Olivia Newton-John, the biggest pop singer of the 1970s who starred in films like “Grease” and “Xanadu,” died Monday. She was 73 years old.
Her husband, John Easterling, broke the news on Her official Facebook pagewriting:
Mrs. Olivia Newton-John, 73, passed away peacefully on her ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.”
The cause of death was not revealed, but Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer that re-emerged in 2017. “Olivia has been an icon of triumph and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. Her husband wrote her inspiration for healing and her pioneering experience in plant medicine. With the Olivia Newton-John Foundation fund, dedicated to research in plant medicine and cancer.
Chart historian Joel Whitbourne ranked the warm-voiced, Australian-born singer as the No. 1 soloist in the 1970s. Her nine top 10 singles of the decade featured three times at the top of the 45-second chart. The biggest of them all, “You’re The Person I Want,” a duet with John Travolta taken from the crashing 1978 soundtrack to the music “Grease,” has spent nearly six months on the US charts.
Newton John remained a powerful commercial force in the 1980s. She recorded the biggest hit of her career, “Physical” in 1981. Although her other major musical feature “Xanadu” was pricey in 1980, her double platinum sound track spawned three singles, including #1 on radio Every place has “magic.”
Originally slotted in as a country singer, she quickly conquered the pop charts with a succession of well-cleaned tunes. Although the songs dried up in the early 1990s, she remained a cherished performer into the new millennium, with a solid fan base buoyed by the popularity of “Grease” as a staple of cable television and musical theatrical productions.
She was born on September 26, 1948 in Cambridge, England. Her grandfather was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born. When she was six years old, her family moved to Melbourne.
Newton-John has been active in music from high school, became a professional in her teens, and appeared on Australian television. She flew back to Britain on a plane ticket she won on the Australian talent show Rich, Rich, Rich. Although she recorded for Britain Deca during her stay, she grew up homesick and returned to Antipodes, but returned to England to sing with her music partner Pat Carroll.
After a fateful stint with Toomorrow, producer Don Kirshner’s attempt to craft the UK equivalent of the Monkees kicked off Newton-John’s solo career with “If Not For You,” a cover of Bob Dylan-George Harrison’s hit hit, and a version of the popular standard “Ohio Banks.” “.
Both singles managed to chart in the US in 1971, but had to wait two years before making a big impact in the US. Her MCA singles “Let Me Be There” and “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” reached the top ten on both the country and popular music charts. The former number earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and Newton-John received an Academy Country Music Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.
The start of her career peaked in 1974 with the pop chart-topping song “I Honestly Love You” that peaked at number six. The song won the Newton-John Female Vocalist of the Year Award from the Country Music Assn. in 1974. Her second #1 pop single, “Wasn’t Laila Before”, reached in 1975. Although it counted three other top five country songs and was reliably surpassed to the adult contemporary charts, it She is firmly established as a pop star in the United States
Newton John’s career was starred with the blockbuster “Grease”. Although the 29-year-old singer worried she was too old to perform, she gave a confident performance in the 1950s-themed musical as a virgin high school student Sandy Olson, showing impressive chemistry in front of Travolta, emerging from “Saturday Night Fever” breakout and cast the role of bad boy Danny Zuko.
Paramount’s release was an instant success, spawning a highly successful soundtrack album. The Newton-John/Travolta duet “You’re The One I Want” was followed by two top-five singles, “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “Summer Nights,” also derived from the picture. The LP soundtrack held #1 for 10 weeks, and spent a total of 77 weeks on the charts.
After the double platinum album of 1978 “Totally Hot”, Newton-John returned to the screen for the album “Xanadu” with poor stardom. The raucous disco-themed plot inappropriately portrays the singer as a Greek muse, opposite 68-year-old Gene Kelly. Receiving gloomy comments, the picture was immediately a failure. Its main benefactor was Newton John: the singles “Magic”, “Xanadu” (with Electric Light Orchestra) and “Suddenly” (with Cliff Richard) propelled the No. 5 album to double platinum status.
Newton-John’s film career never recovered from “Xanadu”. Re-teaming with Travolta in the 1983 rom-com “Two of a Kind” was also hardcore at the box office, after which her leading roles were limited to television films.
Having messed with her clean, austere image with her role as the good girl in “Grease” and her album “Totally Hot,” Newton-John upped the ante with 1981’s “Physical.” The song’s sex-filled lyrics are softened by a shy video that suggests the song was Actually on the verge of… rehearsing.
In 2017, the singer recalled, “I was having a panic attack when I walked out because I thought, ‘Oh, you’ve gone too far!'” We just need to make a video of the exercise. This made it even bigger! The single, her latest #1, peaked at the top of the chart for 10 weeks, moving over a million copies.
After the 1981 double-platinum album “Physical” and the first five songs “Make a Move On Me” (No. 5, 1982) and “Heart Attack” (No. 3, 1982), Newton-John’s pop career was affected. She took an extended hiatus from performing after the birth of her daughter Chloe in 1986 (since her marriage to actor Matt Latanzi, whom she divorced in 1995).
She suffered business and personal setbacks in 1992. Koala Blue, a chain of shops she ran with her singing partner Pat Carroll, fell into bankruptcy. She developed a serious health fear when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her mastectomy, she became a high-profile cancer awareness speaker, and established the Olivia Newton-John Center for Wellness and Research in Victoria, Australia.
After her return in Nashville’s “Back with a Heart” (1998), Newton-John’s albums sold primarily Down Under; The last exception was Yuletide’s 2012 album “This Christmas”, a pairing with Travolta that reached #81 domestically.
She toured successfully with Australian star John Farnham, and complimented with him at the 2000 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Sydney. She continued acting, and took an unusual turn as a gay country singer from ex-cons on “Sordid Lives” and her cable TV movie. After self-hosted in 2010 on Fox’s song “Glee,” the remake of “Physical” with the cast reached number 89, becoming her first pop single to hit the chart in 12 years.
She got back on the road in the US for the well-received 2017 trip.
She is survived by her husband John Easterling; Daughter of Chloe Latanzi. Sister Sarah Newton-John; Brother of Toby Newton-John. nieces and nephews of Totti, Fiona and Brett Goldsmith; Emerson, Charlie, Zack, Jeremy, Randall, and Piers Newton-John; Judd Newton-Stoke, Lily Lee; Kira and Cha Edelstein; Wobren and Valerie Hall.
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