Sir Richard Branson Honored With Walk Of Fame Star

HOLLYWOOD, CA — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Tuesday honoring English business magnate Sir Richard Branson for his contributions to the recording industry.

"This star is for all the Virgin family," Branson said, referring to the name of his conglomerate, which got its name his record store, so named because he and his co-founder Nik Powell considered themselves virgins in business.

"The people who have worked for us ... the artists who created for us and of course, the people who bought, who played and who loved our music."

Branson was joined in speaking at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony in front of the Guinness World Record Museum on Hollywood Boulevard by singer Lance Bass, a longtime friend, and three-time Grammy winning singer Ben Harper, who has recorded for Branson's Virgin Records.

"Being given this star outside the museum of the Guinness World Records is also a great honor," Branson said. "I have a few of these records, but I think also have the unofficial world record for being pulled out of the sea on five separate occasions by helicopter."

Branson set such records as being in the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the first balloon to cross the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada and the wealthiest host of a reality television series for Fox's short-lived "The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best," topping President Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey.

Branson's star is the 2,647th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the first 1,558 stars.

Born July 18, 1950, in London, Branson established a mail-order record business in 1970 and a record shop in Oxford Street in London in 1971. In 1972, he started the record label Virgin Records.

The label's first release was the progressive rock album "Tubular Bells" by multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, which gained global attention when it was used on the soundtrack to the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist." It reached the top of the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada and was third in the United States.

Virgin Records went on to sign such artists as the Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel, becoming the biggest independent label in the world. Virgin Records' recent artists include Daft Punk, Katy Perry and Bastille.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Branson's Virgin Megastores established record stores throughout the world.

City News Service; Sir Richard Branson gets inducted into The Flight Path Walk of Fame at LAX at LAX Airport on March 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)