ELO Creator Jeff Lynne Honored at Walk of Fame
By Russ Allsup
On May 23rd music icon Jeff Lynne received a star on the world famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. I arrived to the 11:30 am ceremony at 10:30 am, and was given a wristband with 73 on it, so I knew I would get a decent spot for some pictures.
When they let everyone that had been waiting into the area where the ceremony would take place, I got lucky and ended up right next to where all the action would be- right in front of the Capitol Records building on Vine Street. As the proceedings started, celebrities made their way towards the designated spots. The crowd grew excited as famous folks from the entertainment industry, such as Charles Fleisher (the voice of Roger Rabbit), Mike Campbell (guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?), and Dani and Olivia Harrison (George Harrison’s son and wife) found their seats. After that Joe Walsh and Tom Petty walked past the crowd of onlookers.
Then came the man of the hour, Jeff Lynne. Jeff was being honored for his achievements with various musical projects he’s been involved in, such as The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, The Travelling Wilburys, as well as a solo career and a producer of artists like Tom Petty and Brian Wilson. Speeches were given by members of the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, as well as Joe Walsh and fellow Wilbury Tom Petty. Joe’s speech was very entertaining and had multiple references to and used titles of many ELO songs, while Tom had said that he “would come down once a month to clean Jeff’s star”.
After that, honoree Jeff Lynn gave a heartfelt thank you speech that had the audience hanging on every word. Jeff comes across as a very humble guy and you could tell he was touched by such an honor, and happy to have a star in front of the Capitol records building next to the stars of the Beatles members, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, and other prominent Capitol recording artist and music legends.
