Olivia Newton-John

Biography

Olivia Newton-John was an English-born, Australian singer who currently lives in the United States. 
When she was 14 years old, Olivia started singing in an all-girl group, Sol Four. After that, she did some performances in tv-shows, but she recorded her first single, “Till you say you’ll be mine” in 1966. When Australian singer Pat Carroll moved to the UK, the two teamed up and formed a duo, Pat & Olivia. When he went back to Australia, Olivia sang in a group for a while but in 1971, she released her first solo album. The single “If not for you”, written and composed by Bob Dylan, was her first hit. The second one, “Banks of the Ohio”, reached the UK top-10. A year later the song “Let there be me” meant her final breakthrough in the USA. In 1974, Olivia Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest. The six songs she sang, including the winning “Long live love”, can be found on her album with the same name. The album was also released in the USA, but the Eurovision Songs were dropped in this version. The song “I honestly love you” became her first pop number 1 hit. She moved to the USA and became one of the most successful singer of country songs.
For everybody who did not know her so far, she rose to complete fame when she starred in the film version of the musical “Grease”, co-starring John Travolta. The soundtrack was a huge hit and the songs “You’re the one that I want”, “Hopelessly devoted to you” and “Summer nights” became instant hits for Olivia. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and “Hopelessly devoted….” was an Oscar nominated song. In the same year, she was able to present a new album with a completely different musical style from what she did so far. In 1980, she starred in another musical, “Xanadu”, from which a.o. the title song became a hit. In 1981, she released her most successful album, “Physical”, with the title song being her biggest hit.
In 1983 she teamed up with John Travolta again for “Two of a kind”, not a big success.
Although she did not score international hits anymore, she kept on working and performing. She released 28 studio albums, 6 live albums, 17 compilations and 4 soundtracks. In 2019 she was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and earned the title of ‘Dame’.
Olivia Newton John died of cancer on 8 august 2022.