My Journey
While Olivia Newton-John was in the middle of this interview, talking from her Melbourne hotel room on the eve of last week’s “Best for the Bush” concert she had to put the phone down for a minute to answer the door. She came back and explained, giggling. “The housekeeper just came in because she wanted to have a look; she wanted to meet me. Better just shut the door so nobody else can have a look.” There was no sense of pique at all at being disturbed.
Despite her huge popularity and the 23 year career that has spawned a string of hit singles like I Honestly Love You and Physical and film appearances (Grease, Xanadu) Newton-John remains unbelievably natural and approachable. Most megastars would have dealt with curious hotel staff much less graciously than she did.
It’s been characteristic of Newton-John that she approaches most of the events in her life with great equanimity, especially the crises, of which there have been many in the past four years, but which she translated into a new album Gaia (due out on Monday).
While Newton-John had a dream run in her career, starting out in the early 70s when she first became a major international recording star touring with singer Cliff Richard, and in her personal life, with a 10 year marriage to US actor Matt Lattanzi, by the 90s disaster struck on almost every front.
The Koala Blue chain of stores she started in America with partner Pat Farrar went into receivership owing $9 million; she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 92 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy; and her father Professor Brinley Newton-John died of cancer the same year.
But in her inimitable fashion she’s taken all those disasters and worked them into a very personal album she calls “my journey” and which she wrote and co-produced. Many of the songs deal with her illness and other personal fears but despite the seriousness of the subject matter, the album is remarkably stylish and catchy. There is no sense here of being maudlin or heavy-handed. And the fact that it’s her first major foray into songwriting (except the odd song written for earlier albums) marks a new direction in her career and a comeback of sorts.
Since 1988 she has made only two mainstream albums The Rumour and The Essential Collection (songs from 71 to 92) preferring to spend more time with her husband and daughter Chloe, 8.
Why did she choose this point in her life for a move into songwriting? “I was going to write a book about my experience (with cancer) but I think it came out in my songs. I kept waking up at three in the morning with these songs in my head. I’d get up and go into another room with my tape recorder so I wouldn’t disturb the family and write them down as quickly as I could. They were all written in a very short space of time between the beginning of my chemotherapy through to the end of it.”
The album also includes songs about saving the environment, a subject she’s extremely passionate about - like the title song “Gaia” (meaning mother earth) and “Silent Ruin”, used on the documentary The Last Whale. “I needed through my music to reach people about the state of our planet. It’s something I’m very concerned about.”
She was quick to point out that she doesn’t want the album to seem negative in any way. “There are very positive songs on there, about not giving into pain and being strong. I was in pain for a lot of this (writing the album) but I feel that positive energy triumphs. I don’t want it to appear negative because that’s not good for other women who are going through this.”
Murray Burns one of the producers of the album said this was different to any other album the singer had done. “It’s very much a woman speaking from the heart.” Burns said that as a songwriter Newton-John had a great future. “I think she’s a gifted natural songwriter who never had the confidence till now to get down there and do it.”
Guitarist Fernando da Costa who did some backing work for the album and who has worked internationally with recording stars like Sting and George Michael said: “She’s absolutely brilliant. I didn’t realise she could write songs like that. I think her voice is even better now, richer and more refined.”
Newton-John said she felt so strongly about putting this album together she backed it with her own money, which was clearly a risk. “But I knew that if I went to a record company and told them about the kind of album I wanted to make I would be met with resistance, or they would want to know where the pop single was. And I wanted to make this album whether it was a success or not. It would be wonderful if it was successful but I’m not banking on it in a literal and non-literal sense.”
She laughed at the irony of the statement, given the woeful outcome of the Koala Blue operation, which she is only now putting behind her. Newton-John with Farrar opened the first store in Los Angeles in 1982, selling Australian leisure wear and the mandatory jars of vegemite. At its peak there were 60 stores throughout the world but in 1991 it went into receivership. Later some of the US franchisees tried to mount a $3 million damages claim but that was later dismissed in court. The singer bulked at discussing her financial state saying: “we will be fine,” adding that there were no regrets over the venture. “It’s a chapter that’s closed and it was enjoyable while it was going well.”
She agreed that her financial woes coupled with other problems possibly leading to her illness and forced her to take a long hard look at her lifestyle and her priorities. “I’ve really looked at my life and decided what I want for myself and my family. We’ve moved back to Australia and are trying to simplify the lifestyle we had in America. I want to get back more to the earth.”
That simple life is now germinating on an 80ha farm at Byron Bay where the couple grow avocados and custard apples and where Newton-John prefers to spend her time and surround herself with positive, calming energy. Yet despite best efforts on her part, soothing, calming vibes aren’t always following in her wake. Not long after she returned from America rumours were rife that her marriage was falling apart and that the couple had planned to have separate houses on their property. She bristled at the suggestion that the marriage was in trouble. “We’re definitely not living in separate houses. We’re a regular married couple who go through ups and downs like everyone else.” On that subject she would say no more. Not that she’s afraid to be candid about her life, obviously she’s not. But she said she’s done that on the new album.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve been brave enough to show myself. For a lot of my life I’ve been very guarded about personal things and now I feel that having been through pain that I can share that with others.”
By Marjory Bennett