Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, in September 1948. She was the youngest of three children born to Irene (nee Born) and Brinley Newton-John.

The family moved from Britain to Australia in 1954 when Brinley, a teacher, accepted a post at the University of Melbourne. Bound by the Official Secrets Act, he kept his children in the dark about his earlier career – it was not until Olivia was an adult that she discovered that during World War II, her Welsh-born father had been an MI5 officer assigned to the Enigma codebreaking unit at Bletchley Park.

When she was a teenager, Olivia dropped out of high school and won a talent contest. The prize was a trip to London, which sent her back to England in 1964.

She joined the Monkees-inspired Anglo-American group Toomorrow, and appeared in a 1970 science fiction movie of the same name. Her partners in Toomorrow (pictured below) were Americans Ben Thomas and Karl Chambers and Britain’s Vic Cooper.

Their first disc, You’re My Baby Now, flopped badly. So did the film and their further chart bids, and before long, Olivia reverted to a solo career, releasing her first album, If Not For You, in 1971.

She went on to release several more British albums, including Olivia and Banks Of The Ohio.

She had her first US hit single with her version of Dylan‘s If Not For You and followed this with the gold album Let Me Be There. Her career flourished in Britain, and she scored another hit early in 1973 with Take Me Home, Country Roads.

Although Olivia never considered herself a country singer, she was voted Female Vocalist of The Year by both the American and British Country Music Association in 1974 and won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal (Female) for Let Me Be There – which actually flopped in the UK but gave Livvy her first US Top Ten hit.

Representing Britain in the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 (pictured at right), she came fourth with Long Live Love, but the song gave her another hit.

In 1975, she won a Country Music Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). If You Love Me, Let Me Know was a hit Stateside, which she followed with I Honestly Love You, an American #1 which also won her a Grammy.

Despite a highly successful music career, she will probably be best remembered for the 1978 musical film Grease, with John Travolta.

Grease was an international hit, and it spawned three huge hit singles – Hopelessly Devoted To You, Summer Nights, and You’re The One That I Want – which spent a massive nine weeks at #1.

In 1979, she changed her musical style from pop to rock with the successful album Totally Hot, which became her first solo top 10 album since Have You Never Been Mellow.

She was awarded an OBE that same year for her contribution to entertainment.

In 1980, Olivia returned to the big screen with Xanadu. Although the film was a commercial flop, the soundtrack album was certified double platinum and scored five top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

Olivia charted with Magic (#1), Suddenly with Cliff Richard (#20) and the title song with the Electric Light Orchestra (#8).

In 1981, Newton-John released her most successful studio album, the double platinum Physical – which strongly reinforced her image change by showcasing risqué, rock-oriented material – and in 1983, she teamed up with John Travolta again in the critically and commercially unsuccessful movie Two Of A Kind.  More hits followed with the soundtrack, though, including Twist Of Fate and Livin’ In Desperate Times.

Olivia married her long-time live-in partner, dancer Matt Lattanzi, in December 1984 (they had met while filming Xanadu in 1980). Their daughter, Chloe Rose, was born in January 1986.

Olivia opened up her own shop called Koala Blue on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 1986 with her business partner Pat Farrar. The store grew into a chain of women’s clothing boutiques and was initially successful. It eventually declared bankruptcy and closed in 1992.

That same year, Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer, although she continued to record and perform and – after successful treatment – eventually recovered. She became an Australian citizen in 1994.

Olivia and Matt Lattanzi announced their separation in April 1995 and divorced in 1996.  Newton-John secretly married her second husband, entrepreneur John Easterling, in an Incan spiritual ceremony in Peru in June 2008.

In May 2017, it was announced that her breast cancer had returned and metastasised to her back, resulting in the cancellation of a planned tour in the US and Canada. She publicly campaigned for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis to ease the pain.

Her autobiography, Don’t Stop Believin’, was published in 2018, and two years later, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Years Honours List.

Olivia Newton-John died at her home in the Santa Ynez Valley of California on 8 August 2022. She was 73.

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