Last kiss goodbye to our beloved Olivia

HER name was Sybil. Easy to remember, right? It was 1978 and the soundtrack from the hit movie musical Grease was on rotation on just about every radio station in the world. I was 15 and Sybil was a few years older.

We were in a darkened tent and in the cool night air, the unmistakeable voice of Olivia Newton-john punctured the silence with the iconic song, You’re the One that I Want. And then we kissed. It was my first and to this day, every time I hear that song, it takes me back to that crisp evening in the dark tent.

I never saw Sybil again, but I sure marvelled at the blossoming career of our Olivia Newton-john, the Aussie songstress who conquered the world.

When she died this week, for so many Australians, we felt as though we’d lost a little slice of our national identity. We loved Olivia because she loved us. She loved Australia and she was fiercely protective of what Australia represents as the Lucky Country.

A wise friend once told me that in death, the grief is commensurate with the love. It is why you’ve got stars like John Travolta, Cliff Richard, John Farnham, Kylie Minogue, Barbra

Streisand, Hugh Jackman ... need we go on ... all heartbroken. But while her famous friends will mourn, so too will those who never met her, those who only knew her from her music and movies. And there’s a really good reason that people feel so sad about the passing of a woman, who to my mind, remains our greatest national treasure.

The plaudits have come thick and fast for a woman who strode the world stage as a performer with the rarest of talent. But there’s a much more primal reason why we celebrate the life of this incredible Australian.

As a nation, she grew with us. At a time in the 1970s when we were searching for our identity, Olivia was our first true superstar. Not only that, as so many people have observed, she provided the soundtrack to our lives.

We watched her leave Australia and star in possibly the most successful musical movie of all time, Grease, and then knock hit after hit out in America, including Physical, which was voted the best song of the 1980s by Billboard Magazine. When her initial cancer diagnosis happened at age 43, we watched her bravely fight and win. It then recurred again – twice – until it claimed her on Tuesday.

The music. The pure music. She will live on through the music. The one thing that brings everybody together, regardless of race, religion or creed. In so many ways, we were hopelessly devoted to her.