https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bi...via-newton-john-dead-obituary-1235123935/amp/ [SNIP] Olivia Newton-John, beloved actress and singer best known for her role as Sandy Olsson in Grease and for a long string of hits topped by 1981’s “Physical,” died on Monday (Aug. 8 ). She was 73. Her official Facebook page confirmed the news, noting: “Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.” Newton-John was one of the most popular recording artists of the 1970s and 1980s. She was also a notably nimble artist – moving from early country music hits like “Let Me Be There” to mainstream pop hits like “Have You Never Been Mellow” to sexier, edgier fare like “Make a Move on Me.” She was also one of the first artists to have significant success in video. She won a Grammy for music video of the year for her 1982 collection “Olivia Physical.” She was only the second artist to win a Grammy for video, following Michael Nesmith for “Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts.” [End] She had been a truly unique talent, who will be fondly remembered. Unfortunately, this most recent recurrence of her breast cancer, metastasized to her sacrum, at the bottom of her spine. Here is a little more from the article: [SNIP] In 1975, she became just the second female solo artist to land back-to-back No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. She topped the chart with both If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and her follow-up, Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). At that time, Carole King was the only other female solo artist to achieve that feat. The former Brill Building songwriter turned solo superstar hit No. 1 with Tapestry (1971) and her follow-up, Music (1972). Newton-John also starred with John Travolta in the blockbuster Grease, which was the top-grossing film of 1978. The film soundtrack spent 12 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and wound up with a Grammy nomination for album of the year. Newton-John was born Sept. 26, 1948, in Cambridge, England, but was raised in Melbourne, Australia. At age 16, she won a talent contest trip to England. She sang with Pat Carroll as Pat & Olivia. She also sang with the group Toomorrow in a British movie of the same name. [End] https://people.com/music/olivia-newton-john-dead-age-73-breast-cancer/ I suppose no tribute is more fitting, than to end this post with the singing which touched so many, and endeared Olivia, to multiple generations.
Here is another, sung live, in one of her different incarnations. It comes with a little bit of late 1970s corny/cheesiness, but it still rocks (and it's not, not sexy). And the list goes on...
I have to add one more, farewell-- who knew that Olivia was a fan of the Beatles? At least she covers a song by Paul, from the Let It Be album (their last), and also a later, solo song, by George. Her take on The Long and Winding Road, is a bit different from the original, but has some nice moments. But this is the perfect sign-off: What Is Life?
Thank you for opening this thread. I thought about doing it yesterday when her death was announced but I just didn't have the heart. Too painful, and that surprised me. I had always loved her songs and singing, and as a young man I was thoroughly smitten with her beauty. But, somehow, in passing away, and especially after her heroic, thirty year-long battle with breast cancer, I find that I am quite literally overcome with a rare kind of grief that I haven't felt in over ten years, when my very dearest friend and his wife were killed by a drunk driver. I don't understand it, but, the sorrow is very real.... Oddly enough, to this day, I have never seen the movie, "Grease". Hers was a enchanting, deeply-moving voice which infused that time in our lives during the '70's and '80's with youthful fun, love, sincerity, and a rare beauty. It is amazing how much I miss her now.
Grease was weird in he sense that the actors were in their mid 20s and some close to 30 and they were supposed to look like high school kids.
I saw Grease at a 1$ theater after it was out a few months. The good old days when you could wait a while and see it cheap
Your eloquent, and unquestionably heartfelt, tribute, would have been the more satisfying send off, deserved for the announcement of the departure from our world, of one of our generation's warmest & sweetest, musical guiding lights. I completely relate to your feelings about the pleasantly welcomed spell, she'd cast over us, and that time, in our youths. And-- since you had the guts to admit it, first-- I never watched the film Grease, either. It probably seems funny to you, as well, then, that this is the part of her life's work which got uncontested, top billing, in all notices of her passing. It can't be denied, however, the powerful way that popular music creates doorways for us, back to those times in our lives, when we'd first heard it-- so Grease's phenomenal success, assures that its songs hold rejuvenating keys, for many. I think it's about time, we both saw a little bit of Grease. While I know that your feelings about this are very personal-- so I am not trying to act as though I have any easy answers-- but here is how one, obviously devoted fan, is channelling their own sense of loss: by recalling the joy of knowing Olivia, through her music, and now emoting gratitude, for having had that opportunity.
