Following Universal's acquisition of EMI, Virgin is now part of the biggest music company in the world. That was the only way he could raise the finance to keep his Virgin Atlantic airline afloat against fierce competition from British Airways. After signing Janet Jackson to a worldwide deal, Branson reluctantly sold Virgin Music to EMI for £510m in 1992. In the late Eighties, the label relaunched the career of Roy Orbison, gave Steve Winwood his biggest album and helped Soul II Soul conquer America. Having started the wonderful Front Line reggae imprint and welcomed UB40 and Scritti Politti, Virgin acquired Charisma and Genesis in 1983 and made world superstars of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. The company became a synth-pop powerhouse with the Human League, John Foxx and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as well as Simple Minds and Japan, two acts poached from Arista that went on to define the Eighties, along with Culture Club. Virgin became the punk and post-punk label of choice for X-Ray Spex, Penetration, XTC, Magazine, Devo, The Skids, the Members, Ruts and Public Image Ltd. By 1977, the company was over-reliant on Oldfield but managed to ditch its hippie image with the master-stroke signing of The Sex Pistols.
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