Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE (born 26 September 1948) is an English-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. Her music has been successful in multiple formats including pop, country and adult contemporary. She co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease which became one of the most successful films and movie soundtracks in Hollywood history.
[>>]Source: WikipediaOlivia Newton-John AO, OBE (born 26 September 1948) is an English-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. Her music has been successful in multiple formats including pop, country and adult contemporary. She co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease which became one of the most successful films and movie soundtracks in Hollywood history.
Newton-John has been a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues. Since surviving breast cancer in 1992, she has been an advocate for health awareness becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts. Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gaia Retreat & Spa in Australia.
Newton-John has married twice and currently lives with her second husband, John Easterling, in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida. She is the mother of one daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, with her first husband, actor Matt Lattanzi.
Beginnings
Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, to a Welsh father, Brinley ("Bryn") Newton-John, and a German mother, Irene Born (the eldest child of the Nobel prize-winning atomic physicist Max Born). Newton-John is the youngest of three children, following brother Hugh, a doctor, and sister Rona, an actress once married to Grease co-star Jeff Conaway. Newton-John's father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park and was the officer who took Rudolph Hess into custody during World War II. Newton-John's family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1954 where her father worked as a Professor of German and Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.
At 14, Newton-John formed a short-lived all-girl band, Sol Four, with three classmates often performing in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law. She soon became a regular on local Australian radio and television shows including HSV-7's The Happy Show where she performed as Lovely Livvy. She also appeared on the Go Show where she met future duet partner, Pat Carroll, and future record producer, John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar eventually married.) She entered and won a talent contest on the television program, Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960's Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe performing the songs Anyone Who Had A Heart and Everything's Coming Up Roses. Newton-John was initially reluctant to use her prize, a trip to England, but travelled there nearly a year later encouraged by her mother to broaden her horizons.
Newton-John recorded her first single, Till You Say You'll Be Mine b/w Forever, in England for Decca Records in 1966. Newton-John was homesick in England for her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she co-starred in an Australian telefilm, Funny Things Happen Down Under. Her mother cancelled trips back to Australia that Newton-John would repeatedly book. Newton-John's outlook changed when Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo called "Pat and Olivia" and toured nightclubs in Europe. (In one incident, they were booked at Paul Raymond's Revue in Soho, London. Dressed primly in frilly, high-collared dresses, they were unaware that this was a strip club until they began to perform onstage.) . After Carroll's visa expired forcing her to return to Australia, Newton-John remained in England to pursue solo work until 1975. She became engaged to, but never married, guitarist Bruce Welch who was a member of The Shadows along with John Farrar.
Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow - the brainchild of American producer Don Kirshner who also created the Monkees. In 1970, the group recorded an eponymous album and starred in a "science fiction musical" film also named after the group. The project bombed and the group quickly disbanded.
[<<]This text is based on a article from the open encyclopedia Wikipedia and stands under GNU license for free documentation. On Wikipedia there is List of the authors Available. Image: Photograph created by Larry D. Moore (Nv8200p on en.wikipedia) using a Minolta SRT-101 camera.
