QUICK FACTS
Activity Actress
Real name Dame Olivia Newton-John
Nationalities Australia, Great Britain
Birth September 26, 1948
Death August 8, 2022
BIOGRAPHY
Olivia Newton-John was born on September 26, 1948 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Her sister, actress Rona, died of cancer. She lived her childhood and adolescence in Australia and studied at the University of Melbourne.
Olivia began her experience as a singer in the female group called Sol Fou. Her first album, If Not For You ( 1971), reached the United States and scored three medium-successful singles. In 1974 she represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, placing 4th. That year she managed to place a ballad from the album, I Honestly Love You , in 1st place on the US Billboard. From there she began to conquer the North American market and in 1975 she moved to the United States, where she positioned herself as a pop and country music singer.
Throughout her career, her songs reached first place on the sales charts on 5 occasions. One of them, Physical , remained at the top of the popularity charts for 10 weeks. She won 4 Grammy Awards and in 1979 she participated in the Music for UNICEF charity concert, alongside internationally recognized artists.
Olivia also has a career as an actress, she participated in several musicals Xanadu and Two of a Kind but without a doubt her greatest success was Grease (1978), with John Travolta. In this musical she played the tender Sandy, Travolta’s conquest.
She has a star named after her on Hollywood Boulevard, in recognition of her career.
She was married to actor Matt Lattanzi, with whom she had a daughter. In July 2008 she secretly married tycoon John Easterling.
In 1992 she released her third greatest hits collection, Back to Basics – The Essential Collection 1971-1992 , and planned her first tour, but shortly after the album’s release, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to cancel all her plans. Some time later she recovered and since then she supports research against this disease, as well as different humanitarian causes and institutions such as UNICEF. She was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Programme.
In 2008, she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Center in Melbourne, Australia. On May 30, 2017, Olivia announced the recurrence of the disease, which forced her to postpone her presentations.
