Olivia Descends on Earth - Premiere

Translation from Dutch:

She's made it, Livvy, as her Dutch nickname goes. A nickname with a certain flavor, which not everyone likes. But the Dutch public rarely gives up completely. And why should they?

As this singer's career soared, her plump appearance morphed into that of a Barbie doll. First, her dark hair turned blonde.

At first, she resembled cotton candy, but later she increasingly took on the appearance of a mannequin, a model.

There was once a time when the group Teach In was more popular than Olivia. Those roles are reversed: the Eurovision Song Contest defeat didn't do her much harm.

Now that she has reached the absolute top at thirty-two, she has acquired the allure of a true movie star. Olivia has done well, according to American standards before she has turned thirty. The product Grease made her an instant millionaire. She earned a good ten million from the film and more than double that from record sales.

Xanadu, her new success, can only strengthen her position. Financially, at least, because in America its success is on par with that of Grease. Her living as a movie star is secured.

Yet, for Olivia Newton John it all came to blows. Who still remembers the Eurovision years of 1974 and 1975? In Brighton, she represented England, but Abba won with Waterloo, tapping into a goldmine that remains untapped to this day. Italy came second with Si and the Netherlands third with Ik zie een ster (I See a Star). Olivia played no significant role.

The following year, our own Enschede group, Teach In, won the festival in Stockholm with Ding-a-dong. The obvious winners, The Shadows, finished second. Bassist John Farrar wasn't too bothered. He was very busy at the time with Olivia, who had also had bad luck at the festival the year before.

Olivia Newton John scored hit after hit in America, especially with country-influenced songs. In a short time, she had risen to the top and even became the first English artist to win an American country-and-western popularity contest.

School

Olivia was born in Cambridge, England, on September 26, 1948. The academic family — her grandfather was even a Nobel Prize winner — moved to Melbourne, Australia.

Olivia became very interested in singing and dancing while still at school. With three friends, she formed the group The Sol Four. The girls had to give up their hobby when their schoolwork began to suffer.

Of course, education took priority in the family, whose father was the principal of Ormond College in Melbourne. But Olivia was determined to become an artist. She persevered, neglected her studies, and did everything she could to be a singer. At 15, she managed to win the first prize at a talent show: a trip to England..

The prize got a bit out of hand, because Olivia stayed in England. Together with another Australian, Pat Carroll, she formed a duo that graced many shows as backup vocals.

Besides BBC television, she also appeared in the backing vocals behind Cliff Richard. In fact, the foundation was already being laid for Olivia Newton John's later success, because there she met John Farrar, who subsequently managed to find her the perfect songs.

When Pat's visa expired and she had to return to Australia, Olivia was left alone in England. The time seemed ripe for a first single. It was Bob Dylan's If Not For You, and it immediately brought her a lot of attention. A second record, Banks of the Ohio, also sold reasonably well in both England and Australia.

The image of the innocent teenage girl was popular in those days, and she became a popular figure in the BBC television series It's Cliff Richard.

Readers of the English music magazine Record Mirror voted her the best British female singer in 1971 and 1972. But that was only the beginning of many honors.

Since her song Let Me Be There received international recognition in 1973, the number of Grammy Awards has become countless.

On the album Xanadu, she can finally give something back to Cliff Richard, whom she more or less considers her discoverer. She sings the duet Suddenly with him. John Farrar, still Olivia's regular songwriter, is responsible for all the compositions in Xanadu, which are sung by Olivia.

But, as is well known, the other side of the soundtrack LP, and thus a large part of the film, is filled with songs by Jeff Lynne, performed by his own group, The Electric Light Orchestra.

Since Olivia's immense success with Grease, film and music producers have been lining up at her door. From the many scripts she reads, she carefully chose 'Xanadu'. The combination of dancing and singing in 'Xanadu' was tailor-made for her.

The recipe of Saturday Night Fever and Grease appears to work again: Olivia Newton John's Xanadu was already high on several hit lists before the film hit the cinemas.

However... with the assignment to music producers for the film, the gentlemen behind the Xanadu project (Universal Pictures, MCA Records, Robert Greenwald, Joel Silver, John Farrar and Lee Kramer) apparently handled it a bit sloppily.

Pop groups have been vying for this challenge. Besides Jeff Lynne of ELO, it turns out that the same request was once made to Emerson Lake and Palmer and to two songwriters from Los Angeles, Stephan Sinclair and Joseph Falsia. Through legal proceedings they are now also trying to get a piece of the pie that was thrust upon them.

Supreme God

In 'Xanadu' Olivia plays the role of the beautiful Kira, daughter of the supreme god Zeus. Kira descends to earth with her eight sisters to turn their dreams into reality. Kira soon sees some of her dreams come true when she meets a record cover designer on Earth who falls madly in love with her...

In that role, Olivia now finds not John Travolta as his opposite number, but the male beauty Michael Beck. This 31-year-old star played a striking role in the youth gang film The Warriors and seemed the most suitable candidate to play opposite Olivia.

The famous singer, dancer, choreographer, producer, director and television star Gene Kelly is Olivia's other opposite number in Xanadu. He began his career back in 1938 in the Cole Porter show Leave If For Me. Now he plays the role of an elderly clarinetist who, in the 1940s, had his own orchestra in his own nightclub... Now, years later, he feels his artistic blood tingling again and wants to return to show business.

The production of the fairy tale film Xanadu was certainly not about a million dollars more or less. With the help of Olivia Newton John, success seems to be assured.

Olivia's role in film is not yet over. On the contrary. She seems to have found her destiny. There is no trace left of the girl who once dreamed of becoming a female cowboy.