Olivia Newton-John, ‘Grease’ Star and ‘Physical’ Singer, Dies at 73
08.08.2022 - 22:39
/ variety.com
Chris Morris Music ReporterOlivia Newton-John, the top female pop vocalist of the 1970s who starred in movies including “Grease” and “Xanadu,” died Monday. She was 73.Her husband posted the news on her official Facebook page, writing:Chart historian Joel Whitburn ranked the warm-voiced Australia-bred singer as the No. 1 female soloist of the ‘70s.
Her nine top-10 singles of the decade included three chart-topping 45s; the biggest of them, “You’re the One That I Want,” a duet with John Travolta drawn from the smash 1978 soundtrack of the musical “Grease,” spent nearly six months on the U.S. lists. Newton-John remained a potent commercial force into the ‘80s; she logged the biggest hit of her career, “Physical,” in 1981.
Though her other major toplining musical feature “Xanadu” was a costly 1980 flop, its double-platinum soundtrack spawned three hit singles, including the No. 1 radio ubiquity “Magic.”Originally slotted as a country vocalist, she quickly conquered the pop charts with a succession of well-scrubbed tunes. Though the hits dried up in the early ‘90s, she remained a cherished performer into the new millennium, with a durable fan base sustained by the continuing popularity of “Grease” as a cable TV staple and sing-along theatrical screenings.She was born September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, England.
Her grandfather was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born. When she was six, her family moved to Melbourne.Active in music from high school, Newton-John went pro in her teens, appearing on Australian TV. She returned to Britain on a plane ticket she won competing on the Aussie talent show “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Though she recorded for British Decca during her stay, she grew homesick and returned to the Antipodes, but
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