Olivia Kicks Up Her Heels, Olivia in concert special
In show business when a performer is pigeonholed, slapped with a sobriquet that is not always an easy fit, it’s almost impossible, even career-damaging, to get out from under.
With the mantle “clean-living princess of romantic country music” (The Daily News, 1977) and “Miss White Bread” (People magazine, 1978), the Australian-bred singer who turned “Let Me Be There,” “If You Love Me” and “I Honestly Love You” into gold and platinum, had a long way to go.
“This clean image is nothing I cultivated,” says Olivia Newton-John. “I really don’t go around talking about clean living. I’m really terrible underneath. I’m sure I have some vices, but if I have them, I’m not pointing them out.”
Newton-John in Concert,” the “Standing Room Only” presentation debuting Sunday, Jan. 23 (8-9:30 p.m.). The performance was taped in Ogden, Utah, one of the final stops on her 50-city American tour.
Says Olivia, “I’m just more confident now. I can relax more and be myself onstage. I was always rigid. I was afraid to try new things, but I think I’ve gone through a lot of changes in the last five years.”
With “Grease,” the most successful movie musical in history, Newton-John began slipping out of the mold. She also flexed her vocal capacities in a provocative duet with co-star John Travolta, “You’re the One That I Want,” and a heart-throbbing “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
In recent years, Olivia’s never-been-anything-but-mellow image has undergone a physical transformation. Sporting a punk haircut, a vampish wardrobe and some hot-blooded moves, the recording superstar is giving her fans a “Heart Attack.” HBO viewers can witness the scorching results of her metamorphosis on “Olivia Newton-John In Concert”.
Observes Olivia, “The experience of filming ‘Grease’ and singing ‘You’re the One That I Want’ was an opening for me. I felt after that I wanted to try different things. I was open to everything new.”
Not only had Olivia begun to realize her untapped potential, but colleagues also noticed the difference.
The girl-next-door had stepped out on the town and, with the guidance of her long-time music producer John Farrar, turned “Totally Hot.” (This is the title of the 1979 platinum album that featured a smoldering Olivia on the cover.)
With the subsequent release of both the single “Physical” and the 10 million-selling album of the same name, she has really blossomed into a sensuous, self-assured performer.
Says Olivia of her decision to record an album that featured such cuts as “Strangers Touch,” “Carried Away” and “Make a Move on Me,” “I was very nervous because I didn’t know what people would think…but it worked out great. By the time we recorded ‘Physical,’ I was ready to be more daring. I wasn’t afraid any longer to open up. Until then I had always had this thing about what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. I was very controlled. I don’t know why. I just felt I had this one image and I shouldn’t be more than that.”
Following her latest hit single, “Heart Attack,” Olivia will undoubtedly keep the public “Tied Up in Promises” (her upcoming single to be released in January 1983). And she has very definite ideas about what direction her career is headed: