Age, Biography, and Wiki
Olivia Newton-John was born on September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, England. She later moved to Australia with her family and grew up in Melbourne. Newton-John is best known for her hit singles and her iconic role as Sandy Olsson in the 1978 film "Grease." She passed away on August 8, 2022, at the age of 73.
| Occupation | Environmentalist |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 26 September 1948 |
| Age | 76 Years |
| Birth Place | Cambridge, England |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | England |
| Date of death | 8 August, 2022 |
| Died Place | Santa Ynez, California, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about her height, weight, and measurements are not widely documented, Olivia Newton-John was known for her iconic style and physical presence in her performances and films.
Newton-John's cancer diagnosis also affected the type of music she recorded. In 1994, she released Gaia: One Woman's Journey, which chronicled her ordeal. Co-produced by Newton-John for ONJ Productions, Gaia was originally issued by Festival in Australia but also distributed by various independent labels in Japan and Europe. In 2002, there was an American distribution by Hip-O Records, and a subsequent re-release in 2012 by Green Hill featured an alternative cover photo. Gaia was the first album on which Newton-John wrote all the music and lyrics herself, and this endeavour encouraged her to become more active as a songwriter thereafter. The single "No Matter What You Do" entered the Australian top 40, and the second single, the environmentally themed "Don't Cut Me Down", was also used in the film It's My Party, a 1996 AIDS drama. The Latin-fuelled "Not Gonna Give into It" eventually became heavily showcased in concert performance; "The Way of Love" was featured in the telefilm A Christmas Romance, and "Trust Yourself" was incorporated into both the TV-movie The Wilde Girls and the theatrical film Sordid Lives.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Olivia Newton-John was married to John Easterling, the founder of the Amazon Herb Company, from 2008 until her death in 2022. She had previously been married to actor Matt Lattanzi from 1984 to 1995, with whom she had a daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi.
Newton-John's maternal grandfather was German Jewish Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born. Her maternal grandmother Hedwig was the daughter of German Jewish jurist Victor Ehrenberg and his Lutheran wife, Helene Agatha von Jhering. Through Helene Agatha, Newton-John was a descendant of Protestant theologian Martin Luther. She was also descended from an unspecified Spanish monarch. Helene Agatha's own father, Newton-John's great-great-grandfather, was jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John's uncle was pharmacologist Gustav Victor Rudolf Born. Through her Ehrenberg line, Newton-John was a third cousin of comedian Ben Elton.
Newton-John was the youngest of three children, following her brother Hugh (1939–2019), a medical doctor, and her sister Rona (1941–2013), an actress who was married to restaurateur Brian Goldsmith and was later married to Newton-John's Grease co-star Jeff Conaway (from 1980 until their divorce in 1985). She also had a half-brother, Toby, and a half-sister, Sarah, both of whom were born of her father's second marriage.
In early 1954, when Newton-John was five, her family emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, on the SS Strathaird. Her father worked as a professor of German and as the master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. Her family attended church while her father served as the head of the Presbyterian college.
In 1965, she entered and won a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe. She performed the songs "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses". She was initially reluctant to use her prize, a trip to Great Britain, but travelled there nearly a year later after her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
While in Britain, Newton-John missed her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she had co-starred in the 1965 Australian telefilm Funny Things Happen Down Under. She repeatedly booked trips back to Australia that her mother cancelled.
In September 1989, Newton-John released her self-described "self-indulgent" album, Warm and Tender, which reunited her with producer John Farrar, absent from her previous LP, and also marked a return to a more wholesome image. Inspired by her daughter, who appeared on the cover, the album featured lullabies and love songs for parents and their children. This album, the last one produced by Farrar, also failed to revive her recording career, as the disc reached only No. 124 Pop.
Newton-John was primed for another comeback in 1992 when she compiled her third hits collection, Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971–1992, and planned her first tour since her Physical trek ten years earlier. Shortly after the album's release, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to cancel all publicity for the album, including the tour. She received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died.
In 2000, she appeared in a dramatically different role as Bitsy Mae Harling, a bisexual former-convict country singer, in Del Shores' Sordid Lives. Newton-John reprised her role for Sordid Lives: The Series which aired one season on the LOGO television network. The series featured five original songs written and composed by Newton-John specifically for the show. In 2000, she teamed with Vince Gill and the London Symphony Orchestra for 'Tis the Season sold exclusively through Hallmark. The following year, she released The Christmas Collection, which compiled seasonal music previously recorded for her Hallmark Christmas album, her appearance on Kenny Loggins' 1999 TNN Christmas special and her contributions to the Mother and Child and Spirit of Christmas multi-artist collections.
Produced by Phil Ramone and recorded at the Indigo Recording Studios in Malibu for ONJ Productions, Indigo: Women of Song was released in October 2004 in Australia. The tribute album featured Newton-John covering songs by artists such as Joan Baez, the Carpenters, Doris Day, Nina Simone and Minnie Riperton. She dedicated the album to her mother, who had died the previous year of breast cancer. Indigo was subsequently released in the UK in April 2005 and in Japan in March 2006. A rebranded and resequenced version called Portraits: A Tribute to Great Women of Song was eventually issued in the United States in 2011.
In 2010, Newton-John starred in the film Score: A Hockey Musical, released in Canada. She portrayed Hope Gordon, the mother of a home-schooled hockey prodigy. The film opened the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
In January 2011, Newton-John began filming the comedy A Few Best Men in Australia with director Stephan Elliott, in the role of mother of the bride. The groom is played by Xavier Samuel.
In 2015, Newton-John was a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. That same year, she scored her first number-one single on Billboard Dance Club Songs chart with "You Have to Believe" with daughter Chloe and producer Dave Audé. The song was a re-imagining of her 1980 single "Magic", which she noted was to celebrate both the 35th anniversary of Xanadu and as a dedication to her daughter. About the latter, Newton-John stated: "I met Chloe's dad on the set of Xanadu; so, without that film, Chloe wouldn't be here. She was the real 'magic' that came out of that film!" The song became the first mother-daughter single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.
Newton-John's first boyfriend, Ian Turpie, once said of her early appearances: "In those days she had a small voice, but it was very pure. She could sing prettily in tune....The improvement in her singing since she went to England has been remarkable. She told me Shirley Bassey has been a big influence on her. After hearing Bassey, she worked at developing her head voice to sound like a chest voice, the way Bassey uses hers. The power she's developed is amazing".
In the mid-1960s, Newton-John dated Australian actor and singer Ian Turpie, her co-star in the 1965 musical film Funny Things Happen Down Under. They met in 1963 when Turpie attended the coffee shop where Newton-John's group Sol Four performed. The relationship continued until she returned to England in 1966.
In 1968, Newton-John was engaged to but never married Bruce Welch, one of her early producers and co-writer of her hit "Please Mr. Please". In 1972, Newton-John ended her relationship with Welch, who subsequently attempted suicide.
In 1973, while vacationing on the French Riviera, Newton-John met British businessman Lee Kramer, who became both her new boyfriend and manager. Newton-John lived with Kramer on and off and they stayed a couple until 1979; she called their turbulent pairing "one long breakup". Kramer subsequently returned to England and married. He also managed vocalist Krishna Das. Kramer died in 2017.
In 1993, Newton-John met John Easterling, founder and president of the Amazon Herb Company, which he started in 1990 and sold to TriVita, Inc., in 2012. Also known as "Amazon John", Easterling is an eco-entrepreneur who initially marketed rainforest botanicals and currently owns and operates Happy Tree Microbes, which offers natural plant performance products. When Newton-John and Easterling first met, they were both married to other people. In 2007, they started dating and married in an Incan spiritual ceremony in Peru on 21 June 2008, followed by a legal ceremony nine days later (30 June 2008) on Jupiter Island, Florida.
