She actively supported Melbourne’s Austin Hospital in building the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre, and promoted the LIV-KIT device for breast cancer detection. Credit: AAPĭiagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Newton-John turned the tragedy into a positive, and began her three-decade-long journey as an advocate for breast cancer research.
The singer kept her head high through the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend of nine years, Patrick McDermott, who was thought to have drowned off the coast of California in 2005 until evidence emerged in 2009 suggesting he had faked his death and was hiding in Mexico. She released her most successful album, Physical, in 1981, with the title track spending 10 weeks at the No1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.ĭuring her life, Newton-John received four Grammy Awards, an Emmy, numerous Country Music Awards, American Music Awards and People’s Choice Awards.
While the film was somewhat of a flop, the song Xanadu reached No1 in several countries.
While Grease became the biggest box office hit of 1978, two years later Newton-John would go on to dance with screen legend Gene Kelly in Xanadu. Yet she remained proud of her roots: her father was an MI5 officer who worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park during the war her maternal grandfather was the Nobel prize-winning physicist Max Born, who sought exile in the UK from Nazi Germany on the eve of the second world war.Co-starring alongside John Travolta, Newton-John rocketed into stardom, with several tracks You’re the One That I Want, Hopelessly Devoted to You and Summer Nights climbing the charts that year. The film remains a much-loved staple of the small screen and the singalong circuit its soundtrack is one of the top 10 biggest sellers of all time.īorn in Cambridge, England, in 1948, Newton-John and her family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, when she was six. Newton-John’s performance was nominated for a Golden Globe and she performed Hopelessly Devoted to You at the 1979 Oscars. Grease was the biggest box-office hit of the year, and its soundtrack album spent 12 consecutive weeks at No 1 in the US. The role was also altered to accommodate her Australian accent. Offered the lead role of Sandy, sweet summer squeeze of cool cat John Travolta, after meeting the producer at a dinner party, the then 29-year-old Newton-John had to be persuaded to take the part, worried she was too old to play a high-school senior. Her prominence as an activist for research and better treatment will likely remain as key an element of her legacy as her showbiz career, which included four Grammy wins and the sale of more than 100m records.īut it was Grease, the perky 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical for which she will be most fondly remembered. Newton-John’s daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, paid tribute to her mother with a selection of images on Instagram, including pictures of Lattanzi as a baby.Īfter her first cancer diagnosis, Newton-John became a prominent campaigner, setting up the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Research Centre in Melbourne. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!” We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Travolta posted a heartfelt message on social media, writing: “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Tributes to Newton-John began appearing shortly after her family’s statement. Hopelessly devoted … Olivia Newton-John as Sandy and John Travolta as Danny in 1978 smash hit Grease.
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