47 Fun Facts About Olivia Newton-John

In which English city was Olivia Newton-John born in 1948?

Cambridge, where her Welsh father Brin was headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys; the family left for Australia when she was five.

Olivia Newton-John's maternal grandfather, Max Born, won a Nobel Prize in which field?

Physics: Max Born won the 1954 prize for his work on quantum mechanics, having left Germany for Britain when the Nazis took power in 1933.

At which secret British wartime site did Olivia Newton-John's father work as an intelligence officer?

Bletchley Park: a fluent German speaker, Brin Newton-John was drafted into RAF intelligence and joined the top-secret project that broke the Enigma codes.

To which Australian city did Olivia Newton-John's family emigrate in 1954?

Melbourne: her father had been appointed master of Ormond College at the city's university, and a cancer centre she raised funds for there now carries her name.

What career did Olivia Newton-John originally want before she chose to perform?

Veterinarian: she gave up the idea because she doubted she could pass the science exams, and turned instead to her other interest, singing on Australian television.

What did Olivia Newton-John win on the talent show Sing, Sing, Sing?

A trip to Britain was the prize, and once there she recorded her first single in 1966 and formed a duo with fellow Australian Pat Carroll.

Which guitarist from the house band of a 1960s Australian TV pop show later wrote and produced many of Olivia Newton-John's hits?

John Farrar played in the Strangers, house band of The Go!! Show; he married her old singing partner Pat Carroll and wrote 'Have You Never Been Mellow'.

What was the name of Olivia Newton-John's short-lived group, which starred in a 1970 science-fiction musical film?

Toomorrow was put together by Don Kirshner, the producer behind the Monkees, but the film and its records flopped and the group broke up.

Who wrote 'If Not for You', the 1971 song that became Olivia Newton-John's first international hit?

Bob Dylan wrote it, but her producers modelled her version on the slide-guitar arrangement George Harrison had recorded a few months earlier.

Which 1973 single gave Olivia Newton-John her first US top-10 hit and a country Grammy?

Let Me Be There crossed over to the top 10 of the US pop, country and adult contemporary charts at once, turning a pop singer into a country star.

Raised in Australia, Olivia Newton-John sang for which country at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest?

The United Kingdom: a public postal vote picked 'Long Live Love' for her, a song she later admitted she disliked, and it finished fourth.

Which group won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, where Olivia Newton-John finished fourth?

ABBA won for Sweden with 'Waterloo', the song that launched their international career, while Newton-John's 'Long Live Love' trailed in fourth.

Which ballad became Olivia Newton-John's first US number one and won the Grammy for Record of the Year?

I Honestly Love You, co-written by Peter Allen, became her signature song, and she re-recorded it in 1998 with Babyface singing backing vocals.

In the 1980 film Xanadu, Olivia Newton-John's character Kira is secretly what?

A Greek muse: Kira is a daughter of Zeus sent to inspire a dreamer's roller-disco, and she breaks the gods' rules by falling in love with him.

Which sister of a country superstar recorded 'Ode to Olivia' in support of Olivia Newton-John during a Nashville backlash?

Stella Parton co-wrote the 1975 single to defend Newton-John against Nashville stars who said she was no true country singer.

Which expatriate Australian singer encouraged Olivia Newton-John to move to the United States in the mid-1970s?

Helen Reddy urged the move, and it was at a dinner party she gave that Newton-John met Allan Carr, the producer who offered her Grease.

Which singer broke Olivia Newton-John's 45-year record for the shortest gap between US number-one albums by a woman?

Taylor Swift did it in 2020 with two surprise albums, folklore and evermore, which hit number one 140 days apart; Newton-John's pair had been 154 days apart.

Olivia Newton-John sang uncredited harmony on 'Fly Away', a 1975 hit for which singer?

John Denver wrote and recorded 'Fly Away', and the two sang it together that December on his television special Rocky Mountain Christmas.

Which character did Olivia Newton-John play in the 1978 film Grease?

Sandy: the stage show's all-American Sandy Dumbrowski became Sandy Olsson, a transfer student from Australia, once Newton-John took the part.

Which song from Grease, sung by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, topped the Billboard Hot 100?

You're the One That I Want was already at the top of the US chart before Grease opened in June 1978, and went on to become one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Which Grease song did Olivia Newton-John perform at the 1979 Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Original Song?

Hopelessly Devoted to You was written halfway through the shoot and filmed after the rest of Grease had wrapped, because her contract promised her a solo.

Olivia Newton-John's 1976 single shares its title with which later rock anthem?

Don't Stop Believin' was the title track of her 1976 album, five years before Journey's anthem of the same name, and she used the title again for her 2018 memoir.

Olivia Newton-John's 1978 album Totally Hot showed her on the cover dressed in what?

All leather: the cover borrowed her tough new look from the final scene of Grease, and the album swapped her country-pop for a harder, rockier sound.

Which animals inspired 'The Promise', a song Olivia Newton-John wrote for her 1981 album Physical?

