Olivia Newton-John DBE AC (1948-2022) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Dame Olivia Newton-John DBE AC

Born 26 Sep 1948 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Daughter of Brinley Newton (John) Newton-John and Irene Helene Kathe Hedwig (Born) Newton-John

Sister of Hugh Francis Newton-John MB BS and Rona Newton-John

Wife of [private husband (1950s - unknown)]

Wife of [private husband (1940s - unknown)]

Mother of Chloe Lattanzi

Died 8 Aug 2022 at age 73 in Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara, California, United States

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Biography

Olivia Newton-John DBE AC is Notable.

Olivia Newton-John DBE AC was born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.

Olivia Newton-John DBE AC has Welsh ancestors.

Olivia Newton-John DBE AC was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.

Dame Olivia Newton-John DBE AC DLitt was a British-born Australian singer, songwriter, actress, activist for environmental and animal rights causes, and advocate for breast cancer research who lived most of her adult life in the United States. When asked, she never hesitated to describe herself as Australian. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner and with global sales of more than 100 million records, is one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to the present. She is best known though for her role as Sandy in the musical "Grease".

Formative Years

Olivia Newton-John was born on 26th September 1948 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom; as virtually-bankrupt Great Britain was beginning to recover from the Second World War. She was the younger daughter of Welsh-born Brinley 'Bryn' Newton-John (1914-92), Headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and a former MI-5 officer, and German-born Irene Born (1914-2003). Olivia's maternal grandfather was German Jewish Nobel Prize-winning physicist and mathematician, Max Born, who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics.

Olivia Newton-John DBE AC migrated from England to Victoria, Australia.

At the age of five years, aboard the P&O ocean liner RMS Strathaird, Olivia migrated with her parents, brother Hugh and sister Rona (nine and seven years her senior) to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; ^[1] where her father had obtained an appointment as Professor of German and Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. ^[2]

As was the custom of the time, with Australia still closely tied to the United Kingdom (in legal circumstances), Olivia remained a British citizen. It was not until 1981 that the Commonwealth Government expected residents to take up Australian citizenship, at which time Olivia did so.

About 1958 Olivia's parents separated and subsequently divorced, with her father taking up a university appointment in Newcastle, New South Wales. He subsequently married again in 1963, and gave Olivia another two (half) siblings. Maybe her musical talent was inherited from her Dad. He had played the violin during his school years and is said to have considered a career as a professional singer for a time. After moving to Sydney in retirement in 1981 he was a regular presenter on the fine music radio station 2 MBS–FM. ^[3]

Olivia attended Christ Church Grammar School, South Yarra and then the University High School, Parkville.

Relationships and Residences

Following engagement to producer and co-writer Bruce Welch from 1968 to 1972, Olivia had a relationship with British businessman Lee Kramer from 1973 to 1979. She was married to Matt Lattanzi, who she had met four years earlier while filming Xanadu, from 1984 to 1995 (they had a daughter, Chloe Rose, in 1986). She met and had a relationship with gaffer/cameraman Patrick McDermott from 1996 until he disappeared in 2005. Olivia has been married to John Easterling, founder and president of the Amazon Herb Company, since 2008. Olivia and Chloe maintained a close relationship, even recording and releasing a single, Window in the Wall, a duet about unity in January 2021. She lost her Mum in August 2003. Olivia also enjoyed close relationships with her brother, Doctor Hugh Newton-John (1939-2019), and sister, actress Rona (1941-2013), until their deaths.

It is to be assumed, as biographies do not tend to touch on extended family, that when Olivia returned to England (accompanied by her mother) in 1966 she re-united with her maternal grandparents in Germany, Max (1882-1970) and Martha (1891-1972). Her paternal grandparents had passed away whilst she was in Australia: Oliver (John) (1880-1959) and Daisy (Newton) (1883-1965), a former member of the Royal Welsh Ladies Choir.

After relocating to the United States of America, Olivia resided in Malibu, California, where she owned several properties, including a horse ranch and beach houses over the next forty years. Since 2015, Olivia and John have lived in their 12 acre (4.85 hectares) horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. She maintained the 187 acre (75.7 ha) Dalwood farm at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia for forty years until selling in 2019.