In June 2009, Newton-John and her second husband, John Easterling, purchased a new $4.1 million home in Jupiter Inlet, Florida. In 2013, while renovations were being done on the property and the couple was not there, a contractor named Christopher Pariseleti committed suicide on the estate, which at the time was up for sale. Following the death on the premises, Newton-John and Easterling bought a nearby condo; their larger home lingered on and off the market for two years but was eventually sold in 2015 to a Swedish advertising executive for $5.1 million.
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| Husband | Matt Lattanzi (m. 1984-1995) John Easterling (m. 2008) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of her death, Olivia Newton-John's net worth was estimated at $60 million by some sources, although other reports suggest it could have been higher, potentially around $85 million when considering her extensive real estate holdings and investments. Her wealth was derived from her successful music career, film roles, real estate, and various business ventures.
Newton-John's subsequent albums were released primarily in Australia. In 2002, she released (2), a duets album featuring mostly Australian artists (Tina Arena, Darren Hayes, Jimmy Little, Johnny O'Keefe, Billy Thorpe and Keith Urban), as well as a "duet" with the deceased Peter Allen. In addition, (2) offered a hidden 12th track, a samba version of "Physical" which Newton-John later performed occasionally in concert instead of the more rock-style original. The album's 2004 Japanese release includes the bonus track "Let It Be Me", a duet with Cliff Richard with whom she had previously been coupled on "Suddenly" and Songs from Heathcliff.
Business and Investments
Newton-John was involved in various business ventures, including her own production company and philanthropic efforts. She was a major supporter of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre in Melbourne, which she helped establish in 2012. Her real estate holdings included properties in Australia and the United States.
Newton-John's accolades include four Grammy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She scored fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and fourteen of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
Newton-John went to primary school with Daryl Braithwaite, who also followed a singing career. At age 14, with three classmates, Newton-John formed a short-lived, all-girl group called Sol Four which often performed at a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law.
Her pop career cooled with the release of her next album, Clearly Love. Her streak of five consecutive gold top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 ended when the album's first single, "Something Better to Do", stopped at No. 13 (also No. 19 Country and No. 1 AC). Her albums still achieved gold status, and she returned to the top ten of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts again in 1978.
She provided a prominent, but uncredited, vocal on John Denver's "Fly Away" single, which was succeeded by her own single, "Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", at No. 1 on the AC chart. ("Fly Away" returned to No. 1 after the two-week reign of "Let It Shine".) In December 1975, she appeared on the ABC special John Denver - A Rocky Mountain Christmas, where she performed the duet of "Fly Away" with John, as well as "Let It Shine". Newton-John also continued to reach the Country top 10 where she tallied seven top-10 singles through 1976's "Come on Over" (No. 23 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC) (from the same-titled album) and six consecutive (of a career nine total) top-10 albums through 1976's Don't Stop Believin' (No. 30 Pop, No. 7 Country). She headlined her first US television special, A Special Olivia Newton-John, in November 1976.
In 1978, Newton-John's career soared after she starred as Sandy in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. She was offered the role after meeting producer Allan Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's home. Disillusioned by her Toomorrow experience and concerned that she was too old to play a high school senior (she was 28 during the filming of Grease), Newton-John insisted on a screen test with the film's co-lead, John Travolta. Newton-John previewed some of the film's soundtrack during her second American network television special, Olivia, featuring guests ABBA and Andy Gibb.
Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978. The soundtrack album spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and yielded three Top 5 singles for Newton-John: the platinum "You're the One That I Want" (No. 1 Pop, No. 23 AC) with John Travolta, the gold "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (No. 3 Pop, No. 20 Country, No. 7 AC) and the gold "Summer Nights" (No. 5 Pop, No. 21 AC) with John Travolta and the film's cast. Newton-John became the second woman (after Linda Ronstadt in 1977) to have two singles—"Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights"—in the Billboard top 5 simultaneously. The soundtrack is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. In June 2006, Newton-John's company ON-J Productions Ltd filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) for $1 million in unpaid royalties from the Grease soundtrack. In 2007, it was announced that she and UMG had reached a "conditional settlement".
