“America’s Sweetheart”—by way of England and then Australia—passed away yesterday, and even if you weren’t a big
fan of hers, you had to have done a double take when you heard the news.
Olivia Newton-John—that pert, perky and inspiring singer and actress who helped define a pop music generation in the 1970s and 1980s—left us yesterday.
She had battled breast cancer for a good part of her life, but she had quite a life.
I was not a fan of hers, although I do have a few of her records in my collection … there are certain artists that even if you aren’t a fan, you are going to have one or two records in your collection done by them and certainly she was one of those artists, because for the better part of the 1970s and 1980s, she was at the top of her game.
Newton-John was born in England, but moved with her family to Australia, and with her looks and her talent, it really was just a matter of time before she was discovered and hit the big time.
People forget that she first rose to international notice in something called “Toomorrow,” which was the pilot film for a proposed “Monkees-like” series that involved a lot of the talent that made Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy stars.
The film was wretched, to say the least and you can view it on YouTube, if you actually have the patience to sit there and watch this thing.
The movie was really bad but Newton-John took what little they gave her and ran with it … and pretty much the rest is history.
She sang backup for international pop star Cliff Richard for a while, and then, when moving to America, broke out on her own, with several big hits early in her career including “If Not For You”; “Let Me Be There”; :If You Love Me (Let Me Know)”; “I Honestly Love You”: “Have You Never Been Mellow”; and “Please Mr. Please: … and that was just from 1971 to 1975 alone.
She increased her visibility by appearing on every variety show possible, and with her talent and photogenic looks, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood called.
Still having one hit record after another in the mid-1970s, 1978’s “Grease” called, and she followed, with “You’re the One That I Want” (with co-star John Travolta); “Hopelessly Devoted To You”; “Summer Nights,” and suddenly, she was a movie star and a pop princess all rolled into one.
The success of the movie and her hit records from the film allowed her to venture away, a little bit, from just light pop, and she recorded her one and only truly rock record after “Grease” finally petered out, “A Little More Love,” which I loved at the time and have as part of my collection.
She could rock with the right material, but why tamper with what made you so popular in the first place?
She went back to soft prop for the next few years, but returned to a mix of soft pop and rock with “Xanadu,” the ill-fated film with a terrific soundtrack highlighted by her pairing with the Electric Light Orchestra. While the 1980 move was panned by everyone the soundtrack was terrific, including her pairings with ELO (“Xanadu:) and with old mentor Cliff Richard (“Suddenly”), among the many hits on the soundtrack.
And then with the advent of MTV, she had the biggest hit of her career and probably one of the top videos ever, for “Physical,” which reached #1 in 1981—her fifth and final #1 hit—and lasted at the top spot for 10 weeks as the video—sexual but not vulgar, take note, current divas--got heavy rotation on the music video channel.
She made a few more movies, scored more than a dozen chart hits through the late 1990s,and continued to record well into the 2000s, but with three bouts of breast cancer, she slowly fell out of the public eye.
All in all, she charted more than 40 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 during a more than quarter century chart career.
The last time I saw her doing an interview, that once charming, light voice had become much deeper, certainly with the effects of cancer taking its toll on her.
And as an aside, the coverage of her passing by local news channels in New York was abysmal at best, with 30-something reporters literally starting their “tributes” with her role in “Grease,” as if all the hits and success she had prior to that film never existed.
Shame on them, because maybe their youthfulness blinded them to the fact that Olivia Newton-John was probably our country’s most popular female singer from the early 1970s through “Grease” and “Xanadu” and into the MTV era.
It might be wise for them to examine her early work, because it certainly set the stage for what she did later on.
R.I.P. Olivia, you done good!
Olivia Newton-John—that pert, perky and inspiring singer and actress who helped define a pop music generation in the 1970s and 1980s—left us yesterday.
She had battled breast cancer for a good part of her life, but she had quite a life.
I was not a fan of hers, although I do have a few of her records in my collection … there are certain artists that even if you aren’t a fan, you are going to have one or two records in your collection done by them and certainly she was one of those artists, because for the better part of the 1970s and 1980s, she was at the top of her game.
Newton-John was born in England, but moved with her family to Australia, and with her looks and her talent, it really was just a matter of time before she was discovered and hit the big time.
People forget that she first rose to international notice in something called “Toomorrow,” which was the pilot film for a proposed “Monkees-like” series that involved a lot of the talent that made Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy stars.
The film was wretched, to say the least and you can view it on YouTube, if you actually have the patience to sit there and watch this thing.
The movie was really bad but Newton-John took what little they gave her and ran with it … and pretty much the rest is history.
She sang backup for international pop star Cliff Richard for a while, and then, when moving to America, broke out on her own, with several big hits early in her career including “If Not For You”; “Let Me Be There”; :If You Love Me (Let Me Know)”; “I Honestly Love You”: “Have You Never Been Mellow”; and “Please Mr. Please: … and that was just from 1971 to 1975 alone.
She increased her visibility by appearing on every variety show possible, and with her talent and photogenic looks, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood called.
Still having one hit record after another in the mid-1970s, 1978’s “Grease” called, and she followed, with “You’re the One That I Want” (with co-star John Travolta); “Hopelessly Devoted To You”; “Summer Nights,” and suddenly, she was a movie star and a pop princess all rolled into one.
The success of the movie and her hit records from the film allowed her to venture away, a little bit, from just light pop, and she recorded her one and only truly rock record after “Grease” finally petered out, “A Little More Love,” which I loved at the time and have as part of my collection.
She could rock with the right material, but why tamper with what made you so popular in the first place?
She went back to soft prop for the next few years, but returned to a mix of soft pop and rock with “Xanadu,” the ill-fated film with a terrific soundtrack highlighted by her pairing with the Electric Light Orchestra. While the 1980 move was panned by everyone the soundtrack was terrific, including her pairings with ELO (“Xanadu:) and with old mentor Cliff Richard (“Suddenly”), among the many hits on the soundtrack.
And then with the advent of MTV, she had the biggest hit of her career and probably one of the top videos ever, for “Physical,” which reached #1 in 1981—her fifth and final #1 hit—and lasted at the top spot for 10 weeks as the video—sexual but not vulgar, take note, current divas--got heavy rotation on the music video channel.
She made a few more movies, scored more than a dozen chart hits through the late 1990s,and continued to record well into the 2000s, but with three bouts of breast cancer, she slowly fell out of the public eye.
All in all, she charted more than 40 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 during a more than quarter century chart career.
The last time I saw her doing an interview, that once charming, light voice had become much deeper, certainly with the effects of cancer taking its toll on her.
And as an aside, the coverage of her passing by local news channels in New York was abysmal at best, with 30-something reporters literally starting their “tributes” with her role in “Grease,” as if all the hits and success she had prior to that film never existed.
Shame on them, because maybe their youthfulness blinded them to the fact that Olivia Newton-John was probably our country’s most popular female singer from the early 1970s through “Grease” and “Xanadu” and into the MTV era.
It might be wise for them to examine her early work, because it certainly set the stage for what she did later on.
R.I.P. Olivia, you done good!
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