{"id":5160,"date":"2022-08-13T20:46:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T20:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=5160"},"modified":"2022-08-13T20:48:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T20:48:42","slug":"olivia-newton-john-singer-and-actress-passes-away-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=5160","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Newton-John, Singer and Actress, Passes Away at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer whose breathy voice and wholesome beauty made her one of the biggest pop stars of the &#8217;70s and charmed generations of viewers in the blockbuster movie&nbsp;<em>Grease<\/em>, died on Monday, according to a statement from her husband. She was 73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone please respect the family&#8217;s privacy during this very difficult time,&#8221; her husband, John Easterling, wrote in a statement on the singer&#8217;s verified Instagram account. &#8220;Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The singer revealed in&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/09\/09\/australia\/olivia-newton-john-cancer-australian-intl\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">September 2018<\/a>&nbsp;that she was treating cancer at the base of her spine. It was her third cancer diagnosis, following bouts with breast cancer in the early &#8217;90s and in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Her rise to fame<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks to a string of country and soft-rock hits, Newton-John was already a popular singer by the late 1970s. But her co-starring role opposite John Travolta in 1978&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Grease<\/em>, arguably the most popular movie musical of all time, lifted her to a new level of stardom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although she had little acting experience (and turned 29 during filming), Newton-John gave an indelible performance as Sandy, a sweet-natured Australian transfer student who romances Travolta&#8217;s alpha greaser Danny at a Southern California high school in the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their onscreen chemistry as mismatched lovebirds who undergo final-act makeovers to win each others&#8217; hearts &#8212; she ditches her frilly dresses for heels, leather, spandex and a cigarette &#8212; anchored the movie and inspired repeat viewings by legions of fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Grease - You&#039;re The One That I Want [HQ+Lyrics]\" width=\"749\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7oKPYe53h78?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think anyone could have imagined a movie would go on almost 40 years and would still be popular and people would still be talking to me about it all the time and loving it,&#8221;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/04\/13\/entertainment\/olivia-newton-john-grease-reunion\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Newton-John told CNN in 2017<\/a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s just one of those movies. I&#8217;m very lucky to have been a part of it. It&#8217;s given so many people pleasure.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newton-John sang on three of the movie&#8217;s biggest hits: the duets &#8220;You&#8217;re The One That I Want&#8221; and &#8220;Summer Nights&#8221; with Travolta, and her swoony solo ballad, &#8220;Hopelessly Devoted To You.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Born in Cambridge, England in 1948, Newton-John moved with her family to Melbourne, Australia, when she was five. After winning a talent contest on a TV show,&nbsp;<em>Sing, Sing, Sing<\/em>, as a<a href=\"http:\/\/olivianewton-john.com\/bio.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;teen she formed an all-girl grou<\/a>p and began appearing on weekly pop music programs in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newton-John recorded her first single in England in 1966 and scored a few international hits, but she remained largely unknown to US audiences until 1973, when &#8220;Let Be There&#8221; became a top-10 hit on both the adult contemporary and the country charts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A series of No. 1 easy-listening hits followed, including &#8220;I Honestly Love You,&#8221; &#8220;Have You Never Been Mellow&#8221; and &#8220;Please Mr. Please.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then came<em>&nbsp;Grease<\/em>, which was 1978&#8217;s top-grossing movie and became an enduring cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The movie gave Newton-John an opportunity to change her squeaky-clean image. The cover of her next album, &#8220;Totally Hot,&#8221; featured the singer in black leather, while its songs had an edgier, more contemporary pop sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>&#8220;Physical&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1981, she took her new, sexier persona a step further with &#8220;Physical,&#8221; a dance number with such suggestive lyrics as, &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing left to talk about unless it&#8217;s horizontally.&#8221; Banned by several radio stations, it became her biggest hit, spending 10 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also appeared in several more big-budget movies, including the musical fantasy&nbsp;<em>Xanadu<\/em>&nbsp;with Hollywood legend Gene Kelly in his final screen role. The film bombed, but its soundtrack sold well and spawned &#8220;Magic,&#8221; a No. 1 hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1983 she teamed with Travolta again for&nbsp;<em>Two of a Kind<\/em>, a romantic comedy-fantasy, but it failed to recapture their<em>&nbsp;Grease<\/em>&nbsp;spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over a lengthy career, Newton-John won four Grammy Awards and sold more than 100 million albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve had many lives in music. I&#8217;ve had country when I started, then I crossed over into pop,&#8221; she told CNN. &#8220;I had&nbsp;<em>Xanadu<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Grease<\/em>, many songs in between. I feel very grateful. I have such a large repertoire to choose from.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Olivia Newton-John - Physical (Official Music Video)\" width=\"749\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vWz9VN40nCA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Overcoming tragedy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Newton-John also faced her share of troubles and tragedy. Her breast cancer diagnosis forced her to postpone and cancel several tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in 2005 Newton-John&#8217;s then-boyfriend,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JhtOFyBWjGw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Patrick McDermott<\/a>, disappeared at sea while on a fishing trip off the coast of California. He was never found &#8212; an unsolved mystery that haunted the singer for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s very hard to live with that,&#8221; she told CNN&#8217;s Larry King in 2006. &#8220;It&#8217;s probably the hardest thing I&#8217;ve ever experienced, and I&#8217;ve been through a lot of things.&#8221; Although her career profile dimmed in her later years, Newton-John never stopped recording and performing. Among her highlights were guest appearances on&nbsp;<em>Glee<\/em>, a long-running &#8220;Summer Nights&#8221; residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas and a dance-club hit, &#8220;You Have to Believe,&#8221; recorded with daughter Chloe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I love to sing, it&#8217;s all I know how to do,&#8221; she told CNN in 2017. &#8220;That&#8217;s all I&#8217;ve ever done since I was 15, so it&#8217;s my life. I feel very grateful that I can still do it and people still come to see me.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Olivia Newton-John, the Australian singer whose breathy voice and wholesome beauty made her one of the biggest pop stars of the &#8217;70s and charmed generations of viewers in the blockbuster movie&nbsp;Grease, died on Monday, according to a statement from her husband. She was 73. &#8220;Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","category-entertainment","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5165,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions\/5165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}