American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. CL/Personality #2 (C31 766), 1977. Photo: Halstead / Contact.
French postcard by Star, Paris, in the Collection John Travolta. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 53190. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Two of a Kind (John Herzfeld, 1983).
You're the One That I Want
Olivia Newton-John was born in 1948 in the British city of Cambridge. She was a granddaughter of Max Born (1882-1970), winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954. With her family, she moved to Australia at a young age.
She scored her first hit as a singer in the early 1970s and in 1974 entered the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the United Kingdom. She finished with her song 'Long live love' in fourth place. It was the year ABBA won with 'Waterloo'.
Shortly afterwards, she moved to the US, where she also had a successful singing career, with mainly country songs. She had five number-one hits and won four Grammy Awards with such songs as 'If You Love Me, Let Me Know' (1974), 'I Honestly Love You' (1974), 'Have You Never Been Mellow' (1975), and 'Physical' (1981).
In 1978, Olivia Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978). Grease was her big break as an actress. She was asked to play the role of the goody-goody Sandy Olsson when she met producer Allan Carr at a dinner. At first, she was afraid that she was already too old (she was 29 when filming began) to pass for a high school student, but after a screen test with her co-star John Travolta, she decided to accept the role.
Grease became the biggest box-office success of 1978. The soundtrack remains one of the most successful in history. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: 'You're the One That I Want' – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and 'Summer Nights'.
Australian postcard for Goma Cinema by Avant Card, 2012. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Dutch postcard, no. AX 7377. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Dutch postcard, no. AX 7377. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Magic
In 1980, Olivia Newton-John scored again with the songs 'Magic' and 'Xanadu' (with Electric Light Orchestra) from the film Xanadu (Robert Greenwald, 1980). Her later films were less successful.
Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. After treatment, she recovered. She later recorded the album 'Gaia: One Woman's Journey' about this period. It was the first album for which she wrote both the music and lyrics herself. Since then, she has also dedicated herself to more research into (breast) cancer.
In 2013, Newton-John was treated for a tumour in her shoulder. She healed, but five years ago the disease returned and metastasised to her lower back. In 2019, Newton-John was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in part for her contribution to cancer research.
Newton-John was married to actor Matt Lattanzi between 1984 and 1995. The actress Chloe Rose Lattanzi (1986) is the daughter of this marriage. From 1996-2004, Newton-John had a relationship with cameraman Patrick McDermott, who disappeared in 2005 during a fishing trip. Since 2008, she was married to businessman John Easterling.
Olivia Newton-John has sold an estimated 120 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Dutch postcard, no. AG 1009. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Dutch postcard. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Dutch postcard. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978).
Sources: Nos.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment