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Actress and singer Olivia Newton-John, known throughout the world for her role as Sandy in the film greaseHe died at the age of 73, according to his family.
In a brief statement, her husband, John Easterling, said Newton-John had died at his California ranch on Monday morning.
“Olivia has been a symbol of triumph and hope for more than 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer“, says the statement.
“We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.” And “in lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her memory to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.”
Granddaughter of Nobel laureate in Physics Max Born, a Jew exiled to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany, and daughter of a British spy during World War II, Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, in 1948.
But he grew up in Australia, a country to which he moved with his family in 1954.
She started very young in the world of music, first with a group of schoolmates and then alone. Her first hit was the song If Not For Youfrom their self-titled debut album, which reached number seven on the UK charts.
From that decade and throughout the 1980s, Newton-John was one of the most popular artists of the world.
In the United States alone, 14 of his singles were in the list of the 10 most listened to, he won four Grammy awards and the musical grease along with John Travolta launched her to stardom.
You’re the One that I Wantone of the songs he sang as a duet with Travolta In that film, she became one of the most famous of the time and more than 15 million copies have been sold.
After hearing the news, Travolta wrote an emotional message on Instagram: “My dearest Olivia, you made life for all of us so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will meet you along the way and we will be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever. Your Danny, your John“.
As did his character grease, Newton-John reinvented itself both musically and image-wise from the movie.
Thus, the always smiling blonde known for her country-pop and soft ballads like Please Mr. Please, Have You Never Been Mellow Y I Honestly Love You, in 1981 he released the provocative song Physical as part of the self-titled album, his seventh.
“There’s nothing else to talk about / Unless it’s horizontally,” he sang in it, and ended: “Let’s get animals! Animals!”.
“I recorded it and immediately thought, ‘Oh my God, maybe I’ve gone too far!'” she told the show. Entertainment Weekly in 2017, after recalling how his manager Roger Davies had suggested it to him.
“I called Roger and said, ‘We have to take the song down!’ But he said, ‘It’s too late. They’re already playing it on the radio and it’s going up the charts.’ I was horrified.”
It was number one on the charts for 10 weeks and Billboard named it song of the yeardespite being banned from several radio stations.
A Physical A few more hits followed, but by the next decade her career was in the doldrums and Newton-John became more newsworthy due to her private life.
Commitment to cancer research
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1990s, she became one of the leading cancer research advocates and her charity, the Olivia Newton-John Foundation, has raised millions of dollars to that end.
Her efforts in this field were recognized by Queen Elizabeth II of England, who honored her with a Dame title in the 2020 New Year Honors List.
In 2019, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time, she was asked by CBS News how she was coping. “It was consuming my day and after a while I was like ‘you know what, I need to enjoy my life so I’ll have a cookie if I want,'” she said. “Because the joy of life and everyday life should also be part of that healing process. So I chose that path of being grateful and feeling good about things, because the other side is not that good,” she added.
News of Newton-John’s death quickly generated numerous reactions.
On Twitter, Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, who co-starred with Newton-John in the film It’s My Party from 1996, called it “the sweetest, brightest light.” While Dionne Warwick, who recorded a duet with Newton-John in 2006, wrote on Twitter that “another angelic voice has been added to the Celestial Choir“.
American actress Rosanna Arquette wrote on that same network: “Fly with the angels, Olivia Newton-John.”
Also on Twitter, Spanish actor Antonio Banderas posted: “Rest in peace, Olivia Newton-John. Deepest condolences to her family and loved ones.”
Filmmaker Edgar Wright, director of the thriller Last Night in Sohonoted: “Olivia Newton-John so completely dominated the charts when I was a kid that I felt like she was pop music.”
“And yes, Xanadu is still a brutal classic song. RIP,” he added.
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Actress and singer Olivia Newton-John, star of the mythical film “Grease”, dies – BBC News