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The Latest Breaking News from Virgin Records

Sir Branson Revealed He Tried to Buy a Private Island to Impress Joan — Despite Not Having Cash For It

Richard Branson shared in 2020 how he attempted to buy Necker Island for £75,800 to impress Joan, was rejected, and had to hitchhike home. A romantic gamble that paid off.

International Business Times UK

Billionaire Richard Branson mourns his wife and partner of 50 years, Joan: ‘She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world’

Branson announced Joan’s death on Tuesday. She was 80 years old.

Fortune

Richard Branson announces death of wife Joan: ‘My rock, my world’

The Virgin founder has paid tribute to his wife and partner of 50 years

Evening Standard

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“Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed it.’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.’”: Kelis and the complicated story of Milkshake

Singer claims she was ‘swindled’ by its producers

MusicRadar

"She was in that cavewoman outfit, doing her dance with a big wig and the two dancers going at it. I’m like: ‘This is really not me.’”: Heaven 17 on their unlikely role in Tina Turner’s comeback

The soul legend recorded Let’s Stay Together in one take

MusicRadar

“It sounded great, but I don’t know if it felt like history was happening”: Richard Branson says he happened to be in the studio when Phil Collins was recording what "might be the most famous drum solo of all time"

The 75-year-old mogul has also been discussing Mike Oldfield, the Sex Pistols and the birth of Virgin Records

MusicRadar

Mike Oldfield announces double-vinyl, half-speed remaster of Amarok reissue for October

Mike Oldfield celebrates the 35th anniversary of Amarok with a newly remastered vinyl reissue

Louder

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Steve Jobs didn’t actually become a billionaire thanks to leading Apple—but rather from his work with this film company

Steve Jobs’ $10 million bet on Pixar turned him into a billionaire, long before the introduction of the iPhone.

Fortune

Peter Hammill to release 20-disc The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986 box set in September

Peter Hammill's solo albums for Charisma and Virgin Records have been newly remastered from the original master tapes.

Louder

OPINION - Richard Branson: London is the world's most exciting city and this is why I'll always invest here

Every time I visit London, I’m captivated by the energy of this incredible city. It still gives me the same sense of excitement and opportunity I felt back in 1971 — standing on Oxford Street at the opening of the first Virgin record shop.

Evening Standard

“We had four guitarists, which was unheard of at that point”: Johnny Hickman on his pre-Cracker band, the Unforgiven, revisiting the Cracker catalog, and big, bone-headed riffs

Re-recording their catalog for the epic Alternative History, Cracker are taking control of their own story, and it's one that begins with a riff and their own Mick and Keef creative chemistry

Guitar World

“The conservatism of what’s called progressive rock these days appals me”: The life and times of Steve Hillage, the maverick guitarist who helped shape the sound of prog

Steve Hillage was one of the architects of 70s prog

Louder

"It’s timeless. It was always in its own world; it didn’t fit into any category.” Tangerine Dream and the story of Phaedra

Did you know that Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake & Palmer were both instrumental in the creation of Tangerine Dream's fifth album Phaedra? Read on...

Louder

Richard Branson and Island Records boss urged to fund UK Black music exhibition

Petition calls on Virgin Records founder and Chris Blackwell to back venture after profiting from such music

The Guardian - UK

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Louder

"We were just looking for a hit. And we heard the beginnings of a new kind of sound": Inspired by Australian pubs and riding a wave of optimism, Simple Minds made the album that sent them soaring

As the 80s dawned, Simple Minds were in crisis. But, believing that life was without limits, they recorded the album New Gold Dream and the dream became reality

Louder

“Gong is the band you listen to when you smoke your first joint or drop your first acid trip at school”: The mind-bending story of cult psychedelic heroes Gong

Looking back on the career of psychedelic oddballs Gong, one of rock’s most eccentric bands

Top News

Jay Sean Partners With Virgin Records To Support South Asian Artists

Explore Jay Sean's music journey, influences, and commitment to cultural representation in the music industry.

MusicRadar

From Holy Grail to dodo: how the legendary SynthAxe went from being "the future of the electric guitar" to "way beyond what most guitarists could comprehend"

But if you own this rare and mythical musical instrument beast, then the drinks are on you…

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Louder

“Mike Oldfield engineered the first track Henry Cow recorded, because Tom Newman had been celebrating the end of Tubular Bells and was brainless drunk under the console”: Bassist John Greaves’ life in prog

After starting out in his dad’s dance band, the Welshman encountered Henry Cow at university, knew he had to be part of it - and he’s never looked back

Newcastle Herald

Mick Blood crawling back with the Lime Spiders

WHEN Lime Spiders' frontman Mick Blood steps onto the Wickham Park Hotel stage on Friday night it'll mark an emotional return to Newcastle. The last time he visited the city he almost died. It was 2014 and Blood had just resettled in the harbourside suburb of Stockton, following the breakdown…

The Guardian - UK

Branson review – makes you wonder if Sir Richard’s risk-taking is really worth celebrating

This four-part documentary series profiles an existence in which the Virgin boss has repeatedly gambled his financial security – and even his life. But is it worth celebrating?

Evening Standard

Branson on Sky and NOW documentary review: say what you like about ‘old beardy’, it’s one hell of a story

This documentary shows if you strip away the shameless showmanship, Branson has created one of Britain’s few properly global brands from scratch and had a lot of fun along the way

Wales Online

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells 50th anniversary concert announced for Swansea Arena

Music from Tubular Bells was famously used in the film The Exorcist, and it became the highest selling instrumental album of all time

The Guardian - UK

Linton Kwesi Johnson: ‘I certainly did not see myself as an angry young black poet’

The poet and activist’s life in verse has chronicled black British history. He talks about remaining hopeful, integrity, and taking 20 years to find his voice

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