The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company.

Early releases included the Climax Blues Band, Barclay James Harvest, Tomorrow, Matthews Southern Comfort and proto-punks The Deviants.

In the 70s, Sire released a number of compilation albums, including the 3 volume "History Of British Rock" series, and acts such as The Flamin Groovies, Renaissance, The Turtles, Duane Eddy, the Small Faces, and Del Shannon.

Sire had one of its biggest successes when Climax Blues Band reached number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977 with "Couldn't Get It Right".

But the trio working together again proved to be short-lived and they asked to be let out of their contract; the new songs they had recorded were not released by the label.

In the mid-1970s, Sire transformed itself into a successful independent record label and went on to sign artists from the burgeoning punk rock and new wave scenes, including the Ramones, the Dead Boys, the Undertones, and Talking Heads.