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Pop royalty tributes at ONJ’s service

Sunday Territorian
26 Feb 2023
ANDREW KOUBARIDIS To watch the memorial go to www.vic.gov.au/state-servicedame-olivia-newton-john-ac-dbe

MUSIC royalty Elton John, P!nk and Mariah Carey will share their memories of Olivia Newton-John at her State memorial service.

The superstars have recorded video messages for the iconic Australian singer, who died aged 73 in August last year after a long cancer battle.

The service at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall at 4pm on Sunday will be a “celebration of life” for the 73-year-old who became a household name around the world after starring in Grease in the 1970s.

“Olivia Newton John to me was someone who I always look forward to seeing – she was such a wonderful force of nature,” Elton John will tell the memorial.

Mariah Carey will say she grew up adoring Newton-John: “Grease was probably the first movie I ever saw. And then I got to meet her later and we performed together.”

P!nk said Newton-John was “an absolute angel’.

“She was one of the kindest, most present, just light-filled beings walking around this earth.”

Newton-John’s husband John Easterling has revealed how fitting the location is for the state memorial service. One of her dying wishes, he said, was to be farewelled in the city she moved to with her family at age five. While she didn’t speak much about what would happen after her death, he said he knew she wanted one last connection with Australians.

“It’s not something we talked a lot about (but) she did know that she would like to have something in Australia as a special exchange at the end,” Mr Easterling said.

Mr Easterling, and Olivia’s daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, yesterday returned to one of her favourite places in the world, Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens – a peaceful paradise far removed from Hollywood and the showbiz lifestyle.

“It was a very private place for Olivia,” Royal Botanic Gardens director and chief executive, Professor Tim Entwisle said.

“It was somewhere to find solace and peace, and connect with nature.”

Her mother, Irene Born, would take young Olivia to the gardens at every opportunity. Irene passed away in 2003 and there is a memorial bench, dedicated to her in the gardens.

Mr Easterling, Ms Lattanzi, and Olivia’s niece Tottie Goldsmith, will pay tribute at the service on behalf of her family.