Luther Campbell

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Simple... Minds, Lenny Kravitz, The Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, and more on their list of artists. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. Its American operations were merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group. Branson and Powell had initially run a small record shop called Virgin Records and Tapes on Notting Hill Gate, London, specialising particularly in "krautrock" imports, and offering bean bags and free vegetarian food for the benefit of customers listening to the music on offer. After making the shop into a success, they turned their business into a fully fledged record label. The name Virgin, according to Branson , arose from Tessa Watts, a colleague of his, when they were brainstorming business ideas. She suggested Virgin - as they were all new to business - like "virgins".
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E1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is an independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal. On January 22, 2009, Koch Records was officially branded as "E1 Music" by parent company... Entertainment One. E1 Music was formed in May 1999 as "Koch Records" to serve as the North American umbrella for E1 Entertainment's labels . They would sign many country, classical, and rock acts including, Cledus T. Judd, Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Chris Brubeck, Bob James, and an exclusive distribution with Suge Knight's embattled Death Row Records. The label soon began to gain ground on the other independent record labels in the United States. In the 2000s, they began to sign more hip hop acts and become one of the biggest hip hop labels in the world. They signed various distribution deals with labels like Open Bar Entertainment, Terror Squad, D-Block Records, and others. In 2004, they were able to sign a deal with Snoop Dogg and his Doggystyle Records along with Mobb Deep.
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Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group. The label now operates as a division of The Island Def Jam Music Group in the United States and as a... standalone label in the United Kingdom . Since 2007, there is also a frontline local artist and repertoire label in Australia known as Island Records Australia, run by Universal Music Australia. Island Records was also the founding company behind the highly influential Anime licensor Manga Entertainment, which has changed hands numerous times during the 90's and early 2000s. Island Records was founded in Jamaica in 1959 by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall, and partially financed by Stanley Borden from RKO, taking its name from the 1955 Alec Waugh novel, subsequent film and Harry Belafonte hit song "Island in the Sun". The company relocated to the UK in May 1962.
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