Former Ramones Co-Manager Linda S. Stein Found Murdered In New York

Linda S. Stein, a New York City real estate agent who helped foster the careers of punk pioneers the Ramones as their co-manager, is dead at sixty-two. Stein was found bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment and police have ruled the death a homicide. As the wife of Sire Records head Seymour Stein in the Seventies, Stein helped the Ramones secure a series of landmark concerts in Britain. She was also heavily entrenched in the music scene at the time, as her husband's label had artists like Talking Heads, Madonna and the B-52's on its roster. Elton John considered Stein a dear friend for nearly four decades, saying in a statement yesterday, "I'm absolutely shocked and upset. She's been a friend for over thirty-seven years and will be greatly missed." Though the Steins divorced in late Seventies, Linda enjoyed an incredibly successful second career as a real estate broker, selling properties to some of the biggest names in all industries and serving as the model for the character portrayed by Sylvia Miles in Wall Street. Stein is survived by two daughters and a granddaughter.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter