Olivia Newton John

Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE (born 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, United Kingdom) is a British-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 albums. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. Many of her singles and albums were successful in multiple formats including Pop, Country and Adult Contemporary. She co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Grease, which became the highest grossing movie musical and one of the most successful film soundtracks in Hollywood history.
Newton-John has been a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues. Since her breast cancer diagnosis in 1992 from which she recovered, she has also been a tireless advocate for health awareness becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts to eradicate the disease. Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gaia Retreat & Spa in Australia.Newton-John has married twice and currently lives with her second husband, John Easterling, in Florida. She is the mother of one daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, with her first husband, actor Matt Lattanzi.
Newton-John's spiritual, contemplative music was complemented by her pop-oriented releases. In 1998, she returned to Nashville to record Back With A Heart . The album returned her to the Top 10 on the Country Albums chart. Its only single was a remake of I Honestly Love You produced by David Foster and featuring Babyface on background vocals that charted Pop and AC. Country radio dismissed the song, although it did peak at No. 16 on the Country Sales chart. The album track, Love Is A Gift, won Newton-John a 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song after being featured on the daytime serial, As The World Turns.
Newton-John's subsequent albums were all released primarily in Australia. Newton-John, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow toured Australia as The Main Event. The live album won an ARIA Award for Highest Selling Australian CD and was also nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album. She and Farnham performed Dare To Dream at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2002, Newton-John released, a duets album featuring mostly Australian artists including Darren Hayes, Tina Arena, Jimmy Little, Billy Thorpe and Johnny O'Keefe as well as a heartfelt "duet" with the deceased Peter Allen. The same year, Newton-John was inducted into Australia's ARIA Hall of Fame. 2004 brought the release of Indigo: Women of Song, a tribute album covering songs by The Carpenters, Minnie Riperton, Doris Day, Nina Simone, Joan Baez and others. Newton-John dedicated the album to her mother who died the previous year.
Newton-John acted occasionally since Two of a Kind. She appeared in a supporting role in the 1996 AIDS drama, It's My Party – her first feature film since Two Of A Kind. In 2000, she appeared in a dramatically different role as Bitsy Mae Harling, a lesbian ex-con country singer, in Del Shores' Sordid Lives. Newton-John reprised her role for Sordid Lives: The Series which aired one season on the LOGO television network . The series featured five original songs written by Newton-John specifically for the show.
Newton-John's television work included starring in two Christmas movies, A Mom For Christmas (1990) and A Christmas Romance (1994) – both Top 10 Nielsen hits. Her daughter, Chloe, starred as one of her children in both A Christmas Romance and in the 2001 Showtime film The Wilde Girls. Newton-John guest-starred as herself in the sitcoms Ned and Stacey, Murphy Brown and Bette. In Australia, Newton-John hosted Wild Life, a show about animals and nature – two major interests for Newton-John. She also guest starred as Joanna on two episodes of the Australian series The Man From Snowy River.
After her 1995 divorce from Matt Lattanzi, Newton-John met gaffer/cameraman Patrick McDermott the following year. The couple dated on and off for nine years until he went missing following a 2005 fishing trip off the California coast. Various theories abounded regarding his disappearance ranging from his death by accident or foul play to McDermott staging his disappearance to avoid child support payments to his ex-wife, actress Yvette Nipar. Newton-John, who was in Australia at her self-owned Gaia Retreat & Spa at the time of his disappearance, was never a suspect and refused to comment on any speculation. A US Coast Guard investigation released in 2008 "suggest McDermott was lost at sea." Newton-John returned to the tabloid headlines again in 2007 when it was revealed that her daughter was recovering from anorexia. Patrick McDermott has since been seen in a photograph with his hair dyed black, in an apparent bid to alter his appearance, living in a fishing village in Mexico.
Newton-John released another concert DVD, Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony: Live at the Sydney Opera House, and a companion CD, Olivia's Live Hits, in January 2008. An edited version of the DVD premiered on PBS station, WLIW (Garden City, New York), in October 2007 and subsequently aired nationally during the network's fund-raising pledge drives. This was Newton-John's third live album after the 1981 Japanese release, Love Performance, and her 2000 Australian release, One Woman's Live Journey.
In June 2008, Newton-John secretly wed John ("Amazon John") Easterling, founder and president of natural remedy firm, Amazon Herb Company. The couple met 15 years earlier, but only became romantically involved in 2007. (Like Newton-John, this was Easterling's second marriage.) The couple married alone in a private Incan spiritual ceremony in Cuzco, Peru on June 21 followed nine days later by a legal ceremony on the Jupiter Island beachfront in Florida. There were no guests at either service since the couple preferred to marry simply and privately. Only Newton-John's daughter, Chloe, was aware of the nuptials. The couple did not announce their marriage until a July 4 barbecue at Newton-John's Malibu, California home where guests were surprised with the news. The wedding was confirmed thereafter by HELLO! magazine which published exclusive pictures of both weddings.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 September 2009 10:24 )












