LIVVY WAS PURE MAGIC!
THE GIRL FROM MELBOURNE WAS THE ONE THAT WE WANTED
The smile that says ‘hello, it’s good to see you’, any time I turn around to find you there.” This lyric from Olivia’s 1974 hit ‘If You Love Me, Let Me Know’ instantly conjures the genuine warmth of the much-loved superstar. How we cherished her, and how her beautiful smile and voice enchanted us all.
Born in England in 1948 to Irene and Brinley Newtonjohn, Olivia moved with her family to Melbourne in 1954. By the time she was 14, the sweet-voiced schoolgirl was a regular on local television shows Time for Terry and
The Happy Show, where she was affectionately dubbed “Lovely Livvy”.
The turning point in Olivia’s career came with her appearance on The Go!! Show.
Here, she met future duet partner Pat Carroll, as well as the producer and songwriter of her many hits, John Farrar. John and Pat would go on to marry and remain Olivia’s friends for life.
In 1965, Olivia won a talent contest on Sing Sing Sing,
hosted by Johnny O’keefe. The prize was a trip to Great Britain. Olivia was reluctant to go as she wanted to stay with her boyfriend, entertainer Ian Turpie.
Thankfully, at her mother’s insistence, Olivia headed off to England. Pat followed shortly after, and the pair formed a duo act and enjoyed moderate success on the club circuits of Britain and Europe.
“We were young girls. We were having a blast,” Olivia explained. “We were in London, in Carnaby Street in the Beatles days. Can you imagine? It was fantastic.”
By 1971, Olivia decided to go solo and had her first international hit with the Bob Dylan-penned
‘If Not For You’.
Her follow-up single, the addictive
‘Banks of the Ohio’, was a Top
10 hit in
Australia and the UK. Olivia also found herself a regular on Sir Cliff Richard’s weekly show. The pair quickly became lifelong friends. “She sang and everybody loved her,” Cliff recalled.
“In the end, she stayed and did eight shows. I could not get rid of this woman! I didn’t want to.” Olivia won her first Grammy for the countrysounding ‘Let Me Be There’. She scored two more for the Peter Allen-penned song, ‘I Honestly Love You’, which was followed by a barrage of hit songs, from ‘Have You Never Been Mellow’ to ‘Sam’.
At the urging of fellow Aussie Helen Reddy, who had paved the way for Australian singers to crack America, Olivia made the move to the United States –
the heartland of the world’s music industry.
Soon after, Hollywood came calling, and Olivia appeared in the 1978 big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. Aged 28 at the time, Olivia initially thought she was too old to play a high school senior. Yet the film’s leading man John Travolta persuaded her to sign on and the rest is history.
Musical fantasy film Xanadu came next. It wasn’t very successful, but the soundtrack became another multiplatinum hit for Our Livvy. This was followed by the controversial, image-changing ‘Physical’ music video, which had the world suddenly wearing Lycra, headbands and leg warmers, and heading to the gym in droves.
It’s safe to say Olivia transcended music and showbusiness. Her ceaseless advocacy for research into cancer has saved thousands of lives. In 2020, for her services to charity, cancer research and entertainment, she was honoured with a damehood.
The Olivia Newton-john Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, founded by the star in 2012, will also ensure her legacy lives on.