Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album (early Peel Sessions for the UK's BBC Radio 1 feature O'List's playing). Roxy Music's first hit "Virginia Plain" made the UK top 5 in 1972, and was followed up with several hit singles and albums, with Ferry as their lead vocalist and instrumentalist (he taught himself the piano in his mid-twenties) and Eno contributing synthesiser backing. After their second album, Brian Eno left Roxy Music, leaving Ferry its undisputed leader. Ferry started a parallel solo career in 1973, initially performing cover versions of old standards on albums such as "These
HIT Entertainment & Friends franchise and the other HiT characters with its Kids Sprout stake with either parts or separately. Several bidders had eyed an acquisition of the company, including Disney, Viacom, Mattel, Hasbro, Classic Media (now known as DreamWorks Classics), Chorion and Saban Brands. By April 2011, Fireman Sam was revitalised enough to be a Top 10 UK best-selling character toy according to NPD Group. Apax Partners agreed to sell HiT Entertainment to Mattel Inc in October 2011 for $680 million. Its share of Sprout was not included in the deal. The sale/merger was completed on February 1, 2012, and HIT