LECTURE

How Newton-John’s legendary songs created a diverse Soundtrack to our lives, spanning multiple generations

• Mercury (Hobart)
• 10 Aug 2022
• KATHY McCABE

DECADES before the music industry marketing machine decided pop artists had to stay in their lane, versatility was the name of the singer’s game.

And Olivia Newton-John, possessing a pure, natural tone and dexterous range, could sing it all.

While she kicked off her career as a teenager singing folk songs in Melbourne coffee houses, her debut record, If Not For You, straddled all the genres from country to pop, setting a template which would be replicated more than 30 years later with great success by another blonde girl-next-door called Taylor Swift.

Newton-John mastered doowop pop on Grease, sparkling orchestral synth pop on Xanadu and then rewrote the record books with her producer partner-in-crime John Farrar and their wholly unexpected smash, Physical.

For tens of thousands of Australian families for the past five years, Newton-John has been part of their Christmas celebrations as she and her brother-inmusic John Farnham remade the classics on their Friends for Christmas album.

Livvy really could sing it all.

BANKS OF THE OHIO

The Queen of murder ballads before Nick Cave enlisted Kylie Minogue for Where The Wild Roses Go. Recorded in 1971 for her debut record, NewtonJohn’s take on the 19th century folk song became her first Aussie No.1.

IF NOT FOR YOU

The countrified slide-guitar arrangement of this Bob Dylan song was inspired by George Harrison’s version on his first post-Beatles record All Things Must Pass. It was her first international single.

LET ME BE THERE

The title track of her 1973 album became Newton-John’s first Top 10 single in the US, peaking at No.6 and won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocalist.

I HONESTLY LOVE YOU

One of the most heartbreakingly melancholic love songs recorded – co-written by the late great Peter Allen – it topped the charts worldwide in 1974.

YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT (WITH JOHN TRAVOLTA)

Written by John Farrar, the duet was the lead single from the Grease film, released in 1978 ahead of the movie hitting cinemas. Before the streaming era, You’re The One That I Want was one of the biggest selling singles in pop history with more than 15 million (physical) copies sold worldwide.

HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOU

Sandy’s signature solo song in Grease, also written by Farrar, remains the go-to anthem for every lovelorn teen pining after the object of their affection. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars in 1979.

A LITTLE MORE LOVE

Even though Grease fever still reigned, Newton-John returned to her solo pop career and released this Farrar composition which may be one of her most sexy and agile vocal performances.

MAGIC

This track would introduce Newton-John’s next big film moment as the lead track from Xanadu. It topped the US charts.

XANADU

Written by Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne and recorded with the band (it was their only No.1 in the UK), the film’s title track surprisingly became the most popular download on the iTunes chart in Australia in the hours after Newton-John’s death was made public.

PHYSICAL

Even after Sandy’s sizzling transformation in the final act of Grease (right), Physical’s sexually-charged lyrics and video scandalised certain sections of the US. All the kerfuffle only served to make the song even more memorable.

OLIVIA’S LASTING LEGACY

OUTPOURING OF GRIEF FOR MUSICAL TRAILBLAZER

• The Cairns Post
• 10 Aug 2022
• SARAH BLAKE, KATHY MCCABE, JUSTIN VALLEJO

THE crystalline voice, radiant screen presence and relentless positivity of entertainment icon and cancer cure crusader Dame Olivia Newton-John will shine on for millions of fans mourning her death at 73.

The Grammy Award-winning actor and singer passed away peacefully at her ranch surrounded by family and friends Monday morning local time, according to her husband John Easterling.

“Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time,” Easterling said in a statement.

“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.

“Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be made in her memory to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.”

“Olivia is survived by her husband John Easterling; daughter Chloe Lattanzi; sister Sarah Newton-John; brother Toby Newton-John; nieces and nephews Tottie, Fiona and Brett Goldsmith; Emerson, Charlie, Zac, Jeremy, Randall, and Pierz Newton-John; Jude Newton-Stock, Layla Lee; Kira and Tasha Edelstein; and Brin and Valerie Hall”.