In April 1975, Newton-John and MCA entered into an initial two-year, four-album deal in which she was expected to deliver two LPs a year for the record company. MCA also had the option of extending the contract for six more records and three more years; and if the artist did not deliver on time, MCA was allegedly allowed to lengthen the term of the contract.
Per her new agreement with MCA, Newton-John's first three albums, beginning with Clearly Love, came out on schedule. Her fourth, Making a Good Thing Better, was late. This delay occurred around the same time she was working on Grease for RSO Records, and the postponement arguably gave MCA—which seemed to want to keep its hold on the performer—the right to exercise its option, extend its contract, and stop her from signing with another enterprise. She also did not deliver a "newly optioned" album.
On 31 May 1978, Newton-John and MCA each filed breach-of-contract actions against the other. Newton-John sued for $10 million and claimed that MCA's failure to adequately promote and advertise her product freed her from their agreement. MCA's countersuit requested $1 million in damages and an injunction against Newton-John working with another music firm.
"Magic" was Newton-John's biggest pop hit to that point (four weeks at No. 1) and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career (five weeks at No. 1). The film Xanadu has since become a cult classic and the basis for a Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Newton-John's music career cooled again with the release of her next studio album, the gold Soul Kiss (No. 29 Pop), in 1985. The album's only charted single was the title track (No. 20 Pop, No. 20 AC). The video album for Soul Kiss featured only five of the album's ten tracks (concept videos for the album's singles "Soul Kiss" and "Toughen Up" as well as performance videos of the tracks "Culture Shock", "Emotional Tangle" and "The Right Moment").
After a nearly three-year hiatus following the birth of her daughter Chloe in January 1986, Newton-John resumed her recording career with the 1988 album The Rumour. The album was promoted by an HBO special, Olivia Down Under. Its first single, the title track, was written and produced by Elton John. Both the single (No. 62 Pop, No. 33 AC) and the album (No. 67 Pop) faltered commercially as the nearly 40-year-old Newton-John seemed "old" when compared with the teen queens Debbie Gibson and Tiffany ruling the pop charts at that time. (The album was praised by critics as more mature, with Newton-John addressing topics such as AIDS ("Love and Let Live"), the environment and single-parent households.)
On 2 November 2019, Julien's Auctions auctioned hundreds of memorabilia items from Newton-John's career. The sale raised $2.4 million. Newton-John's Grease outfit garnered $405,700; her pants and jacket were purchased separately by two different billionaires. Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, bought Newton-John's black skintight pants from Grease for $162,000. The anonymous buyer who acquired her famous Grease leather jacket for $243,200 (£185,000) returned the item to her and said: "It should not sit in a billionaire's closet for country-club bragging rights [...] The odds of beating a recurring cancer using the newest emerging therapies is a thousandfold greater than someone appearing out of the blue, buying your most famous and cherished icon, and returning it to you." All proceeds were donated to her Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Australia.
Long before and after the career summit of Grease, Newton-John proved herself to be a fairly versatile performer, lending her instrument to everything from sentimental ballads and New Age soul searching to lively dance productions and rock & soul fervor. Maura Johnston of Vulture assesses: "Newton-John was a regular chart-topper...throughout the '70s, her lithe soprano adapting well to the soft pop sound" of the era with "AM Gold staples and tracks from the folk and country world...As it turned out, Newton-John's voice was pretty well suited to the spiky dance pop that would become popular in the early 1980s" too. However, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the Los Angeles Times offers a counterpoint on her career decline in the mid-1980s: "Hardness never was Newton-John's comfort zone, though, and the 1980s were a much harder decade than the 1970s. The inherent warmth of 1970s studio sessions gave way to the cold, synthesized gleam of the 1980s, a sterile sound that suited her well only once: the candied faux-new wave of 'Twist of Fate'", produced by David Foster. Johnston further maintains: "Her pop heyday transcended any attempts to musically pigeonhole her"; and by the time she stopped having many new hits, "her musical legacy ... had been pretty well solidified."
After relocating from England to the United States in late 1974, Newton-John set up residence in Malibu, California, where for 35 years she owned various real estate, including a horse ranch and several beachfront properties.
