Olivia Newton-John, the singer and actress who won four Grammys over her career, has died at the age of 73 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was best known for playing Sandy in the iconic movie “Grease”.
Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 1992. The treatment worked at the time, but the cancer returned in 2013. In May 2019, she announced that her condition had gotten worse and that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body.
John Easterling, Olivia Newton-John’s husband, announced the news of his wife’s death on Monday morning, Aug. 8, 2022, writing that the singer and actress passed away peacefully that morning at her ranch in Southern California, surrounded by family and friends.
Olivia Newton-John was born in England, but after her family moved to Melbourne, she spent most of her life in Australia. Over her career she won four Grammys. On the music front, she racked up five No. 1 hits plus ten more that made the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her albums “If You Love Me, Let Me Know” (1974) and “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975) both shot to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum and four double-platinum ones) were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Olivia Newton-John sold over 100 million albums worldwide during her career, and from the second half of the twentieth century to this day she’s considered one of the most commercially successful female artists around.
In 1978, Olivia Newton-John starred in the musical film “Grease”, whose soundtrack remains one of the best-selling albums in the history of recorded music. It features two massive hits, vocal duets by Olivia and John Travolta: You’re the One That I Want – considered one of the best-selling singles of all time – and Summer Nights.
Among the standout achievements in her solo album catalog is “I Honestly Love You” (1974), which earned her a Grammy for Record of the Year. The most important singles Olivia Newton-John recorded over her career are: If Not for You, Banks of the Ohio (both from 1971), Let Me Be There (1973), If You Love Me (Let Me Know) (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975), Sam (1977), Hopelessly Devoted to You (also from “Grease”), A Little More Love (1978), and the tracks Magic and Xanadu from the soundtrack of the film “Xanadu”. The song Xanadu was written by Jeff Lynne, the frontman of Electric Light Orchestra.
The hit Physical, the lead single from the album of the same name released in 1981, is considered the biggest hit of her career. With its release, Newton-John became a true pop icon of the eighties. Right out of the gate it sold two million copies in the US alone, went platinum immediately, and spent ten straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was first offered to Rod Stewart, and also to Tina Turner, but her manager at the time turned it down.
