Olivia's inspiring comeback
Aussie legend Olivia Newton-John is planning a big comeback to celebrate her triumph over adversity
She’s been honoured by presidents and queens. Her appeal is ageless and timeless. And this year the original queen of re-invention, Olivia Newton-John, makes another amazing comeback-selling wine and song.
She has triumphed over her traumatic marriage breakdown, business troubles and breast cancer- and through it all, the queen of pop has always had a special spot in the hearts and minds of Australians, remaining quite simply an undisputed national treasure.
“She’s still it and a bit,” says friend and business partner Phil Stone, the general manager of Melbourne-based Signature Beverages, which markets her wine brands Koala Blue and Olivia.
“Singapore, Canada, Ireland, America and Hong Kong - she’s known the world over. Vietnam was the only place I’ve had to explain who she was.”
These days Phil - who admits to having had a crush on the singer’s alter ego Sandy from the hit movie Grease as a gangly teenager - gets to drive Olivia round and listen in on her girly chats with business partner and long-time friend Pat Farrar, when they are in town.
“They jabber away like two schoolgirls, but we have a rule, what’s said in the car stays in the car!”
Not that there’s even a hint of controversy about this 56-year-old songstress, who started singing country, turned pop princess, then raunchy rocker, but remained at heart the girl next door with an ageless appearance that continues to amaze. She’s survived a marriage breakdown to actor Matt Lattanzi, the collapse of her US boutique business, even breast cancer and the chemotherapy that followed, and has always remained upbeat and optimistic.
“She is amazing. You can’t not like her,” says Festival Mushroom Records national publicist Kate Amphlett.
“Every second person who comes up to her on tour tells her about the impact she has had on their life,” says Kate. “And she has an aura about her, that spirituality,” she says.
In the past Olivia has claimed that “eating well, sleeping well and living with a happy mind” are part of what keeps her going. It certainly helped her cope with the trauma in the early ’90s of divorce and bereavement, with the death of her beloved father Professor Brin Newton-John and more recently, her dear mother Irene.
Both parents instilled the importance of community and compassion into the young Olivia. And it shows.
“My mum was my first mentor,” Olivia says. “She was incredibly concerned about the future of our world and the environment. I remember her crying that the trees in her street were being cut down… she remained totally involved with her community to the end.”
And so despite all her struggles, Olivia has been able to look beyond her own misfortune and, like her mother, commit to her work as an environmental activist and campaign for better awareness and treatment of breast and other cancers.
As Phil says: “She’s the girl next door-she’s never had any bad press, any scandal, she’s never been tossed out of a nightclub, she supports ecologically sound businesses and cancer research. She gets involved.”
Olivia has been a spokesperson for the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, a ground roots US group trying to inform and prevent childhood illnesses from toxic waste in the community. And she is the force behind a campaign to raise $50 million over five years to bring about the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre, in partnership with the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, in her hometown of Melbourne.
The cancer centre will have a comprehensive range of services and facilities for treatment, education, training and research, and the home to a dream of Olivia’s - the Wellness Centre, which will offer meditation, cancer support groups and a range of relaxation techniques.
“Olivia is radiant,” says Tanya Carter, a spokeswoman for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre. “She has this calm centre about her and it comes from a genuine place. She is genuinely interested in people.
“She is so beautiful, especially for someone who has been through so much,” says Tanya.
Olivia visited Australia recently to launch the Liv Kit, a simple easy way for women to examine their breasts. She told the media: “I don’t want my daughter Chloe or her friends to have to worry about breast cancer. I want to help other people.”
Community is vital in Olivia’s life but family is her raison d’être and Chloe, 19, looks set to follow in the famous footsteps of her mother. The teenager performs regularly at Olivia’s gigs-singing two duets with her mum at last year’s successful Australian concerts.
“There is a family air about every concert she does,” says music executive Kate Amphlett. “The people who tour with her are gorgeous.”
Chloe signed last year with Olivia’s record company, and is expected to launch her own album next year. Record executives have big hopes for the new princess of pop, even if the style will be different from that of her famous mum.
“Olivia has been with us for 30 years, we couldn’t not sign Chloe!” says Kate.
Meanwhile, Festival Mushroom Records is gearing up for the world premiere and Australian launch of Olivia’s next album, due out in October. Kate Amphlett says all of the 10 or so songs on the “really lush album with lots of strings” have been written, or made famous, by women like Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and easy listening favourites The Carpenters. The as yet untitled album is in the hands of world-renowned producer Phil Ramone.
Olivia, who paved the way for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Hugh Jackman, has certainly had a star-studded career. She has been awarded an OBE and in 2002 was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame for her services to the entertainment industry.
Olivia sang a duet with John Farnham at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics to an estimated global audience of four billion people and has performed for Pope John Paul II at the Jubilee Celebration for the Sick and Healthcare Workers.
The entertainer has also been nominated for a Golden Globe award, won four Grammys, an Emmy and numerous Country Music awards. And she performed on the most successful movie soundtrack -Grease. But despite all that success, those close to Olivia know that the very best is still yet to come from Australia’s favourite daughter.
Wine time for Livvy
The Aussie star will begin appearing in TV commercials Australia-wide to promote her Koala Blue range of wines in August. In the TV spots, Olivia and co-owner of the brand Pat Farrar-who normally stick to savvy label design and packaging - are shown enthusiastically stomping on the grapes in a barrel.
Up until now the company has only had a small presence in Australia because of bigger returns in the export markets. About 100,000 cases of the Koala Blue wines are exported annually.
Last year The Wall Street Journal blind taste-tested 50 shiraz wines and the Koala Blue Shiraz was chosen as one of the best. “We think that its affordability makes it initially attractive, but the reason people come back for a second round is that our wine has an original, fruity Australian taste,” Olivia says.
The Koala Blue line generally retails in Australia for $9.95, while the more upmarket Olivia brand sells for $25-$30.
Like mother, like daughter
For almost three decades, millions of fans have been hopelessly devoted to Olivia Newton-John’s music. Now the Australian superstar is passing on the crown to her only daughter - Chloe Lattanzi.
Chloe, 19, signed a worldwide multi-album deal with Festival Mushroom records late last year. She is writing songs with big names in the music industry (Cisco Adler, Luis Ochoa and Justin Stanley) and is expected to bring out her album next year.
“It will be a rockier, more bluesy album than her mum’s,” says record company excutive Kate Amphlett. “Chloe is her own woman and has her own style.”
The teenager has performed on stage with her mother during her last two tours.
A Diet To Bragg about
An anti-ageing diet rich in salads, vegetables and soybean but low in animal fats is reputed to be one of the reasons behind Olivia’s enternally youthful good looks.
Olivia is just one of a number of celebrities (including actors Tom Selleck, Demi Moore and singer Madonna) to have tried the Bragg diet.
Dr Patricia Bragg advocates eliminating processed food, drinking 10 glasses of purified water daily and several glasses of organic apple cider vinegar, abstaining from smoking and heavy drinking, occasional fasting and adds that one miracle ingredient should be included in your diet a soybean extract seasoning.
Dr Bragg-the author of 22 health and fitness books including Bragg Healthy Lifestyle - Vital Living to 120 (available from online book retailers such as www.amazon.com) - encourages between 30-40 minutes of exercise daily and supports her food philosophies with daily inspirations and positive thinking.
Olivia herself has often said that positive thinking and mental wellbeing are a health cornerstone. The Bragg plan controversially suggests that women shouldn’t wear bras as they cut off circulation in the body, causing toxins to pool.
More from Olivia and Pat’s Koala Blue wine TV commercial