barclay James Harvest

Barclay James Harvest is a United Kingdom rock band specialising in Symphonic/Melodic Rock with folk/progressive/classical influences. The band was founded in Saddleworth, a civil parish now in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in September 1966 by John Lees , Les Holroyd, Woolly Wolstenholme, and Mel Pritchard ....
and proto-punks The Deviants.

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Encyclopedia

Sire Records is an American

United States

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third-largest of the big four music industry, the others being Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Universal Music Group....
and distributed through Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Label history

Beginnings

The label was founded in 1966

1966 in music

Seymour Stein

Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard in 1958....
and Richard Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer

1968 in music

Events*January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding....
, distributed by London Records

London Records

Climax Blues Band

The original Climax Chicago Blues Band, later to become known as the Climax Blues Band was formed in Stafford, England in 1968 and continued until 1988....
, Barclay James Harvest

Barclay James Harvest

Polydor Records

Polydor Records is a record label currently headquartered in the United Kingdom, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group....
from 1970

1970 in music

Events * Charles Wuorinen becomes the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.* January 3 - Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees....
until 1971

1971 in music

Events*February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband. They never performed together again until April 21, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music....
, during which time the now-famous logo was introduced, and then by Famous Music

Famous Music

Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Awards-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump....
from 1972

1972 in music

Events*January 17 - Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Blvd"*January 20 - Pink Floyd debuts Dark Side of the Moon during a performance at The Dome, in Brighton, but due to technical difficulties, is halted during the song 'Money'....
to 1974

1974 in music

Events*January - Ramones form.*January - Joni Mitchell releases her monumental album Court and Spark, supported by the single "Help Me " reaching the highest moment of commercial success....
, during which the progressive rock band Focus

Focus (band)

Focus is a Netherlands progressive rock band. It was founded by classically trained organ /flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969. It is most famous for the songs "Hocus Pocus " and "Sylvia"....
charted with their 1972 hit "Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus (song)

"Hocus Pocus" is a 1971 song from Moving Waves, the second album by Netherlands rock group Focus . It was written by guitarist Jan Akkerman and flautist/keyboardist Thijs van Leer....
." In the seventies, Sire released a number of compilation LPs, including the 3 volume "History Of British Rock" series, and diverse artists such as The Turtles

The Turtles

The Turtles are an United States Pop music and folk rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, who became notable for numerous Top 40 hits beginning with their cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" , and "Happy Together " ....
, Duane Eddy

Duane Eddy

Duane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, he is acclaimed as the most successful rock and roll instrumentalist of all time....
, The Small Faces

The Small Faces

Small Faces were an England Rock music group from East London, England, heavily influenced by United States rhythm and blues. The group was founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston ....
, and Del Shannon

Del Shannon

Del Shannon , was an United States rock and roller who had a Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1961 hit ,"Runaway ", in 1961....
. ABC Records

ABC Records

ABC Records started in 1955 in music as ABC-Paramount Records, the record label of Am-Par Record Corporation , formed in New York City in 1955. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent record producer and purchased regionally- released records for national distribution....
inherited Sire's distribution contract when it acquired Famous Music in 1974. The UK signing policy was vindicated when Climax Blues Band scored a Top 40 hit in 1977 with "Couldn't Get It Right," Also in 1977 Stein, who had worked with the group in the 1960s, convinced the Shangri-Las to reform and return to the studio. But the trio was unhappy with the quality of material it recorded, and the trio opted out of its contract. Those tracks have yet to be released.

Acquisition by Warner

In the later 1970s, Sire transformed itself into a successful independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels....
and went on to sign artists from the burgeoning punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock....
and New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a genre of rock music which originated from the late 1970s. It emerged from punk rock as a reaction against the popular music of the 1970s....
scenes, including the Ramones

Ramones

The Ramones were an American Rock music band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, Queens, New York, in 1974, all of the band members adopted stage names ending with "Ramone", though none of them were actually related....
, the Dead Boys

The Dead Boys

The Dead Boys were an American punk band from Cleveland, Ohio. Among one of the first bands to play punk rock, the band was initially active from 1976 to 1979, they reunited several times until a so far permanent break-up in 2005....
and Talking Heads

Talking Heads

Talking Heads was an American rock music rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison....
. Sire switched distribution to Warner Bros. Records in 1977 which acquired Sire in 1978

1978 in music

Events*January to May - The Bee Gees dominate the singles and album charts as Saturday Night Fever becomes a cultural phenomenon. At one point, the album was selling 1 million copies per week....
. During the 1980s, Sire achieved mainstream status after having launched the recording careers of Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Madonna moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance....
and Ice T

Ice T

Tracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is a Grammy Award and NAACP Image Award winning rapper, actor, and author. He is credited with helping to pioneer gangsta rap, a sub-genre of hip hop music, in the late 1980s....
—who were signed to the label in 1982 and 1986 respectively—as well as with Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode is an electronic music band formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex, England. The group's original line-up was Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke ....
, Echo and The Bunnymen, and The Cure

The Cure

The Cure are an English Rock music band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several lineup changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member....
in North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. Into the 1990s, the label had continued commercial success with acts such as Seal

Seal (musician)

Seal Henry Olusegun Kwassi Olumide Adelo Samuel is a British Soul music singer and songwriter. His name Olusegun means "God is victorious"....
, k.d. lang

K.D. Lang

k.d. lang Order of Canada is a Canada pop music and country music singer-songwriter. The artist gives her name in lowercase letters, with the given names contracted to initials and no space between these initials....
, Tommy Page

Tommy Page

Tommy Page is an United States singer, best known for his 1990 hit single, "I'll Be Your Everything ."...
, and A House

A House

A House were an Ireland band from the 1980s to the 1990s. The single "Endless Art" is one of their charting successes....
.

In 1994, Sire left Warner Bros. to operate under its sister label Elektra Records

Elektra Records

Elektra Records is a now-dormant United States record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group....
where Stein was appointed president under newly appointed CEO Sylvia Rhone

Sylvia Rhone

Sylvia Rhone began her music career in 1974 with Buddah Records. Advancing to senior VP of Atlantic Records in 1988, she became the first African-American woman to head a major record company in 1990, when she was appointed president/CEO of Atlantic division Eastwest Records....
. Sire later left the Elektra umbrella, but remained at Warner Music Group. In 2000, Sire Records and the US division of London Records

London Records

Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
) were merged to become London-Sire Records

London-Sire Records

London-Sire Records was an United States-based record label owned by Warner Music Group, created in 2000 in music with the merging of Sire Records and London Records....
. This partnership dissolved in April 2003, at which point the company went back to being called Sire Records, and it returned to the aegis of Warner Bros. Records.

Sire Records

Label history

Beginnings

Acquisition by Warner

See also

External Links