The Sky is the limit - The Sault Star

The Sky is the limit

Amy Sky’s debut album collaboration with husband Marc Jordan an education

By Jeffrey Ougler

One thing Sky and Jordan will likely never get used to is the absence of Olivia Newton-John in their lives.

Sky joined forces with the late superstar – Newton-John battled breast cancer three times and died of the disease in early August – on several occasions, writing and producing songs for Newton-John’s albums. Jordan made his 2010 acting debut in the musical Score: A Hockey Musical, which also starred Newton-John. They all remained close, kept in touch and even communicated during Newton-John’s last days.

Sky had spoken to her friend a weeks before she died; the severity of Newton-John’s illness was not known at the time.

“She was still very optimistic, she was taking singing lessons,” Sky said.

A week before Newton-John died, Sky and Jordan attended a Rod Stewart show in Toronto, where the three had a chance to chat. Stewart mentioned he was working on a new album of swing songs and said he sought someone with whom to record a duet. Sky offered up Newton-John’s services. Stewart was delighted.

“He goes, `I would love that. That would be great,’” Sky recounted.

Sky would soon attempt to deliver the glad tidings to her friend. A message to Newton-John got no reply. A text a few days later also failed to get a response.

“Oh my God … this is not normal. She always gets back to me,” Sky said of her reaction at the time.

Newton-John’s husband, John Easterling, soon reached out to Sky and Jordan with the news that their friend had a taken a turn for the worst, suggesting they say final farewells.

A phone call soon followed.

“We both sang to her and talked to her,” Sky said. “She was not able to speak but her husband said she could hear people. I told her, `Rod Stewart still wants to work with you. I know you can’t do it, but people still love you, people still want you.

“She was just a lovely, generous person.”

In fact, a current Sky project is writing a Broadway musical inspired by a project the pair did, created in the wake of the 2013 death of Newton-John’s sister.

“I’m really, really focused on getting this thing out there,” Sky said. “It’s really about how any one of us deals with loss and transformation in our lives.”