R.I.P. Olivia Newton-John, Grammy-Winning Grease Star Dead at 73

Wren Graves
·3 min read
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The post R.I.P. Olivia Newton-John, Grammy-Winning Grease Star Dead at 73 appeared first on Consequence.

Olivia Newton-John, the pop chart titan whose performance in Grease helped redefine the good girl gone bad, is dead at the age of 73.

The Australian icon’s death was announced through her official social media accounts, which noted on August 8th that she “passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends.” The statement continued, “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer. ”

Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. In 2017, she announced that the disease had spread to her lower back.

Born in 1948 in the UK and then raised in Australia, Newton-John began her musical career at the age of 15 in the girl group Sol Four. They won a talent contest on Sing, Sing, Sing, winning a ticket to London in the process. She toured army bases and clubs in Europe, signed a record contract just a few years later in 1966, and arrived as a star in 1973 with Let Me Be There, earning a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and her first top ten single with the album’s title track.

Newton-John topped that feat in 1974 with “I Honestly Love You,” which was not only her first No. 1 single, but which went on to win her second and third Grammy awards, for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year. She climbed to the top of the charts again in 1975 with “Have You Never Been Mellow,” and reigned as one of the biggest musical stars on the planet when she was cast in Grease (1978).

Newton-John played Sandy opposite John Travolta’s Danny, lighting up the screen with one of the steamiest romances ever committed to film. It became the highest-grossing musical in history for a time and remains one of the most beloved musicals of the decade. In recent years the character of Sandy has been criticized for the way she changes her personality to please a boy, but few have found fault with Newton-John’s performance.

The soundtrack became a hit in its own right, and Newton-John achieved another No. 1 single with her duet with Travolta, “You’re the One That I Want.” Already a musical powerhouse, she seemed poised to become a marquee movie star as well, except that she followed Grease with one of the most notorious commercial flops of all time, 1980’s Xanadu.

Xanadu was widely panned by critics, and even inspired the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards, aka the Razzies. But it soon earned a cult following, especially among the LGBTQ+ community, and the official soundtrack became a hit, buoyed by Newton-John’s fourth No. 1 single, “Magic.”

While her film career never recovered, her music career kept rolling along through first half of the 1980s. Her final No. 1 hit, “Physical,” arrived in 1981 alongside an early classic of the burgeoning music video genre. The wittily horny visuals for “Physical” won Newton-John her fourth and final Grammy Award.

Over the last decade plus, Newton-John has enjoyed a modest career revival, appearing as herself on Glee and guest-judging RuPaul’s Drag Race and Dancing with the Stars. In 2017, she appeared in Sharknado 5: Global Swarming. She performed her final concerts in 2018.

Her passing was mourned by Grease co-star John Travolta, who wrote in a statement, “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the first moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”

R.I.P. Olivia Newton-John, Grammy-Winning Grease Star Dead at 73
Wren Graves

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