Beloved country star Blake Shelton became the 2,755th name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California on Friday (May 12), but as far as the singer was concerned, the newest star on Hollywood Blvd. read “Richie.”
“I was talking to my mom this morning,” Shelton explained during his speech at the Walk of Fame ceremony, “and I was thinking about what I want to say when I get up here, and she said to me, she goes, ‘You know, I wish Richie could have been here to see this and everything you’ve done,’ and I feel like that’s probably the best way to wrap this up.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Richie was my brother I lost many, many years ago,” he told the crowd, “so I dedicate my star on this Walk of Fame to my brother Richie.” Shelton recently opened up about his older brother’s passing on The Voice, saying “My brother, he would have freaked out if he had known what I went on to do. He was such a huge music fan. You’d hear him coming six blocks away, the stereo blaring out of his truck.”
[RELATED: Blake Shelton Pays Respect to Late Brother on ‘The Voice’]
Shelton received the Walk of Fame honor surrounded by friends, fans, and family, including his The Voice peers past and present, Adam Levine and Carson Daly, and his wife Gwen Stefani. Stefani was his main champion at the ceremony, gushing over his many accolades as an artist and lovable attributes as a person.
“He’s humble, he’s genuine and, trust me, wherever we go, everybody feels like they know Blake Shelton,” she told the crowd, with Shelton at her side. “Blake, you are a rare human being and for all the success that you’ve had in your life as a singer, a songwriter, a musician, a performer and entertainer, an actor, a comedian, an entrepreneur, he’s the same guy today as he was back then. A country guy with a love for country music. He’s magnetic, the most generous person you’ll ever know, and always just him. No matter where he goes, making people happy, laugh, making jokes.”
During his speech, Shelton too had kind words for his spouse, saying “I kind of stopped checking things off my list of great accomplishments in my life when I married Gwen, and so this is just icing on the cake.” He called the No Doubt frontwoman “the greatest thing that’s happened along this journey.”
Watch his speech below.
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images