Olivia Newton-John, one of the most popular singers who had some of the biggest hits of the 1970s and ’80s has died on Monday at her ranch in Southern California. She was 73. The death was announced by her husband, John Easterling.
Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, United Kingdom and came from a distinguished lineage. Her maternal grandfather was the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born, who fled with his wife and children to Britain from Germany before World War II to escape the Nazi regime. Her maternal great-grandfather was the jurist Victor Ehrenberg and her matrilineal great-grandmother’s father was the jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John’s father was an MI5 officer on the famous Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II. After the war, he became the headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and was in this position when Olivia was born.
Newton-John’s early career was hampered by her image as the virginal girl next door and she later tried strongly to change it into that of a spandex-clad vixen — a transformation reflected in her starring role in “Grease,” a movie musical that has become a classic and emblematic of mid-20th century America and its wholesomeness. Her attempt to escape from the image of the girl next door can be seen in her video for her song, “Physical”.
Though always criticized for her bland musical style and image, Ms. Newton-John nevertheless amassed No. 1 hits, chart-topping albums and four records that sold more than two million copies each. More than anything else, she was a likable girl-next-door. Her musical style blurred boundaries between pop and country but remained firmly in the pop genre.
She scored seven Top 10 hits on Billboard’s Country chart, two of which became back-to-back overall No. 1 hits in 1974 and ’75. First came “I Honestly Love You,” an unashamedly earnest declaration co-written by Peter Allen and Jeff Barry, followed by “Have You Never Been Mellow,” a lightweight confection of a song written by the producer of many of her biggest albums, John Farrar. “I Honestly Love You” also won two of the singer’s four Grammys, for record of the year and best female pop vocal performance.
In September 1989, Newton-John released what she herself described as her “self-indulgent” album, Warm and Tender, which reunited her with producer John Farrar, absent from her previous LP, and also marked a return to a more wholesome image of herself. Inspired by her daughter, who appeared on the cover, the album featured lullabies and love songs for parents and their children.
In 1992 Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to cancel all publicity for the album, including a scheduled tour. Newton-John received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died. She recovered and had since become an advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues. She was a product spokesperson for the Liv-Kit, a breast self-examination product. She was also partial owner of the Gaia Retreat and Spa in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Her cancer diagnosis also affected the type of music she recorded. In 1994, she released Gaia: One Woman’s Journey, which chronicled her ordeal.
In January 2021, Newton-John released a new single, “Window in the Wall”, a duet about unity which she recorded with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. The music video for the song peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes pop music video chart the week of its release.
