Who was Olivia Newton-John?
Olivia Newton-John was a British-born Australian singer and actor, raised in Melbourne, best known for playing Sandy in the 1978 film Grease. She sold more than 100 million records and won four Grammy Awards.
Born in Cambridge, England, in 1948, she moved to Melbourne with her family at the age of five. Her grandfather was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born.
She won a talent contest as a teenager and moved to London to pursue music. Hits such as If Not for You, I Honestly Love You and Have You Never Been Mellow made her a star in the 1970s.
Grease and Physical
Grease, co-starring John Travolta, became one of the most successful film musicals ever. Their duets You're the One That I Want and Summer Nights were global hits.
Her 1981 song Physical spent ten weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, one of the longest runs of the decade. She also starred in the musical film Xanadu.
Newton-John lived with breast cancer for three decades, campaigning for research and wellness. She died in 2022 in California, and a state memorial service was held in Melbourne.
Did You Know?
She founded the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne after her breast cancer diagnosis.