I Just Make Records
Olivia Newton-John one of Australia’s most successful export pop singers, has been accused with John Denver of being cute, sugar plum, coy and too good to be true. But she cna afford, like Liberace, to laugh at the criticism on the way to the bank.
She probably gets something like $100,000 a week at places like Las Vegas and Reno but there are no outward signs of it.
Her big income is very recent and probably her tax problems are most complicated but it is not in her personality to be a big spender.
She also has the reputation of being one of the hardest stars to get to interview.
I already knew of her this reputation when I went to Kingsford-Smith Airport at Mascot in Sydney to meet Olivia on her return to Australia to spend Christmas with her family.
It was because of this - and the fact that it’s a large airport - that I wasn’t surprised at not being bale to find Olivia. I found she had been booked on a Qantas flight and actually arrived two hours before schedule on Pan Am.
But I’m relentless. I traced her to a hotel room in the city where, when we eventually met up, I found her to be the most charming and cooperative celebrity I’ve met. (Which is why I am writing this interview, instead of looking at the “situ vacant” columns in the newspapers).
She seemed honestly bewildered that she was considered hard to interview.
“I really don’t know why,” she said. “Of course my schedule is very tight and I have a press agent to make appointments for me. For instance the week before I left the States I did three photographic sessions for three magazines and at the end of them I was a wreck. I had been asked to do 12, so perhaps you see what I mean. Often I don’t know what requests are made. I just have to leave all that to my agent.”
Olivia Newton-John is - to quote Norman Gunston - a lady who needs no introduction. However, unlike Norman, I intend to introduce her anyway.
She was born in England and came to Australia with her parents when she was five. Her father taught German at Cambridge University and her mother was the daughter of Max Born, Nobel Prize winning atomic physicist. The Borns had fled to England from their native Germany to escape Nazi oppression.
Olivia went to school in Melbourne and her parents were divorced when she was 12. She continued to live in Melbourne with her mother, and her father now retired University. became Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle (NSW)
Olivia began singing with her own group in Melbourne Sol Four the when she was 14. She later won a contract and a trip to England, where she joined a group called Toomorrow. The group was not successful but Olivia survived to work with Cliff Richard and got into the pop charts. She had a moderate success but it was not until she went to America in 1971 that her career really took off.
“I learned more in America in six months than I had in two years in England,” she said.
In March last year Olivia was named top female vocalist in the American annual Grammy awards. Her record I Honestly Love You was also voted record of the year.
In the same year she won four awards in the second annual American Music Awards. including best female vocalist in both pop and country categories.
I Honestly Love You was the sixth gold record that Olivia picked up in a year.
She took a pounding from American critics for scoring the best record and best female vocalist honours. There was talk of unfair voting and, within the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, suggestions of rule changes to make the awards “more representative”.
Olivia shrugged off these criticisms when I asked her about them.
“It was really only a minority handful who resented the awards. The whole thing was blown up out of all proportion.”
It’s tempting to fall into the cliche of describing Olivia as “the girl next door” which is exactly what photographer John Pinfold did. Certainly she has the wholesome dewy-eyed look of that fictitious character. She also has the blonde prettiness and the long-lashed, enormous eyes; but there the resemblance ends. She has this tremendous talent and a cool, sensible approach to the carping that seems to follow her every success.
At best, the critics say, “her voice is weak and wavery”.
Olivia replies, “I admit I can sing only by ear, but as long as my backing group knows what key we’re in, we’re OK.”
“I just make records and sing to people. The people who like my records buy them. I just do what I want to do and if people like that it’s great. If they don’t…” she shrugs her slim shoulders and sets them squarely.
Olivia Newton-John is 27 now. When we met she had been travelling for 30 hours and looked as trim and fresh as though she had just woken from a refreshing sleep. She was wearing an army fatigue suit and her blonde hair is shoulder length. She’s probably the only top star who travels with no secretary, hairdresser or make-up girl. She wears very little make up. Her enthusiasm was greatest when she spoke about the house she has just bought in Malibu, north of Los Angeles, where she lives with her manager boyfriend Englishman Lee Kramer. Kramer gave up his shoe importing business in England to go to the States with Olivia.
