In 1965 she entered and won a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe, performing the songs " Anyone Who Had a Heart" and " Everything's Coming Up Roses". She also appeared on The Go!! Show where she met future duet partner, singer Pat Carroll, and future music producer, John Farrar (Carroll and Farrar would later marry). She became a regular on local Australian radio and television shows including HSV-7's The Happy Show where she performed as "Lovely Livvy". Career Career beginnings Īt 14, Newton-John formed a short-lived all-girl group, Sol Four, with three classmates often performing in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law. She attended Christ Church Grammar School in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra and then the University High School near Ormond College. In 1954, when she was six, Newton-John's family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where her father worked as a professor of German and as the master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. Newton-John is 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 Grease co-star Jeff Conaway from 1980 until their divorce in 1985). After the war, he became the headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and was in this position when Olivia was born. Newton-John's father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II. Her maternal great-grandfather was the jurist Victor Ehrenberg and her matrilineal great-grandmother's father was the jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John's maternal grandmother was of paternal Jewish ancestry as well through her, she is a third cousin of comedian Ben Elton. Her Jewish maternal grandfather, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born, fled with his family to Britain from Germany before World War II to escape the Nazi regime. Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, to the Welshman Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John (1914–1992) and Irene Helene (née Born 1914–2003). Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gaia Retreat & Spa in her home country Australia. She has been an advocate for health awareness, becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts. Newton-John has been a longtime activist for environmental and animal rights issues. Plus " Heart Attack" (1982) and " Twist of Fate" (from the 1983 film Two of a Kind).
Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner " I Honestly Love You" (1974) and " Physical" (1981) – Billboard's Top Hot 100 Single of the 1980s – plus her cover of " If Not for You" (1971), " Let Me Be There" (1973), " If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (1974), " Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), " Sam" (1977), " Hopelessly Devoted to You" (also from Grease), " A Little More Love" (1978) and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, " Magic" and " Xanadu" (with Electric Light Orchestra). It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: " You're the One That I Want" – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and " Summer Nights". In 1978, she starred in the musical film Grease, whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums of recorded music. With global sales of more than 100 million records, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to the present. Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She is a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career includes five US number-one hits and another ten Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and two Billboard 200 number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Dame Olivia Newton-John AC DBE (born 26 September 1948) is a British-born Australian singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and activist.