‘OLIVIA IS MY FOREVER MUSE!’
The Aussie popstar shares a special bond with her late idol
- Woman's Day (New Zealand)
Just days out from Eurovision’s finale in Vienna, Aussie songbird Delta Goodrem is finally starting to feel the nerves. And while she’s used to performing on stages around the world in front of thousands, the reasoning behind the jitters is a little more personal.
“I mean, Olivia Newton-John has been on the Eurovision stage,” she gushes to Woman’s Day. “And we’ve had Céline Dion. Those two women are the biggest influences for me in music since I started.
“That’s pretty amazing to know that the two people who I love so dearly have both been a part of the Eurovision family.”
It’s a connection Delta, 41, cherishes. Over the course of her career, she’s written songs for both Olivia and Céline, sang duets with Olivia on stage and portrayed the late Grease goddess in the 2018 miniseries Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted To You.
It’s been a dream come true for the singer, who first met Olivia in New York when she was seven.
“We’d just gone to Phantom Of The Opera and it was the first time I’d seen the theatre,” recalls Delta. “All of a sudden,
Sandy from Grease walks in the door and I said to Mum, ‘Sandy is there, Mum. It’s Sandy!’ Olivia heard my accent, and she walked over to our table and said, ‘I hear you’re not from around here, then?’
“She talked to my mum and said, ‘I hope I see you around tomorrow,’ and the next day, I walked around New York looking for Olivia Newton-John! I was looking for her always.”
‘It’s amazing to think that Olivia has been a part of Eurovision’
Their bond strengthened when, in 2003, Delta was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at age 18. The Born To Try hitmaker says Olivia, who herself had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, reached out to her.
“She wrote a long letter talking about her cancer journey and how it’s a gift to give back to people, and we bonded instantly,” Delta remembers.
Tragically, less than 20 years later, Olivia would lose her battle with the disease, but her death has brought new perspective to the jobs Delta chooses to align herself with.
Eurovision not only feels like a full-circle moment, but also as though she’s following in the footsteps of her mentor.
“I’m just really grateful that Olivia and Céline have been a part of it,” she tells us.
Delta is set to hit the Eurovision stage in Austria for the second semi-final this Thursday, which will be streamed live on YouTube, and her song Eclipse has bookmakers predicting she could be the first Aussie to win the grand final on Sunday. Given the track was released the same week as an actual partial lunar eclipse happened, Delta hopes the cosmic alliance will help her.
“I want Aussies to be with me and for us to do this together,” she enthuses. “I’m so excited and grateful. I’m just enjoying the fact that I get to be a part of such an incredible community and family. It’s been really, really fun.”
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire