NEW YORK (AP) — Olivia Newton-John, the Grammy-winning celebrity who reigned over the pop, nation, grownup modern and dance music charts with hits like “Bodily” and “You are the One That I Need” and received numerous hearts. Like everybody’s favourite Sandy within the hit film model of “Grease,” she’s lifeless. She was 73 years previous.
Newton-John, a longtime Australian resident whose gross sales exceeded 100 million albums, died Monday at his ranch in Southern California, John Easterling, her husband, wrote on Instagram and Fb.
“Olivia has been an emblem of triumph and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast most cancers,” she wrote. “We ask that everybody respect the household’s privateness throughout this very tough time.”
From 1973 to 1983, Newton-John was among the many hottest artists on the earth. He had 14 prime 10 singles within the US alone, received 4 Grammy Awards, starred with John Travolta in “Grease” and with Gene Kelly in “Xanadu.” The Travolta-Newton-John fast-step duet “You are the One That I Need” was one of many greatest songs of the period and has offered greater than 15 million copies.
“My dearest Olivia, you made our lives so a lot better,” Travolta wrote in a web based publish. “Your impression was unbelievable. I really like you very a lot. We’ll see one another on the highway and we are going to all be collectively once more. Yours from the second I noticed you and eternally! Your Danny, your John!
“Bodily,” the R-rated smash hit launched in 1981, was No. 1 for 10 weeks and was named Billboard’s Track of the 12 months regardless of being banned by some radio stations. A promotional clip about aerobics, shot within the early years of MTV, received a Grammy for finest video.
Each musically and visually, he reinvented himself throughout these years. At first, the always-smiling blonde Newton-John favored gentle country-pop songs like “Please Mr. Please” and “Have You By no means Been Mellow” and gentle ballads like “I Truthfully Love You,” which received awards in 1975. Grammy. for finest feminine pop voice and recording of the 12 months. However he picked up the tempo on “Grease,” particularly after Sandy ditched her white sweaters and blouses for high-waisted black leather-based pants. “Bodily” even made Newton-John blush when he informed his would-be lover “There’s nothing else to speak about/Until it is horizontal” and eventually yelled “Let’s go animal! Animal!”
“I recorded it and impulsively I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, perhaps I’ve gone too far!'” she informed Leisure Weekly in 2017, recalling how supervisor Roger Davies had steered the track. “I referred to as Roger and mentioned, ‘We’ve got to get this track out!’ He mentioned: ‘It is too late. It has already crossed over to radio and is climbing the charts. He was horrified!”
Followers flooded social media to mourn his dying. “Farewell with like to the legend who will at all times be my past love,” wrote actor Daniel Dae Kim. Tracie Thoms added: “Olivia Newton-John is an icon. She’s going to be sorely missed.” Gabrielle Union mentioned she and her sister watched “Xanadu” “extra instances than she might rely.”
He had just a few hits after “Bodily,” however his profession declined and Newton-John turned extra newsworthy because of his personal life. In 1992, whereas getting ready for a live performance tour, his father died and he was recognized with breast most cancers. His marriage to actor Matt Lattanzi, with whom he had a daughter, actress and singer Chloe Lattanzi, broke down in 1995 and a years-long relationship with cameraman Patrick McDermott mysteriously ended. McDermott disappeared throughout a fishing journey in California in 2005 and his destiny remained unknown years later. Quite a few reviews alleged that he was dwelling in Mexico with a brand new girlfriend.
“I used to be misplaced at sea, and no person actually is aware of what occurred,” Newton-John informed Australia’s “60 Minutes” in 2016. “It is solely human to marvel. However you already know, these are the issues in life that you must settle for and let go of. As a result of everytime you undergo tough instances, there are at all times these worries.
Newton-John’s latest albums embrace “Stronger Than Earlier than”; a Christmas collaboration with Travolta, “This Christmas” and the autobiographical “Gaia: One Girl’s Journey,” impressed by her battle with most cancers and the lack of her father.
Newton-John married John Easterling, founding father of Amazon Herb Firm, in 2008. She has been concerned in quite a few charitable causes, serving as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Atmosphere Program and as a nationwide spokesperson for the Environmental Well being Coalition. Infantile. She additionally based the Olivia Newton-John Most cancers and Wellness Middle in Melbourne, Australia.
Newton-John was the daughter of German literature professor Brin Newton-John and Irene Bron, whose father was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Bron. The Newton-Johns moved to Australia when Olivia was 5, however she returned to England as a youngster and lived along with her mom after her mother and father separated from her. She had early goals of turning into a veterinarian, however she was successful singing contests in highschool and by the age of 20 she had toured military bases and golf equipment and recorded her first single, “Until You Say You may Be”. Mine.” In 1971, he coated Bob Dylan’s “If Not for You” and commenced an in depth collaboration with a buddy from Australia, John Farrar, who produced the track and later wrote “You are the One That I Need,” “Magic and varied songs. different hits for her.
He had preferred nation music, particularly “Tennessee” Ernie Ford information, since childhood, however his early success didn’t impress critics or some fellow musicians. A Village Voice overview in contrast her to a geisha who “makes her voice smaller than she actually is simply to please males.” When Newton-John surpassed Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn because the Nation Music Affiliation’s prime artist of 1973, Tammy Wynette helped discovered the Affiliation of Nation Entertainers, a membership designed to exclude Newton-John and different crossover artists.
However Newton-John had a fan from present enterprise who, along with her, turned one of the unforgettable groups in cinema. Travolta had starred within the stage model of “Grease” and for the deliberate movie she thought Newton-John can be the “final” Sandy, the great woman who will get arduous within the remaining act and catches her man.
“I used to be fearful that at 29 I used to be too previous to play a highschool woman,” Newton-John, who insisted on doing a display take a look at earlier than accepting the half, informed The Telegraph in 2017. “All about doing the film was enjoyable, but when I needed to decide a favourite second, it might be the transformation from what I name Sandy 1 to Sandy 2. I acquired to play a unique character and put on completely different garments, and after I placed on that tight black go well with to sing ‘You’ re the One That I Need,’ I acquired a really completely different response from the fellows on set.”
She is survived by her husband; daughter Chloe Lattanzi; sister Sarah Newton-John; brother Toby Newton-John; and several other nieces and nephews.
