Linda Stein, the pioneering music manager who went on to become a house hunter for A-list celebrities has been found battered to death in her New York penthouse. The Times.

She was found dead by her daughter. The coroner said yesterday that the post-mortem examination showed that she died from blows to the head and neck.

As co-manager of the Ramones, Stein brought them London for a breakthrough concert at the Roundhouse in July 1976 that helped to inspire the British punk movement.

After a divorce, and leaving the Ramones in 1980, Stein began brokering property deals for her friends among rock’n’roll royalty.

She found Madonna the flat in Central Park West that is still the star’s New York home and Sir Elton became godfather to one of her two daughters.

Her illustrious client list included Madonna, Sting, Billy Joel, Angelina Jolie, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Willis, Michael Douglas and Andrew Lloyd Webber.