Olivia Newton-John, who sang some of the biggest hits of the ’70s and ’80s while recasting her image as a virgin neighborhood girl into a spandex-clad vixen — a transformation reflected in miniatures by her starring role in one of the most popular musicals, Grease. In her age – she died Monday on her Southern California ranch. She was 73 years old.
was death announce by her husband John Easterling.
Although Mrs. Newton-John has never been a favorite with critics, her first singles, chart-topping albums, and four recordings have amassed over two million copies each. She was loved more than anything.
Early in her career, this English-Australian singer wowed listeners with a loud, soft, lively and warm tone paired amicably with the kind of mid-stream swoon that often hit the mid-’70s. Passed to country music.
Its performance on the charts illustrated that blur. It recorded seven Top 10 hits on Billboard’s country chart, two of which took back-to-back number one hits in 1974 and 75. First came “I Honestly Love You,” an unabashedly serious ad co-written by Peter Allen and Jeff Barry, followed by “Have You Never been Mellow”, a feather for a song written by the producer of several of her major albums, John Farrar.
“I Honestly Love You” also won two of the singer’s four Grammy Awards, this year’s record and Best Female Vocal Performance.
A full obituary will be posted soon.
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