“Lee let me spend Christmas with my family this year,” she said. “I wish he could have come, too, but it wasn’t possible.”
“Lee is a great guy and fun to be with, but I’ve no intention at the moment of getting married. When I want and need children, then I will get married, but until then I see no reason to do so.”
“My feelings about marriage are that it is purely a personal thing. It may suit some people. It’s possible that one day I may wake up and say ‘I want to be married’ but I’ve seen such a lot of relationships fall apart that the idea scares me.”
“Something seems to happen to a relationship when people get married and I don’t want anything like that to happen to Lee and me.”
Buying a house has given Olivia roots which up until now she feels she has lacked. With her parents and her sister divorced, her family is fragmented although they are all close to her and she has been longing to return to see them.
“They are all thrilled and delighted with my success,” she said.
She told me that Professor Newton-John’s idea of a musical delight is to listen to a solid three hours of recorded Bach every day and now that he has retired, this is just what he does.
He trained as a leading opera singer but his voice was not considered strong enough so he chose an academic life. Of Olivia’s singing he says, “I enjoy listening to some of her middle of the road stuff, but for the life of me I can’t understand why some of her songs are acclaimed by the public and others aren’t. But Olivia never enjoyed my taste.”
Olivia herself said, “It was cutting records that really put me on my way. I just got a following. I was never very popular in England but I hit the jackpot in the States. Now most of my time is taken up with recordings and travelling around singing at universities and colleges.”
“This year I played Las Vegas for the first time and it was fantastic. I was terribly nervous for the first couple of nights 1 went on, but the audiences were wonderful.”
“I’ve been approached to do a film but don’t feel yet that I’m ready for it. I did make one but it wasn’t a success and I want to be quite sure that the next time it will be right for me. I’ve read dozens of scripts but I’m still looking.”
“Ideally it should be a film where I can sing but I’m going to wait until the right one comes along.”
“One of the joys about coming home is that I can do all the things I never get a chance to do when I’m working or on tour. Ordinary things like walking, visiting, going to movies - just being with my family and friends.”
“I’m hoping old friends will contact me while I’m in Australia. I’ve lost touch with so many. People don’t seem to write letters any more. I’m bad at it, too. Sometimes I just call up from wherever I am and keep in touch that way.”
One old friend who caught up with Olivia at her hotel was the television star Chantal Contouri. She rang the door of the suite while I was talking to Olivia and the two literally fell into each other’s arms. They danced and hugged each other.
“We’ve known each other for - oh, about eight years,” said Chantal.
Before Olivia and Chantal giggled their way off to spend a couple of days at Chantal’s home, I asked Olivia about the time she referred to Australian men as chauvinist pigs on the Johnny Carson show.
“That report was quite untrue,” she said. “As it happens, chauvinist is a word I never use. I did say that in Australia women are treated as second-class citizens. I thought that when I lived here, but that was a long time ago and I was much younger then. Maybe things have changed now.”
Olivia said the >a href=”../../../../visual/tv/70/76/denver/index.html”>Christmas special</a> she made with John Denver was one of her most enjoyable experiences. Now she wants to buy a house in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado near Aspen where they made the Denver special.
“What made the whole thing so marvellous was that I could do all the things there that I like doing. Skiing, riding and walking. I bought a horse there and took him back with me to Los Angeles. He’s there now with my two dogs, a great dane and an Irish setter.”
Olivia may not need the trappings of a celebrity but the fact that she is one was handy when she arrived at Mascot. She travels on a British passport and had forgotten to get a visa. A Customs official just waved her through.
“Don’t forget it next time,” he said.
Photos: Olivia Newton-John. Inset: A welcome hug in Sydney from long-time friend. television star Chantal Contouri. “One of the joys about coming home is that I can do all the things I never get a chance to do when I’m working or on tour,” Olivia says.