OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
Following the news of her tragic death, OK! Looks back At the Life of iconic Actress And musician Olivia NEWTON-JOHN
- OK! (UK)
- Words: Jackie Butler photos: are Media/camera press, Getty images
Olivia Newton-john stole a million hearts and shot to global superstardom when she played Sandy in the 1978 blockbuster musical Grease, starring opposite John Travolta’s Danny. It was a defining moment in the career of the multitalented singer, actress and future charity activist.
Throughout her long and highly-respected career, Olivia proved time and again that she was no one-trick pony. Always ready to adapt and change, whatever life threw at her, she developed from young talent contest winner into one of the best-selling artists of the late 20th century.
She was honoured twice by the Queen for her creative and charitable work, accepting an OBE in 1979 and becoming a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
Family, friends, colleagues and fans from all over the world have been paying tribute to Olivia following her death at the age of 73 last week. She died at home on the California ranch she shared with her husband John Easterling. In his announcement on social media, he wrote, “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.”
Her daughter, actress and musician Chloe Lattanzi, 36, posted a series of photos of herself and “my mother. My best friend”.
She was loved and respected by fellow artists, but of all her famous friends, it was her Grease co-star John Travolta who she shared a particularly strong bond with and the pair remained close up until her untimely death. In a tribute, John wrote, “Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”
Olivia was born the youngest of three in Cambridge, where her
Welsh father Bryn, a former MI5 officer, was the headmaster of Cambridgeshire High School for Boys. Her Jewish mother Irene had fled to England from Nazi Germany as a child in 1933 with her mother and father, the Nobel Prizewinning physicist Max Born. When Olivia was six, the family emigrated to Australia.
Performing came naturally to Olivia, and while still at grammar school she played gigs with three classmates in a girl group called Sol Four. This led to slots on local children’s TV programmes.
It was winning a talent contest, performing Anyone Who Had A Heart on the Australian Sing, Sing, Sing music programme when she was 17 that set Olivia on the road to fame. The prize was a trip to England, where in 1966 she recorded her first single for Decca Records, Till You Say You’ll Be Mine.
It didn’t light up the charts, but it paved the way for her future recording career and her character-building experiences touring Europe with fellow Australian singer Pat Carroll. The girls’ notable gigs included the saucy Raymond Revuebar in London’s Soho, which they booked not realising it was a strip club.
In 1971, Olivia released her first album and scored an international hit with the title track If Not For You, written by Bob Dylan. Her career was soon blossoming on both sides of the Atlantic. After earning her first Grammy as Best Country Female following the success of single and album Let Me Be There,
Olivia represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974. Singing
Long Live Love – a number she later admitted she wasn’t keen on – she finished in fourth place behind ABBA.
In the States the same year, she beat Dolly Parton to the title of Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year.
After relocating to California, a solid three years of success on the US country scene saw Olivia score seven No1s in the US Billboard charts before her popularity slowed and that pivotal Grease-shaped
change of direction came calling.
Overnight, 29-year-old Olivia became a poster girl for a generation of teens, and she and Travolta reached the top of the charts with You’re The One That I Want, followed by Summer Nights, while her 1979 album Totally Hot scored her a return to the US charts. This success could have arrived with a heavy dose of inflated ego, but that wasn’t Olivia’s style – she was always humble, respectful and grateful.
Her next film role was in
Xanadu in 1980 with Gene Kelly, and although the movie failed to win critics over, the soundtrack and Olivia’s singles, Magic, Suddenly (with Cliff Richard) and the title track with the Electric Light Orchestra were huge Billboard hits.
A year later, her upbeat album Physical, and the single of the same name, showcased Olivia’s sexy side and secured her a 10-week stint at the top of the Billboard chart. It became her best-selling record ever.
At home with her then-husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, Olivia had suffered a number of miscarriages but was overjoyed to welcome a daughter, Chloe Rose, in January 1986.
She returned to the pop world two years later, collaborating with Elton John, but it seemed at 40 her music career had peaked.
As she planned a comeback tour in 1992, backed by a greatest hits album, she was
diagnosed with breast cancer, aged 44. Already a supporter of many humanitarian and environmental causes, when she recovered from her illness she channelled her energies into promoting breast cancer research, awareness and support. And the Olivia Newton-john Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne was born.
Her music softened in her later years, with a succession of albums becoming mellower, more country, more feminine and focused on nature and healing journeys. Between 2012 and 2017 she went back on the road, touring the UK, Canada and Asia with A Summer Night With Olivia Newton-john and playing a 175-night Las Vegas residency.
Having divorced amicably from Matt Lattanzi in 1995, Olivia found a love with cameraman Patrick Mcdermott, who she was on and off with for several years. But she suffered heartbreak when he disappeared, presumed lost at sea, on a fishing trip off the California coast in 2005.
In 2008, she married company boss John Easterling. In an interview with People magazine, she said, “I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with him and then bam! I’m very lucky. I have a wonderful, beautiful husband who is just so loving and fantastic.”
Diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2013, Olivia kept her ordeal quiet until she was given the all-clear. But four years later doctors found a tumour in her spine and the cancer had spread to her bones.
She may not have fulfilled her dream of seeing an end to cancer in her lifetime, but her contribution towards the battle to eliminate it was among her proudest achievements. Debbie Shiell, director of the Olivia Newton-john Cancer Wellness & Research told ABC Breakfast, “I think anybody who knows Olivia just knew what a beautiful soul she was and what genuine happiness she exuded.”
Goodbye to an aussie princess
- New! (UK)
The first time I met Olivia was at a spina bifida charity concert in 1992. I was performing alongside her and I remember being so in awe of her as she’s such an icon. You always have an idea in your head of exactly how you want certain people to be and Olivia was just as I imagined and so lovely and caring. She gave so much time to everyone backstage that night.
A few years later I was recording with a guy called Steve Kipner who wrote her song Physical and he told Olivia he was with me and she came down to the studio and spent some time there, which was awesome. Every time I met her I noticed how she always had time for everyone.
Performing in Grease each night now definitely feels very poignant. We’ve been dedicating every show to Olivia and directing people to the Olivia Newton-john Foundation, which is a charity that sponsors global research into plant medicine for cancer.
A true Aussie princess, may Olivia rest in peace.
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