The singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, born in Cambridge, United Kingdom, who died at the age of 73 this Monday, due to breast cancer, leaves an artistic legacy of more than four decades in the pop elite after reaching stardom thanks to the musical movie grease (1978).
Newton-John was one of the most influential personalities in the pop industry since the 1970s and, among other awards, managed to win four Grammy Awards during his career, the agency recalls Eph.
He dies at the age of 73 #OliviaNewtonJohn ?? The unforgettable protagonist of ‘Grease’ had been fighting cancer for more than 30 years, although the cause of death has not been confirmed. We will always remember the amazing Olivia. D.E.P https://t.co/jDf9YhwmYH pic.twitter.com/NzGXG2OTJu
— Photograms – Cinema (@fotogramas_es) August 8, 2022
Last year he reissued his successful album Physical (1981) after being inactive due to illness since 2016, when he released his last album: Christmas Friends For Christmas.
The British artist raised in Australia had been fighting breast cancer for 30 years and had become a symbol of struggle for women around the world who suffered from this disease thanks to her integrity.
According to the statement that her husband, tycoon John Easterling, released on the official profile of the actress on Facebook, remembered as Sandy in the film grease He passed away “peacefully” at his ranch in Southern California.
Daughter of the marriage between a Welshman and a German Jewess, Newton-John left Cambridge and emigrated to Australia at the age of 5 with her family because her father was hired as a university professor in Melbourne. Her maternal grandfather was the physicist and mathematician Max Born, a disciple of Albert Einstein who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954.
From a very young age, Newton-John showed great interest in music, forming his first group, Soul Four, at the age of 17, which won a competition for new talent whose prize was a presentation in England.
However, the band ended up disbanding and Newton-John began a solo career recording his first album, titled If Not For You, in 1971, which in a few weeks was placed among the top ten titles of the English charts and among the top twenty of the American charts. Even Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the medal of the Order of the British Empire in Buckingham, recalls this source.
His international repercussion was such that in 1974 he had already managed to sweep the United States with the song “If You Love Me Let Me Know”, which won him three Grammy Awards. This same year she appeared at Eurovision for the United Kingdom and came in fourth place.
Newton-John was one of the most commercial singers of the moment, but she was also attracted to the big screen and in 1973 she shot several “specials” for television that were liked by the critics. Her peak moment came in 1978 when she was introduced to American producer Allan Carr, who fell for the artist’s charms and a few days later called him to do some tests with John Travolta.
This is how his signing for the musical film was forged grease, which he starred with Travolta and caused a real furor, becoming the highest grossing musical in Hollywood. The actress received three gold singles for the songs “You Are The One That I Want”, “Summer Nights” and “Hopelessly Yo You”, as each of these songs sold more than a million copies.
After greaseNewton-John agreed to participate in film productions such as Xanadu (1980), but they did not have a great acceptance by the public. Back to music, in 1985, he released his album soul kiss and five years later his next album was released, warm and tenderwhich appeared in the hit lists at the time.
Throughout her career, the singer achieved five number ones on the US charts, including her classics “Physical,” “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “You’re the One That I Want,” the latter part of the band sound of grease.
She combined her musical career with her clothing line, called Koala Blue, which she launched in the eighties, but which did not obtain the expected results and ended up bankrupting her. The prolific artist managed to recompose herself financially, although her problems would return to her life in August 1992 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The disease marked a turning point in the life of the singer, who, after a hiatus of more than two years, reappeared with the album Gaia: One Woman’s Journey (1994).
As the spread of cancer subsided, Newton-John became involved in musical projects, such as Back With a Heart (1998), Indigo (2004), Stronger Than Before (2005), This Christmas (2012), in collaboration with Travolta, and summer nights (2015), a live show in Las Vegas (USA).
Her illness worsened in 2017, 25 years after being detected, spreading to her back and causing her to enter a stage 4 metastasis that kept her away from screens.
In addition to her legacy as a pop star and her successful appearances on the big screen, her tireless commitment to cancer research and her defense of the environment and childhood is added, being a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program since 1978.
The artist was married three times: the first in 1984 with actor Matt Lattanzi, with whom she had a daughter and spent 11 years. She subsequently joined camera operator Patrick McDermott, who disappeared during a boat trip under mysterious circumstances, and later married her current husband, John Easterling.
With information from Eph.