Well it was the film version, of the Broadway play-- which I did see, as a young teen, though didn't much appreciate-- and you can be sure that the Broadway cast wasn't in their teens, either.
She was actually reluctant to take the role. She got burned in the late 60s by a Don Kirshner (Monkees and a ton of other stuff) project called Toomorrow which involved a movie & a made up band. Alan Carr, the producer of Grease, was determined she was right for the role and he was right. She wasn't confident about faking an American accent, so they changed the character's back story to fit her. Since her death director Randal Kreiser has written that without her the film would likely have been the summer success everyone hoped for, but not the blockbuster it became. Alternatives included Susan Dey (Partridge Family) and Carrie Fisher. Right age and nationality, but neither could sing like her. Apparently the moment she met Travolta there was genuine chemistry and according to Kreiser this was vital to the film's success. The soundtrack sold something like 28 million copies and resulted in a string of hits. Obviously the music was great, but Olivia's singing sold it in a way few others could have.
Thanks to everyone for their kind words. As an Aussie and a Melbournian I can tell you that we are feeling this. Knowing how loved she was beyond our shores is heartening. It has been a terrible 10 days here for music lovers, with Melbourne losing three much loved music icons. First we lost 'Uncle' Archie Roach, a fine singer songwriter and proud indigenous elder. Next we lost Judith Durham, lead singer of 60s group the Seekers. They were the first Aussie group to really make it big in the US & UK. The older here might remember them, but many more people will have heard their hit Georgy Girl. They were my parents favourite band (they are in the huge crowd at the concert at the link) and part of my childhood. While talking about the death of Judith Durham a veteran entertainment reporter mentioned that in his many decades there were only two people he had never heard a bad word about, Judith Durham & Olivia Newton-John. Days later she was gone too. I can't honestly say I'm a 'fan' of here work, but it is such a part of my childhood that I know all the songs. I remember going to see Grease & Xanadu as a kid. I'm pretty sure I had at least one of the soundtracks. There was also a sense of national pride about Olivia. It is hard to explain to folks from the US & Europe just how 'far away' Australia felt from all our cultural reference points in the 70s. Seeing an Australian top the charts and in the cinema was exciting. While some Aussies who went overseas to pursue their careers lost their accents and their connections to Australia (looking at you Greg Norman!, though I'm feeling better about that nowadays ), Olivia was always proudly and openly Australian. That is all the more remarkable given that she was born & lived in England until she was 8 and had a Welsh father & German mother. She barely spent 10 years here before heading back to the UK & ultimately to the US, yet it was always Australia she looked to as 'home'. On her family, her father Brin was in MI5 during WW2, worked with the Enigma project & was involved with taking Rudolf Hess into custody (and I suspect interrogating him). He spoke good enough German to teach it at university level, which is how he ended up in Melbourne & I suspect how he met his wife Irene. She was the daughter of Nobel prize winning physicist Max Born. They fled Nazi Germany in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews. Quite the back story for a pop singer. One last thing to mention was her work with cancer. First diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 (she got her diagnosis the day her father died) she spent millions of her own money and raised many millions more for cancer treatment and research. She set up a cancer treatment centre in Australia. It just incresed the love we felt for her and while the music & movies will be what she is best remembered for, her work with cancer will be her greatest legacy. Over the next few weeks there will be official State funerals for Judith Durham & Olivia Newton-John. A fine tribute to two wonderful women.
Indeed, she possessed a very fetching sense of beauty. With a great voice to boot. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, my friends called her "Olivia Neutron Bomb". RIP
