Virgin Records is a British recording label founded by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and Nik Powell in 1972 after a period of selling discount records via their small shop in London. The first release on the label was the classic progressive rock album Tubular Bells by multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield in 1973 (see 1973 in music).

In 1977 they signed the Censored page, which really put the label on the map. Afterwards they signed also groups like Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, and others.

Virgin Records was sold by Branson to EMI in 1992 for a reported £550 million. It now faces competition from Branson's new label: V2 Records.

After being acquired by EMI, Virgin continued signing new artists like the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, the Chemical Brothers and the Spice Girls.

See Also

• List of record labels

External Links

• Virgin Records Official Website http://www.virginrecords.com/