Newton-John was also partial owner of Byron Bay's Gaia Retreat & Spa, which was founded in 2005 and sold in 2021 for $30 million to the investment firm of Tattarang.
The State of Victoria offered Newton-John's family a state funeral, which her niece Tottie Goldsmith accepted. Newton-John's Australian memorial service, hosted by David Campbell, was held on 26 February 2023, at Hamer Hall in Melbourne and included eulogies from her widower and daughter; a testimonial to her strength of character, optimism and magnanimity by television personality Richard Wilkins; montages of her career, family life and wellness centre; a medley of her hits performed by Delta Goodrem, and pre-recorded video tributes from Elton John, Mariah Carey, Barry Gibb, Dolly Parton and Nicole Kidman.
Social Network
Olivia Newton-John maintained a strong connection with her fans through her music and public appearances. However, specific details about her personal social media presence are limited, as she was not active on platforms in the same way many contemporary celebrities are.
Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow, formed by American producer Don Kirshner. In 1970, the group starred in the science fiction musical Toomorrow and recorded an accompanying soundtrack album on RCA Records; both the LP and the movie were named after the group. That same year, the group made two single recordings: "You're My Baby Now"/"Goin' Back" and "I Could Never Live Without Your Love"/"Roll Like a River". Neither track became a chart success; the project failed and the group disbanded.
She helped pioneer the music video industry by recording a video album for Physical, featuring videos of all the album's tracks and three of her older hits. The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC prime-time special, Let's Get Physical, becoming a top-10 Nielsen hit. Newton-John asserted: "Like everyone, I've got different sides of my personality. I've my dominant self, my need-to-be-dominated self, the sane Olivia and the crazy Olivia. Playing these different characters gave me a chance to show strange parts people haven't seen much."
Michael Dwyer of the Sydney Morning Herald maintains that following Newton-John's career was like watching "our slightly older and braver sister growing up in public" and her passing "feels today like a lost member of the family". Rachel Syme of The New Yorker also suggests that her familial, down-to-earth demeanor and humanity may have even superseded her singing accomplishments: "Her most lasting legacy might be as the rare celebrity who was almost universally well liked, and thought of as an essentially kind and warmhearted person".
Her musical abilities on their own merits were also impressive. In her 1982 Olivia in Concert performance of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Newton-John showcases a down-falling note range covering three octaves. (Much later, Newton-John and Parton recorded a duet of "Jolene," which was not formally released until after Newton-John's death.) In her memoir, Newton-John describes herself as "not a power singer but more of an interpretive one"; and author Lauren O'Neill concurs: "She sang with clarity and precision, her high notes bright and open like a window on a summer morning, but her voice was never clinical – a sultry purr, euphoric cry or breathy gasp seemed always available to her....Her vocal [on "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease] is clean and soaring, but to hear it is to be right down in the dirt with Sandy too; to feel, and perhaps even identify with, her total frustration with herself. As she slides between notes while singing 'I'm out of my head,' she shows us her emotional freefall as well as telling us about it."
Education
While specific details about Olivia Newton-John's formal education are not well-documented, her early life in Melbourne and her family's influence likely played significant roles in shaping her career path.
Despite her passing, Olivia Newton-John's legacy continues to inspire and entertain audiences worldwide, with her music and films remaining iconic pieces of popular culture.
In 1964, Newton-John's acting talent was first recognised portraying Lady Mary Lasenby in her University High School's production of The Admirable Crichton as she became the Young Sun's Drama Award best schoolgirl actress runner-up. She then became a regular on local Australian television shows, including Time for Terry and HSV-7's The Happy Show, where she performed as "Lovely Livvy". She also appeared on The Go!! Show, where she met her future duet partner, singer Pat Carroll, and her future music producer, John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar later married.)
Ultimately, Newton-John was forbidden from offering her recording services to another label until the five-year pact had run its course. The original covenant was not automatically extended, though she had not duly supplied the total sum of vinyls indicated in the contract.
