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Sire Records
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Sire Records Company is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records
Contents
- 1 Label history
- 1.1 Beginnings
- 1.2 Acquisition by Warner
- 2 See also
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Label history
Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. Its early releases as a record label were issued in 1968, distributed by London Records. The label was then distributed by Polydor Records from 1970 until 1971, during which the now-famous logo was first introduced, and then by Famous Music from 1972 to 1974, during which the progressive rock band Focus charted with their 1972 hit "Hocus Pocus."
Acquisition by Warner
In the later
1970s, Sire transformed itself into a large
independent record label and went on to sign artists from the burgeoning
punk rock and
New Wave scenes, including: The
Ramones,
The Dead Boys and
Talking Heads. After a brief period of distribution by
ABC Records, Sire was acquired by Warner Bros. Records in
1978. During the
1980s, Sire achieved mainstream concentration after having launched the recording careers of
Madonna and
Ice T, who were signed to the label in
1982 and
1986 respectively—as well as with
Depeche Mode and
The Cure. Into the
1990s, the label achieved more commercial notoriety with acts, such as:
Seal,
k.d. lang,
Tommy Page and
Alanis Morissette.
In 1995, Sire left Warner Bros. to operate under its sister label Elektra Records, where Stein was appointed president. Sire later left the Elektra umbrella, but remained at Warner Music Group. In 2000, Sire Records and the US division of London Records were merged to become "London-Sire Records" (still part of Warner Music Group). This partnership dissolved April 2003, at which point the company went back to being called Sire Records. In the time since, it has returned to the Warner Bros. Records fold.
See also
pt:Sire Records
fi:Sire Records
sv:Sire Records
