Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.

The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a record label were issued in 1968, distributed by London Records. From the beginning, Sire introduced underground, progressive British bands to the American market. Early releases included the Climax Blues Band, Barclay James Harvest, Tomorrow, Matthews Southern Comfort and proto-punks The Deviants. The label was distributed by Polydor Records from 1970 until 1971, during which time the now-famous logo was introduced, and then by Famous Music from 1972 to 1974, during which the progressive rock band Focus charted with their 1972 hit "Hocus Pocus". 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, Duane Eddy, The Small Faces and Del Shannon. ABC Records 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.

Seymour Stein (born 1942 in Brooklyn, New York) 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 magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros. Records and a co-founder of Sire Records.

In 1966 Stein and record producer Richard Gottehrer founded Sire Productions, which led to the formation of Sire Records, the label under which he signed pioneer artists such as the Ramones and Talking Heads in 1975, the Pretenders in 1980 and Madonna in 1982. Other acts signed by Sire include Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Ice-T, The Undertones and Echo & the Bunnymen.

Such was Stein's influence in signing and promoting the "New Wave" genre of music that he is sometimes credited with coming up with the name as an alternative to the term "punk", which he found derogative. The term had previously been used to refer to the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s.

To date, Stein remains the President of Sire Records and is also Vice President of Warner Bros. Records with which he has had a marketing and distribution deal from 1976 to 1994 and again since April 2003. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005, under the lifetime-achievement category.

The Mixtures were a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1965.

Australian musicians Terry Dean and Rod De Clerk met in Tasmania in 1965. They then met Laurie Arthur, a member of The Strangers, and the three decided to form a band together after a jam session. They quickly signed to EMI that same year and released three singles. They went through several line-up changes over the following few years, then signed to CBS Records in 1969. A few further singles followed before transferring to Fable Records in 1970.

As a result of the 1970 radio ban, during which many Australian radio stations refused to play Australian and British music released by major labels, the Mixtures recorded a cover of Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" and received much more airplay than had initially been expected for a group on a small record label. The single went to #1 in Australia for six weeks. They followed up with "The Pushbike Song" (produced by David Mackay), which went to #1 in Australia for two weeks, hit #2 in the UK Singles Chart, and went to #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. after being released on Sire Records.

The Veronicas are a rock band from Brisbane, Australia, formed in 1999 by twin sisters, Jessica and Lisa Origliasso. In addition to music, the sisters market their own line of clothing which debuted in 2007.

In 2005, The Veronicas released their first studio album entitled The Secret Life of... which peaked at #2 on the Australian charts and gained an Australian ARIA certification of 4x platinum for 280,000+ sales. In total, the album spawned five singles, three of which were top ten singles in Australia.

In 2007, the duo released their second studio album, Hook Me Up, which also peaked at #2 on the Australian charts and earned an Australian ARIA certification of 2x platinum for 140,000+ sales. To date, the album has garnered four Australian top ten singles. The album's title track, "Hook Me Up", was The Veronicas' first #1 single in Australia.

In 2004, Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso were introduced to the Music Director of The Bell Hughes Music Group (BHMG), Hayden Bell. After producing some demo recordings with the twins, Bell invited them to sign a publishing agreement with Excalibur Productions (a subsidiary of BHMG). In the process, Bell helped facilitate their progression in musical style from acoustic pop to the more rhythmic rock pop approach that is now their trademark. On the strength of these demos, Bell took them to meet the executives at Engine Room (a subsidiary of PBL (Packer) Group) and they were immediately signed to a production deal. To further develop their song writing skills, Bell connected them with several internationally acclaimed songwriters and producers including Clif Magness (who has written with Avril Lavigne), Billy Steinberg (Madonna, Cyndi Lauper), Max Martin (Britney Spears, Katy Perry, P!nk), Eric Nova, Dead Mono and Vince DeGiorgio, where they created a catalogue of over 50 songs.

Brad Ellis is an American composer, musical director, orchestrator and jazz pianist. Ellis is perhaps most visible as the quiet teacher/piano accompanist for the high school kids on Glee, the Fox television show for which he is part of creator Ryan Murphy's musical production team.

Ellis had a long association with the continuously evolving Off-Broadway satirical revue Forbidden Broadway.

His Brad Ellis Little Big Band has released recordings, as produced by Bruce Kimmel.

Ellis arranged, orchestrated and conducted members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their 2006 album Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars, in support of the Philharmonic's "Music Matters" fund for music education. The album featured performances by TV and film stars including Victor Garber, Lucy Lawless, and Scarlett Johansson.

In 2006 Ellis orchestrated and arranged the world premiere of Billy Joel's "Waltz Variations no.2 op.5", performed by Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra, for the 151st Anniversary Gala celebration of Philadelphia's Academy of Music.