Olivia Bio
b. Sep. 26, 1948, Cambridge, England
Vocals/Pop-Rock
Olivia Newton-John skillfully made the transition from popular country-pop singer to popular mainstream soft-rock singer, becoming one of the most successful vocalists of the ’70s in the process. The transition itself wasn’t much of a stretch-her early ’70s hits “I Honestly Love You” and “Have You Never Been Mellow” were country only in the loosest sense - yet the extent of her success in both fields was remarkable. As a country singer, her first five charting singles all went Top Ten in the US; as a pop singer, she had no less than 15 Top Ten hits, including five No. 1 singles, highlighted by “Physical,” which spent ten weeks at No. 1 in 1981-82. Newton-John’s sweet voice suited both country-pop and soft-rock perfectly, which is what kept her at the top of the charts until the mid-‘80s. After 1984 she was no longer able to reach the Top 40, partly because of shifting musical tastes and partly because she was unable to successfully record sexy dance-pop, no matter how hard she tried. Nevertheless, her ’70s and ’80s hits remained soft-rock and adult contemporary staples into the ’90s, when she was no longer recording frequently.
Although she was born in Cambridge, England, Olivia Newton-John was raised in Melbourne, Australia, where her father was the headmaster of Ormond College. (Her grandfather, Max Born, won the Nobel Prize for physics.) She tenatively entered show business at the age of 12, when she won a local Haley Mills-look-alike contest. A few years later, she formed an all-female vocal group called the Sol Four with three school friends. Once the Sol Four disbanded, Newton-John entered a television talent contest, winning the grand prize of a trip to London. There she formed a duo with Pat Carroll, another Australian-based vocalist, and tried to work her way into the music industry. Though her partnership with Carroll was short-lived-Pat was sent back to Australia when her visa expired-Olivia was making inroads in the business. After Carroll’s departure, Newton-John recorded and released her first single, a version of Jackie DeShannon’s “Till You Say You’ll Be Mine.” Shortly afterward she became a member of Toomorrow, a bubblegum group assembled by Don Kirshner in hopes of creat-ing a British version of the Monkees.
Toomorrow appeared in a science-fiction movie of the same name and had one minor British hit single, “I Could Never Live Without Your Love,” in early 1970 before the group disbanded. After the failure of Toomorrow, Newton-John became part of Cliff Richard’s touring show, appearing both as an opening act at his concerts and on his British television series, “It’s Cliff!” The exposure as a singer and comedienne on the show helped Newton-John’s career immeasurably, and her first single for Uni Records, a version of Bob Dylan’s “If Not for You” became a Top Ten hit in the UK in the spring of 1971; in America, it was surprisingly successful, spending three weeks at the top of the Adult Contemporary charts and peaking at No. 25 on the pop charts. For the next two years Newton-John’s success was primarily in Britain, where she had a string of lesser hits with covers of George Harrison’s “What Is Life” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” In America her career was stalled-her follow up single, “Banks of the Ohio,” barely scraped the lower reaches of the Top 100. On the other hand, she didn’t release a full-length album in the US until 1973, when Let Me Be There appeared. The title track from the record became a huge hit, going gold in early 1974 and peaking in the Top Ten country and pop charts. “Let Me Be There” won the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, to the consternation of many members of Nashville’s music industry.
“Let Me Be There” was followed by four other Top Ten hits-“If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” (No. 2 country, No. 5 pop, 1974), “1 Honestly Love You” (No. 6 country, No. 1 pop, 1974), “Have You Never Been Mellow” (No. 3 country, No. 1 pop, 1975), and “Please Mr. Please” (No. 5 country. No. 3 pop, 1975). Newton-John moved to Los Angeles late in 1974, and early the next year, she won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association. As a protest, several members of the CMA quit the organization. Ironically, Olivia Newton-John was already planning to move away from country. During 1976 and 1977 she had a number of minor hits with soft-rock songs. Though none of these was a big pop success, they began to establish her as a pop singer, not country-pop singer.
Olivia Newton-John’s transformation into a mildly sexy pop singer was complete in 1978, when she starred in the movie ver-sion of the popular Broadway musical Grease. Also starring John Travolta, Grease was an international hit, and it spawned three huge hit singles-“Hopelessly Devoted to You,” “Summer Nights” and “You’re the One That I Want”; the latter two were duets between Newton-John and Travolta. “You’re the One That I Want,” in particular, was a massive success, reaching No. 1 in both Amer ica and Britain; in the UK, it spent a staggering nine weeks at No. 1. During 1979 Olivia released the Totally Hot album, which boasted a mixture of soft rock and light disco. The record was another hit, with the first single “A Little More Love” peaking at No. 3 on the US pop charts and going gold. Early in 1980 Newton-John starred in the roller-disco fantasy film Xanadu. While the movie was an unqualified bomb, the soundtrack was a huge hit. “Magic” spent four weeks at the top of the US pop charts, while the ELO duet “Xanadu” reached No. 8, and her duet with Cliff Richard, “Suddenly,” peaked at No. 20.
With her next album, Physical, Newton-John continued to rework her image, reinventing herself as a sexy aerobics fanatic. The first single from the record, the suggestive “Physical,” was a huge hit, spending 10 weeks at No. 1 during the fall and winter of 1981-82. Physical spawned two other Top Ten hits-“Make a Move on Me” and “Heart Attack”-and became her most successful record. After the album’s success, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire. In 1983 Newton-John again starred with Travolta, this time in the comedy Two of a Kind. The movie was a bomb, but a song she recorded for the soundtrack, “Twist of Fate,” became a Top Ten hit in early 1984.
By the end of 1984 Newton-John had married actor Matt Lattanzi. The next year, she released the Physical clone Soul Kiss, which produced only one minor hit with its title track. In 1986 she had a daughter, Chloe, and opened a clothing store chain called Koala Blue. Newton-John attempted to launch a comeback in 1988 with The Rumour, but the album was ignored. She signed with Geffen the next year, releasing the children’s album Warm and Tender. During the late ’80s and ’90s, she devoted herself to her family and business, as well as several environmental activist organizations. In 1992 Koala Blue folded, and Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer. Over the next year, she successfully underwent treatment for the disease. In 1994 she returned to recording with the independently released and self-produced album Gaia.
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Back to Basics/1992/Geffen ++++
An artist well-defined by her hit singles, Olivia Newton-John has had a stylistically varied career, as is illustrated on Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971-1992, a set that ranges from her teary ballad “I Honestly Love You” to that bouncy paean to getting horizontal, “Physical”.
Fans may quibble that such hits as “Let Me Be There” and “Make a Move on Me” are not included, but Newton-John’s two greatest-hits albums are out of print, and this is the only collection to combine both her good-girl and bad-girl personae.
By William Ruhlmann</h2>