British-Australian singer/songwriter/actress Olivia Newton-John, known for numerous hit singles and starring in the movie musical Grease, has died of breast cancer at her home in Malibu, California at age 73. It was the third time she had suffered from the disease.
Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England to Brinley Newton-John, a Welshman, and the former Irene Born, whose father was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born. Dr. Born was a Jew who fled Nazi Germany in 1933. Olivia's father was an MI5 officer involved in the U.K.'s effort to reverse-engineer the German Enigma cipher machine. When she was 6 years old, the family moved to Melbourne, Australia.
At age 14, Newton-John and three classmates formed the singing group Sol Four. She became a regular on local Australian TV shows. While appearing on The Go!! Show, she met singer Pat Carroll and her future music producer John Farrar. She won a talent contest on the show Sing, Sing, Sing, her prize being a trip to Great Britain. After Carroll moved to the U.K., she and Newton-John formed the singing duo "Pat and Olivia". Carroll's visa expired, but Newton-John stayed in Britain to become a solo artist.
In 1971, Olivia Newton-John recorded the Bob Dylan song If Not For You, which also became the title of her first album. Her version was largely based on that of George Harrison, from his 1970 album All Things Must Pass. Her second American-released album was Let Me Be There, whose title song reached the American Top 10. Her subsequent hits included If You Love Me, Let Me Know, I Honestly Love You, Please Mr. Please, Hopelessly Devoted To You (from Grease), Physical and A Little More Love. For the movie Grease, she recorded two duets with John Travolta, Summer Nights and You're The One That I Want. She starred in and recorded the title song of the movie Xanadu with the Electric Light Orchestra.
Newton-John was married to actor Matt Lattanzi from 1984 to 1995. Their daughter Chloe was born in 1986. She married businessman John Easterling in 2008. She is survived by Easterling and her daughter Chloe.
Olivia performed If Not For You on a TV show in 1971. The audio to this video comes from the studio version of the song. Some YouTube users are good at what is known as "synching".
On another TV show, she sings (or maybe lip-syncs) Let Me Be There, featuring a bass vocal by Mike Sammes. Like many of her early hits, it has a country feel.
Olivia changed her musical style some time around 1980 and released the song Physical, with a video full of male models.
Toward the end of Grease, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta perform You're The One That I Want, written by her longtime producer John Farrar.
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