She's Like The Girl Next Door
By Jon Denton
She looks much like the girl next door, if the girl was slender, had a rich, full voice and a face to launch a thousand sheets of country music.
Olivia Newton-John also is shy. Her telephone personality is only a faint shadow of the girl who sings the lush “Let Me Be There” and “If You Love Me.”
She chatted, long distance this week about her lot as a country music singer. All the world knows the Australian with the liquid, koala bear eyes is country’s newest super star.
Last year she surprised almost everyone by winning a Grammy as Best Female Country Artist.
She followed with award of Country Music’s Most Promising Female. The lavish recognition has not proved all gravy, she says.
Folks in Nashville openly resented an “outsider” taking the top awards, a singer they felt was not particularly country in the e first place. Miss Newton-John quietly disagrees.
“I think the awards came because of the grow-ing international acceptance of country music,” she said. “After all, country has been a part of Australian culture for almost 20 years. Not as long as the United States; but it certainly doesn’t mean that we are newcomers to the field.”.
She pointed out Diana Trask and Helen Reddy, also hail from Down Under.
“Maybe some feelings were hurt because I was picked, because they don’t think I am ‘pure’ country. I admit to rock influence. But so does Charlie Rich, Kenny O’Dell and many others. The stars of country who are popular today are those who have added modern influence to their songs and singing.”
Although she loves Australia, she recently moved to England. She spends her days there when not on tour. England also is handy for global-hopping concerts.
She traces her interest in country to 1957 when Slim Dusty, an Aussie, started singing country tunes. He’s still popular.
“Australians are loyal fans,” she says. “Slim still has every record still in the catalogue. You can’t say that for American record companies. The minute a song goes off the charts, it almost automatically goes out of print.”
Touring her homeland is a hardship for musicians and singers, she says. “Going on the road in Australia is difficult because there aren’t that many roads, and the locations you play may be thousands of miles apart.”
“Most of the time, you have to fly, and the concert hall may be the local air-strip or a community hall. The virtual remoteness of the country has given Australia one of the highest private aircraft ownerships in the world.”
When she tours, she deliberately chooses songs in the range of “easy” country rock, songs of the John Denver and Tom Jans mode.
“My first hit came in 1971; with Bob Dylan’s ‘If Not For You.’ There were a few sparse years before we came back up with ‘Let Me Be There’ and “If You Love Me.”
“I was the opening act for a long time. But it taught me a lot about show business. It’s tough to warm up an audience when they know they are waiting for the biggies on next.”
She has much in common with other singers touring the states, she says. She’s fond of her fans.
“I love Ameica. The people are so friendly and open. They really don’t hide their feelings as much as other countries. If they like you, their arms are thrown wide open, and you are welcomed inside, even if you are technically not up to your best for that particular show.”
Her most recent album for MCA, “Have You Never Been Mellow?” is already climbing the country and pop charts, another successful “crossover.”
“I don’t feel the word ‘country’ has the stigma it once might have had. A lot of people consider me a country singer, while a lot put me in the ‘popular’ singer category. The way country music is arranged and written today, there is very little difference between the two.”
She notes Mac Davis sings “any style he feels like, including opera, if he wanted to”. Charlie Rich began life as a jazz musician.
“Country has changed from the old, harsh nasal style and I think that is why it is being accepted by people from all walks of life. Or maybe the world has just lost some of its snobbishness,”
Miss Newton-John is preparing another American tour. She performs at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Feb. 27 at Civic Center Music Hall. Ron Nance of Satellite Ticket Agency said the first concert sold out so fast a second was set and it, also, looks like a full house.
Miss Newton-John reverts to shyness when discussing her personal life.
“A girl has to keep some secrets,” she says, her voice expressing a verbal blush. “What I do in my personal life, I just don’t believe should be flaunted to the world. What I do on stage belongs to everybody who has bought a ticket.”