I'm Not Ready For Marriage
WINSOME, willowy Olivia Newton-John is undisputed queen of pop…and more than a little puzzled.
The trouble is that wholesome girl-next-door image people have tagged her with. “I don’t know how or where it originated,”
Liv, as she likes to be called, told the Star.
“I don’t intentionally project any image. I try very much to be myself.”
And the girl who is ever mother’s dream of the idea daughter-in-law has som pretty firm ideas on marriage.
At present she shares beach house at Malibu Beach Calif., with Lee Kramer, the young Englishman who sold his show business to be her manager. But marriage is definitely not in the cards - yet.
“We talk about marriage now and then, but it frightens me,” says Liv.
“It’s a big step. You don’t go into it not being 100 per cent positive. At least wouldn’t, not with the family background I’ve had.
“I’ve seen my parents, my sister and so many of my friends getting divorced. And I’m not ready for children yet.”
The 26-year-old English born singer with a string of million sellers is just too busy being a success to get tied to homelife.
“When I’m travelling I think how I’d love to be a home,” she says. “But when I’m home a few weeks, I’m dying to do something.”
“I enjoy singing - I really enjoy the work. And I’m not willing to stay at home at the moment, not permanently. Once you’ve been a working girl, it’s very difficult just to be at home.”
Liv’s career has certainly kept her on the move, ever since the age of 15, when she decided to become a singer. Her father, a Welsh professor who took Liv to Australia when she was five, hoped she would go to college and perhaps be a doctor.
But she chose instead to follow her older sister, who quit school early to be an actress.
“I entered a TV talent com test and won it,” says Liv “The prize was a trip to England”
For two years she worked with an English rock group called Tomorrow, then she was spotted by pop star Cliff Richard. He asked her to record and tour with him.
Then on her own she recorded Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You”. “It was an international success - lucky for me,” she says.
Her next three singles-Let Me Be There, If You Love Me, Let Me Know and I Honestly Love You each sold more than a million copies.
The latter song, song, a Peter Allen-Jeff Barry ballad, is Olivia’s biggest hit to date - although her latest single, Have You Never Been Mellow, has passed the million mark.
Her rendition of I Honestly Love You was chosen the best record of 1974 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Olivia received a Grammy for that and a second one for the best female performance of the year.
The Country Music Association also voted her the top female country singer for 1974.
Awarding this honor to a girl who speaks with clipped English-Aussie accent had never even seen Nashville, was more than some Country Western purists could take.
Established country musicians have even formed an association aimed at preventing competition from foreign imports like Olivia.
“I don’t classify myself as a country and Western singer,” says Liv in her own defense. “Only my first two hits were country. Neither of the last two - I Honestly Love You and Have You Never Been Mellow - were country and Western oriented. But they both went to number one on the country charts.”
“That’s because the country fans are so fantastic. Once you establish yourself with them - and I’ve worked a lot in the Mid-West - they stick with you. They’re incredible people and they like my music.”
But much as she loves country music, Liv says: “I’ do other things, too. I like all sorts of music and record what I like. I tend to go for good simple things with nice melodies and good lyrics.”
Liv’s hectic schedule doesn’t give her much time to relax. After a brief visit to New York last month she was off to Las Vegas for an engagement.
When she closes there, she will be off to England for eight weeks to record a new album. Then it will be back to the States this summer to tour the state fair circuits, where she broke attendance records last year. In between, there will undoubtedly be more concerts and TV shots.
And, sooner, or later, someone is going to come up with the idea of giving Olivia her own TV show.
“I perform three or four nights a week, and, of course, you’ve got to travel to and from. I have a real fear of flying, so I’ve been using a bus to get about. I can sleep on the bus.”
Liv travels with her six-man backup group called This Oneness. “They’re fantastic.” she says. “And they’re great fun. One day they had a water pistol fight on the bus these grown guys. But it saves you going mad.”
The bus is also equipped with television and tape recorders and stereo, cards and backgammon.
But for real fun and relaxation, Liv has her rented beach house at Malibu Beach.
“I love the place because it gives me peace, quiet and seclusion,” she says.
“It’s right on the beach and we’ve got a Great Dane called Zargon and a red setter puppy called Jackson because he was given to me by a fan in Jackson, Miss.”
“Eventually, we hope to get some horses when we have time to ride them.”
But judging by the fans’ demand for more of Olivia Newton-John, that could be quite a wait.
But judging by the fans’ demand for more of Olivia Newton-John, that could be quite a wait.
What Olivia Newton-John is really ready for - say critics and fans - is international super stardom.