Our Top Export Gets All Nostalgic, Down Under Special
By Melissa Hoyer
THE apron strings of motherhood still tied firmly around her waist, a more mature and socially-aware Olivia Newton-John is on the comeback trail. Australia’s most popular export surprised, even shocked, some of her fans when she chopped off her golden locks, had a body suit painted on and exhorted people to get physical.
But the birth other daughter, Chloe, changed Newton-John’s outlook and she thinks she has found her showbiz niche. Her recent songwriting focuses on topics such as ecology, divorce, AIDS, families and single parenthood. “I can’t compete with the teenage pop stars I’m in another league that is more mature and aware of things around me,” she says. She has written a few of the songs on The Rumour, her first album for three years. “Since I’ve been married and have became a mother I’ve become a bit more aware of social issues,” she said from her Malibu home. “I really sympathise with a good friend who is going through a divorce and has a few children to look after, while I’m also concerned about ecology because I want Chloe to grow up with the beauty of animals, forests a natural environment still intact.”
The first step along the comeback trail for the singer-actor, who turns 40 on September 26, will be seen tonight when the hour-long special Olivia Newton-John In Australia screens on Network Seven at 7.30. The special was made during a six-week tour which embraced Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, Coober Pedy, the Barossa Valley and Cradle Mountain and features all-Australian music. “The best thing is we used real people, not actors, throughout the whole show, so everyone gets an idea of what real Australians are like,” she says.
Chloe features briefly in the special “because she looks so beautiful I couldn’t resist showing her off. Australia is still home to me and I could never get that out of my system,” she said with a half-baked accent that could fit into an American or Australian environment. “I really miss it and perhaps one day we’ll live there again. But at the moment my husband, Matt, has his career in the States and I’ve been busy with being a mum, recording and getting together more Koala Blue Shops.”
The special highlights songs from The Rumour and the title song was written by old mates Elton John and Bernie Taupin. John lends a hand with the music and plays the keyboards on the first raunchy single. The special, already shown in America and England, gives a guided tour of the best spots in Australia and features chats to Australians. “I was able to be myself throughout the show and could clown around as much as I wanted instead of being given a script and having everything so orchestrated,” she said, while two-year-old Chloe shrieked in the background.
After making huge hits of syrupy, lightweight songs like I Honestly Love You, Hopelessly Devoted To You and Magic, Newton-John ventured into the film business in the highly successful Grease, with John Travolta, and the box-office flop Xanadu. “I love making movies and no doubt I’ll become involved in another one once I can find the time!” she says. Her image has constantly changed throughout her showbiz career: from the archetypal blonde-haired, blue eyed girl next door, to the vampy bombshell with a mass of flowing hair and downright sexy gear and, before motherhood, the butch-looking physical girl pumping iron.
Newton-John thinks her new album isn’t as frivolous as the last, Soul Kiss. Being a mum is top priority and she would like to have another baby. “It’s just a matter of fitting everything in. Since having Chloe I’ve realised that there is more to life than pleasing myself. I’m teaching all I know to another human being and am desperate that she will turn out to be a good person. When you’re single you tend to become so self centered, but all that has changed and being a mum is the best thing I have ever done.”
Being such a homely Australian girl at heart, Newton-John found it easy to avoid the often wayward trappings of Hollywood razzmatazz. When she first moved to the States it was a hard slog and she didn’t have time to see much of the sleaze. “Well, I really wasn’t interested in all of that,” she says. “It was a matter of having my feet planted on the ground and not letting all of the glamour overpower what I was there to do entertain and make a success of myself.”
She says the interest by Americans in Australia is still at an all-time high but she thinks that artists can now make it in Australia without going overseas. “When I was starting off, you felt you had to go overseas to achieve anything. But now Australia is just as important as a success point and is producing some great talent. “Look at the success of Paul Hogan, Kylie Minogue, bands like INXS and The Church. They were, and still are, successful in Australia, and now are successful all over the world.”
She says that most of her American friends are “dying” to come to Australia and it usually is one of the first topics of conversation. “Years ago, you were considered a bit strange, having come from all that way Down Under, but now it’s a totally normal thing and most of my friends can’t wait to see what the fuss is all about.” Newton-John now feels she is reaching the happiest time of her life. “Although I’m getting older I just have to accept it because there certainly isn’t anything I can do about it,” she chuckles.
As well as writing songs and recording, she is heavily involved in her 16 Koala Blue shops dotted throughout America, Canada, Hawaii and Japan. The first was a huge hit when it opened on the very fashionable Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, and the new stores are expected to turn over $7.5 million this year. “The Koala Blue fashion line is doing very wel1 and there is talk about opening a store in Australia, but we haven’t finalised anything”. She would like to make another movie if the right script came along.
At the moment she is happy watching Chloe grow up. She is eagerly awaiting our reaction to Olivia Newton-John In Australia, but has no plans at the moment for another one.