Music Career

Olivia and three of her class-mates from school formed Sol Four, a short-lived all-girl group, when she was fourteen years of age; often performing in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law. She soon became a regular on local Australian television shows, including entering and winning the talent competition on the programme Sing, Sing, Sing in 1965, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe. ^[4] She was initially reluctant to use the prize she had won, a trip to Great Britain, but did so the following year after receiving encouragement from her mother to 'broaden her horizons'. ^[5]

Olivia recorded her first single, Till You Say You'll Be Mine, in England for Decca Records in 1966. She released her first solo album, Olivia Newton-John (in the US it was released as If Not for You), in 1971; with If Not For You, written by Bob Dylan, becoming her first international hit ^[5] In 1975, encouraged by fellow ex-pat and friend Helen Reddy, Olivia moved to the United States.

Olivia's career soared after she starred in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease in 1978, opposite John Travolta. Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978 ^[6] and the soundtrack album spent twelve (non-consecutive) weeks at #1, yielding three Top 5 singles for Olivia. Her next film, the musical fantasy Xanadu with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck, confirmed Olivia's climb 'to the top'. The soundtrack was certified double platinum, scoring five top 20 singles. Just as Grease's Sandy Olsson (Olivia) transformed from 'wholesome' to risqué, Olivia moved her own image along with the release of the hit song, Let's Get Physical; two Utah radio stations even banning the single from their playlists. ^[7] Too provocative for them! Clever lady though, as she filmed a video turning the suggestive song into an aerobics anthem. The subsequent video album earned Olivia a fourth Grammy Award.

She continued to perform in concerts, tours and residencies; record (26 studio and six live albums and 70 singles in total); and made further films (16 in total) and music videos (62 music videos and two TV special videos in total), right up to 2021. Olivia performed duets with such luminaries as Pat Carroll, John Farrer (Pat and John later married), John Travolta, Cliff Richard, Jimmy Barnes, Barry Gibb, Delta Goodrem, Keith Urban, John Farnham, and even the deceased Peter Allen!

Business, Cancer and Advocacy

In 1983, Olivia and Pat Farrar (formerly Pat Carroll) founded Koala Blue, a store originally marketing Australian imports but evolved into a chain of women's clothing boutiques, before closing in 1992. The partners next licensed the brand name for a line of Australian wines. ^[8] Olivia opened her own music production company, ON-J Productions Ltd.

Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, forcing her to cancel publicity events for a new album and a subsequent tour. She had received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died. ^[9] She recovered, ^[10] and became an advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues, including a product spokesperson for the Liv-Kit, a breast self-examination product, and a part owner of the Gaia Retreat and Spa, near Byron Bay, New South Wales. She had a recurrence of the disease in 2013. In May 2017, it was announced that Olivia's breast cancer had returned yet again and spread to bones in her lower back.

Her involvement with many humanitarian causes began early in her career. She cancelled a 1978 concert tour of Japan to protest the slaughter of dolphins caught in tuna fishing nets. She was a performer on the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert for the UN's International Year of the Child televised worldwide and was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Programme. She was listed as President of the Isle of Man Basking Shark Society between 1998 and 2005. In 2008, she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Heidelberg, Victoria.

Honours

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), New Year's Honours 1979 ^[11]
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, 5th August 1981 ^[12]
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame, 2002 ^[13]
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), Queen's Birthday Honours 2006 ^[14]
American-Australian Association Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007
named a National Living Treasure of Australia by the National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2012 ^[15]
Music Victoria Awards Hall of Fame, 2015 ^[16]
Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from La Trobe University, Melbourne, May 2018 ^[17]
Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia Day Honours, 2019 ^[18]
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE),New Year's Honours 2020 ^[19]
Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette, 2021 ^[20]
Australian Women in Music Awards Honour Roll, 2021 ^[21]

Olivia also received numerous awards for her musical achievements, for her environmental and humanitarian work, and for her immense contribution to breast cancer treatment.

Final Encore

Aged 73 years, Olivia passed away at home in Santa Ynez on 8th August 2022. ^[22]

Tributes have flowed in from as soon as Olivia's death was announced, from those mentioned above in this bio as well as, to name just a few notables, Hugh Jackman, Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue, Barbra Streisand, Frankie Valli and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Olivia, (We) Honestly Love You