Dolphins: 'The Promise (The Dolphin Song)' is an earnest tribute to them, tucked away among the racy rock songs of her most provocative album.

Olivia Newton-John's 1978 lawsuit against MCA Records led labels to base contracts on what, instead of years?

Albums delivered: after a court refused to let MCA stretch her deal beyond its original term, labels began writing contracts around a number of records owed.

In the 1980 musical fantasy Xanadu, Olivia Newton-John starred alongside Michael Beck and which dance legend?

Gene Kelly took his final film role in Xanadu, a box-office flop whose soundtrack nonetheless went double platinum.

Which band joined Olivia Newton-John on the title song from Xanadu?

Electric Light Orchestra scored its only UK number-one single with the song, even though the film it came from was a box-office flop.

Which duet partner joined Olivia Newton-John on the Xanadu ballad 'Suddenly'?

Cliff Richard had helped launch her solo career a decade earlier by making her a regular guest singer on his television show.

For how many weeks did Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' top the Billboard Hot 100?

10 weeks: she had panicked that the lyrics were too racy and asked for the single to be pulled, only to be told it was already climbing the charts.

Radio stations in which US state banned Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' over its suggestive lyrics?

Utah: two stations, one of them owned by the Mormon church, refused to play the single, which went to number one all the same.

What was the title of Olivia Newton-John's poorly reviewed 1983 reunion film with John Travolta?

Two of a Kind was panned by critics, but its soundtrack went platinum and gave her a top-five hit with 'Twist of Fate'.

What was Koala Blue, the business Olivia Newton-John co-founded in 1983 with her old duet partner Pat Carroll?

A chain of clothing boutiques: it grew out of a shop selling Australian imports and thrived through the 1980s before going bankrupt in 1992.

Which star co-wrote and co-produced 'The Rumour', the title track of Olivia Newton-John's 1988 comeback album?

Elton John wrote it with his lyricist Bernie Taupin and also played piano and sang backing vocals on her recording.

Olivia Newton-John's second husband John Easterling, known as 'Amazon John', made his name selling what?

Rainforest herbal products: he founded the Amazon Herb Company, and the couple married in an Incan spiritual ceremony on a mountaintop in Peru in 2008.

Olivia Newton-John revealed her breast cancer diagnosis in July 1992, within two weeks of which family event?

Her father's death from cancer came within days of her own diagnosis, and her surgery then forced her to cancel a US tour that was due to open in Las Vegas.

Which 1994 album was the first on which Olivia Newton-John wrote every song herself?

Gaia: One Woman's Journey grew out of her recovery from breast cancer, and its songs deal with the illness and her concern for the environment.

Olivia Newton-John's song 'Love Is a Gift' won which award in 1999 after featuring on a US soap opera?

A Daytime Emmy went to the ballad after As the World Turns used it; it came from Back with a Heart, the 1998 album that took her back to Nashville and her country-pop roots.

With which singer did Olivia Newton-John perform 'Dare to Dream' at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

John Farnham and Newton-John sang it while walking among the athletes in the stadium; the two had toured Australia together in 1998 as part of The Main Event.

In which TV series did Olivia Newton-John guest-star as herself and recreate her 'Physical' video in 2010?

Glee had its cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch, remake the video with her, and their duet reached the Billboard Hot 100.

Olivia Newton-John's Las Vegas residency at the Flamingo, which ran from 2014 to 2016, was named after which song?

Summer Nights, named for her Grease duet, was put back a year by the death of her sister Rona, then kept being extended until it closed after three years.

Olivia Newton-John's 2015 dance number one 'You Have to Believe', recorded with daughter Chloe, reworked which of her hits?

Magic: the new title comes from its chorus, and she dedicated the remake to Chloe, whose father she had met on the set of the film the song was written for.

Olivia Newton-John's final studio recording was a duet with Dolly Parton of which song?

Jolene: she had first covered Parton's song on a 1976 album, and their duet came out in 2023, six months after her death.

Which fashion entrepreneur bought Olivia Newton-John's skintight Grease trousers at a 2019 charity auction?

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, bought the trousers, while the anonymous buyer who paid $243,200 for the matching leather jacket handed it straight back to her.

Along which landmark did Olivia Newton-John lead a charity walk in 2008?

The Great Wall of China: she walked it with fellow cancer survivors to raise money to build the cancer and wellness centre that now carries her name.

What won Olivia Newton-John her fourth Grammy?

A video album: Olivia Physical set the songs of her 1981 album to film, aired as a prime-time television special and won Video of the Year.

Where did Olivia Newton-John die on 8 August 2022, aged 73?

Her California ranch: the cancer she first beat in 1992 had returned in 2017, and she spent her last years funding research into plant-based treatments.

Which title did Olivia Newton-John receive in Britain's 2020 New Year Honours?

Dame: the honour recognised her charity and cancer-research work as much as her career in entertainment, and came four decades after she was made an OBE.