Three days before her death, Newton-John paid tribute to her enduring love affair with husband John Easterling, who she married in 2008, with a “flashbackfriday” post.

The touching post featured an image of the pair embracing and was captioned with a simple red love-heart emoji.

Within hours of the news of Newton-John’s passing, fans and her A-list circle of friends celebrated her legacy online with many embracing her iconic hits.

Xanadu raced to the top of the Australian iTunes chart, with Hopelessly Devoted To You at No.2 and You’re The One That I Want at No.5.

Her 2016 compilation of hits titled Hopelessly Devoted was closing in on The Best of The Seekers on the album charts while the Grease and Xanadu soundtracks were also in the top 10. Newton-John was fearless in her public campaign of living with her cancer, which returned in 2017, and had dedicated herself to the work of her Cancer Wellness and Research Centres in Melbourne and the US.

Tributes are flowing for the performer who was best known as Sandy from Grease, a string of hit albums in the 1970s and 1980s, and her courage in overcoming not just her recurring illness but devastating personal tragedy.

It was a “quick yes” when John Farnham rang his beloved sister-in-music Olivia Newton-John in early February 2020 to ask if she wouldn’t mind jumping on a plane and coming back home for a gig.

As thousands of Australians counted the cost of the deadly Black Summer bushfires, promoter Paul Dainty and Farnham were plotting the finale of what would be the wildly successful Fire Fight benefit concert.

Newton-John nicknamed him Bing Farnham during the recording of their wildly successful Friends For Christmas album, which was first released in 2016 and remains an annual favourite among their fans.

They have performed together numerous times, proving a box office smash with their Two Strong Hearts national tour in 2015 and she was Farnham’s special guest at the Fire Fight benefit when she joined him to sing their signature duet Two Strong Hearts.

It was her last performance on stage in Australia.

Born in Cambridge, England to an illustrious military and academic family, Newton-John immigrated to Australia at the age of six, when her father Bryn was employed by the University of Melbourne.

While she lived in America

for more than 45 years, Newton-John always considered Australia her spiritual home.

“Even though I went back to England when I was 16, for my career, those years from five to 16 I spent in Australia, they’re the very formative years – that’s a very important period in your life,” Newton-John said in early 2021. “It’s why Australia is so special to me.” The apple-cheeked performer with the pure, dexterous voice achieved early career success, appearing on TV and radio in Australia with the stage-name of Lovely Livvy. After winning a talent show, she toured England in the 1960s and built a following across American and Australian pop and country charts in the 1970s.

She even represented England at Eurovision in 1974, placing fourth with the song Long Live Love. But it was her Hollywood feature film debut as Sandy in the hit 1978 film Grease which launched to her global superstardom, the movie becoming a cult classic as it charted her transformation from small-town sweetheart to a spike-heeled, leather-clad seductress in command of her on-screen relationship with John Travolta.

Newton-John’s post-Grease success mirrored this same metamorphosis, with the demure blonde casting off her good-girl image in the quirky 1980 fantasy film Xanadu before producing her biggest album, Physical, in 1982.

With its less than subtle nod to sexual intercourse, the single was banned on some US radio stations and Newton John, who was also considered a pioneer of modern music video clips, changed the reference to exercise in the film clip. It won the first ever Grammy for Best Video of the Year in 1983. An influential trendsetter at her peak, the video spearheaded the gym-gear-as-fashion trend.

It was during an attempted comeback tour in 1992 that Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer, a battle which would be lifedefining in her later years, with the beloved entertainer becoming a champion for cancer therapies and treatment. In recent years she had also been an outspoken advocate for the medicinal use of cannabis.

This culminated in 2019 with a ceremony granting her Australia’s highest honour – companion of the Order of Australia (AC) – at an emotional ceremony at her Los Angeles home, which she said was one of the most important days of her life.

“Thank you to all the Australians who have shown love and support over the years both for me personally and also for the cancer centre,” she said through tears.