“Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away peacefully this morning at her Southern California ranch surrounded by family and friends. We ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy at this very difficult time,” her husband John Easterling wrote in a statement on the singer’s verified Instagram account. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumph and hope for over 30 years by sharing her journey with breast cancer.”
The singer announced in September 2018 that she is treating cancer at the base of her spine. It was her third cancer diagnosis after bouts of breast cancer in the early ’90s and in 2017.
Thanks to a string of country and soft rock hits, Newton-John was already a popular singer in the late 1970s. But her co-lead role opposite John Travolta in 1978’s Grease, arguably the most popular movie musical of all time, propelled her to a new level of fame.
Though she had little acting experience (and lived to be 29 during filming), Newton-John gave an indelible performance as Sandy, a good-natured Australian exchange student who romances Travolta’s alpha greaseman Danny at a 1950s Southern California high school .
Her onscreen chemistry as mismatched lovebirds who undergo a makeover in the final act to win each other’s hearts — she sheds her frilly dresses for heels, leather, spandex and a cigarette — anchored the film and inspired legions of fans to watch repeated viewing.
“I don’t think anyone could have imagined that a movie would go on for almost 40 years and still be popular and people would still talk to me about it and love it all the time,” Newton-John told CNN in 2017 . It’s just one of those movies. I’m very happy to have been a part of it. It brought joy to so many people.”
Newton-John sang on three of the film’s biggest hits: the duets “You’re The One That I Want” and “Summer Nights” with Travolta, and her swooning solo ballad “Hopeless Devoted To You.”
Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England in 1948 and moved to Melbourne, Australia with her family when she was five years old. After winning a talent contest on the TV show Sing, Sing, Sing, she formed an all-girls group as a teenager and began appearing on weekly pop music programs in Australia.
Newton-John recorded her first single in England in 1966 and scored a few international hits, but it remained largely unknown to US audiences until 1973, when “Let Be There” became a topping on both the contemporary and country charts. 10 hit was .
A string of easy-listening No. 1 hits followed, including “I Honestly Love You”, “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “Please Mr. Please”.
Then came Grease, the highest-grossing film of 1978, which became an enduring cultural phenomenon.
The film gave Newton-John an opportunity to change her squeaky clean image. The cover of her next album, Totally Hot, featured the singer in black leather while the songs had an edgier, more contemporary pop sound.
‘Physically’
In 1981, she took her new, sexier personality a step further with “Physical,” a dance number with lyrics as suggestive as “There’s nothing left to talk about without it’s horizontal.” Banned by several radio stations, it became their biggest hit and spent 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
She has also appeared in several other big budget films, including the musical fantasy Xanadu, starring Hollywood legend Gene Kelly in his final screen role. The film was a hit, but its soundtrack sold well, spawning “Magic,” a #1 hit.
In 1983, she reunited with Travolta for Two of a Kind, a romantic comedy fantasy, but failed to recapture her Grease spark.
Over the course of his long career, Newton-John has won four Grammy Awards and sold more than 100 million albums.
“I’ve had many lives in music. I had country when I started, then switched to pop,” she told CNN. “I had ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Grease’, lots of songs in between. I’m very grateful. I have such a large repertoire to choose from.”
overcome tragedy
But Newton-John also faced her share of troubles and tragedies. Her breast cancer diagnosis forced her to postpone and cancel several tours.
And in 2005, Newton-John’s then-boyfriend Patrick McDermott disappeared into the sea while on a fishing trip off the coast of California. He was never found – an unsolved mystery that haunted the singer for years.
“It’s very hard to live with,” she told CNN’s Larry King in 2006. “It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve been through a lot of things.” Although her career profile darkened in her later years, Newton-John never stopped recording and performing. Some of her highlights have included guest appearances on “Glee,” a long-running “Summer Nights” residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas, and a dance club hit, “You Have to Believe,” which was recorded with daughter Chloe.
“I love to sing, it’s all I can do,” she told CNN in 2017. “It’s all I’ve ever done since I was 15, so it’s my life.” I’m very thankful that I can still do it and people still come to see me.”