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From Eurovision to Grease to Physical: Dame Olivia Newton-John’s career as she dies aged 73


She enjoyed a celebrated career spanning over 50 years (Picture: Rex/Getty)

Dame Olivia Newton-John has died at the age of 73, following a 30-year battle with breast cancer.

She is undoubtedly best known for her starring role in the 1978 film Grease, in which she appeared opposite John Travolta’s Danny as Sandy.

However, the hugely successful singer-songwriter’s career started in the 1960s and saw her become a multi-platinum selling artist, with two singles and two albums having earned the certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Born in Cambridge, England in 1948, the performer gained her Australian twang after her family relocated to the country in 1954 when she was six.

Her career began when she was a teenager, singing on local Australian TV shows, where she won a talent competition Sing, Sing, Sing in 1965, which sent her back to the UK.

Having recorded her first single, ‘Til You Say You’ll Be Mine, in 1966, Dame Olivia embarked on tours and joined group Toomorrow.

Dame Olivia’s signature role was that of Sandy in Grease (Picture: Paramount/Rso/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
She was also a prolific performer and recording artist with an enviable music career (Picture: Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)

1971 saw her first solo album released, If Not For You (known as Olivia Newton-John in the UK), which included singles Banks Of Ohio – a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia – and covers of Take Me Home, Country Road and What Is Life.

Let Me Be There, Dame Olivia’s third album in the UK, saw her first major success in the US as the lead song made an impact on the US charts and saw her snag a Grammy for Best Country Female.

Dame Olivia then represented the UK in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Long Live Love.

She finished fourth in the competition, held in Brighton, losing out to Abba, with their mammoth hit song Waterloo.

Moving to the US as she pursued her country inspired flavour of music, she topped both the pop and country charts with her album Have You Never Been Mellow and for 45 years held the record for the shortest gap between two number one albums on the US Billboard 200 album charts, with 154 days between If You Love Me, Let Me Know and Have You Never Been Mellow.

The star’s music career started to take off in the 1970s (Picture: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)
She performed on Top of the Pops as her songs enjoyed success in the UK and Australia, before she decided to conquer the US (Picture: Ron Howard/Redferns)

Taylor Swift broke her record in 2020 with 140 days between Folklore and Evermore.

Dame Olivia’s career went truly stratospheric when she appeared in celebrated musical Grease, which routinely tops polls for the best movie musical of all time.

Her performance saw her nominated for multiple awards including two Golden Globes, and various other film accolades.

The soundtrack to Grease is also one of the world’s best-selling albums of recorded music and features the two hit duets from Dame Olivia and Travolta: Summer Nights and You’re The One That I Want.

The latter also ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Grease gave Dame Olivia not only a hit movie but several massive songs (Picture: Paramount/Rso/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)

Dame Olivia returned to her music career and, perhaps inspired by ‘Bad Sandy’ clad in black spandex and leather at Grease’s end, shifted to a more upbeat and less laidback style of music in her studio album Totally Hot.

In 1980, she took on another film role with Xanadu, opposite Gene Kelly and Michael Beck, which was a critical flop ahead of becoming a cult classic – but its soundtrack was another roaring success.

The star charted with three separate songs from the movie: Magic, which reached number one, Suddenly, a duet with Sir Cliff Richard, and the title song Xanadu with ELO.

1981 was the year of Dame Olivia’s most successful studio album, Physical, which went double platinum, and produced the iconic title track, which was given an exercise-themed video to turn it into an aerobics anthem.

She was also honoured with the star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame that same year, almost 41 years ago to the day of her death, on August 5 1981.

She was honoured with her own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1981 (Picture: Lynne McAfee/Rex/Shutterstock)
Physical was another 1981 career peak for her (Picture: Geffen Records)

She reunited with Grease co-star John Travolta for the unsuccessful 1983 fantasy crime comedy Two of a Kind, although – again – its soundtrack was a redeeming feature, offering singles including Twist of Fate, Livin’ in Desperate Times and a new duet with Travolta, Take a Chance.

After becoming a mother in 1986 and enjoying a career hiatus, Dame Olivia continued to record and release music to less success, although she still worked with stars including Sir Elton John.

Following her first breast cancer diagnosis in 1992, the passionate animal advocate and humanitarian saw her diagnosis change her music as she also became a prominent breast cancer campaigner.

Dame Olivia was still performing in recent years, pictured here in 2020, despite her ongoing battle with breast cancer (Picture: Cole Bennetts/Getty Images)
The four-time Grammy winner sold over 100 million records in her career (Picture: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)

The prolific artist continued to release albums, including exclusive to Hallmark Cards, as well as taking on occasional TV work.

Dame Olivia toured and performed concerts around the world from 2012 until 2018, including an extensive Las Vegas residency in from 2014 to 2016.

In January 2021, the star released what would be her final song, Window in the Wall, which was a duet with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi.

Overall, she was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included numerous chart-topping albums and singles, as well as several top 10s.

She boasted multiple gold and platinum-selling works in and among her more than 100 million records sold overall, making her one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to now.

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