Pop group Air Supply receives star on Walk of Fame

Wave Wire Services

HOLLYWOOD — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Oct. 8 honoring the pop musical duo Air Supply for a 51-year career that included eight top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the early 1980s.

English singer-songwriter and guitarist Graham Russell and Australian singer Russell Hitchcock were joined at the ceremony in front of the Fonda Theatre by retired “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, a longtime fan of the duo, and record producer David Foster.

“We’ve been very fortunate in our career to work with the best people, and one of our catchphrases is ‘just work with the best people,’” Russell said.

“We’ve always said being in the entertainment industry is like a jigsaw puzzle. Russell and I, we always say our band and our crew, we’re all playing a part, and no part is greater than the other,” he added. 

Hitchcock also paid tribute to the musicians and crew members who have worked with Air Supply over the decades.

“To every past member of our band and crew, you are our true unsung heroes,” Hitchcock said. “Your talent, loyalty and dedication have carried us farther than you’ll ever know.”

Foster co-wrote the 1984 soft-rock ballad “I Can Wait Forever” with Russell and Jay Graydon and co-produced the track, which was included on the soundtrack for “Ghostbusters.”

He also co-wrote the 1993 ballad “Goodbye” with Linda Thompson, which Air Supply recorded as the lead single for its 12th studio album, “The Vanishing Race.”

The ceremony came one day before the duo’s scheduled performance at the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa as part of the Blue Note Summer Sessions and two days before a concert at the Greek Theatre.

Russell and Hitchcock met May 12, 1975, as members of the chorus of the Australian touring company of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It was the first day of rehearsals.

According to a biography on their website, airsupplymusic.com, Russell and Hitchcock made a demo cassette of two songs, “Love and Other Bruises” and “If You Knew Me,” and took it to record companies throughout Sydney.

After being rejected by several labels, they signed with CBS Records.

“Love and Other Bruises,” released in 1976, reached sixth on Australia’s Kent Music Report chart.

The duo’s debut album, “Air Supply,” also released in 1976, reached 17th on the Australian chart and was certified gold.

Air Supply opened for Rod Stewart during his Australian tour in 1977, followed by an extensive North American tour from September through December of that year.

When the duo returned to Australia, however, they struggled to find work.

“We were broke, dead in the water with no gigs in sight because there had been no PR in Australia about these young guys with a hit song touring the U.S. with a legendary rocker. One of my musician friends saved my life by giving me the opportunity to record jingles,” Hitchcock said in an account published on the group’s website.

“And then Graham wrote the song that changed everything for us.”

That song was “Lost in Love,” which reached 13th on the Kent Music Report chart and caught the attention of music executive Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records.

Davis signed the duo, and “Lost in Love” went on to become a major U.S. hit, reaching third on the Billboard Hot 100.

Air Supply subsequently had three consecutive albums certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America from 1980 to 1982 — “Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love” and “Now and Forever.”

Among the duo’s other major hits were “All Out of Love,” “Making Love Out of Nothing at All,” “Even the Nights Are Better” and “Here I Am.”

Russell and Hitchcock have cited performing for Prince Charles and Princess Diana during Australia’s bicentennial celebrations in 1988 as a career highlight.

“How a kid from Nottingham, a blue-collar town with the UK’s largest coal reserves, came to talk with the future king is surreal to me,” Russell said in an account on the duo’s website. “Likewise, hearing Diana tell me that she owned several of our albums was unbelievable.”

Another career highlight came in 2005 when the duo performed before an estimated 175,000 people in Havana, Cuba.