| Olivia Newton-John is an English-born Australian pop singer and actress. Her highly acclaimed vocal musical and acting talents made her a globally recognized name. Olivia Newton-John was also a small business enterpreneur and an avid activist in ecological or environmental issues. In 1954, at the age of five, Newton-John, her parents Brin and Irene, and her older siblings Hugh and Rona, relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where her father had taken a job at Melbourne University as the Master of Ormond College. Her parents divorced when she was eleven years old. By the age of 15, Newton-John had formed an all-girl band, Sol Four, and soon was a regular on local television and radio shows in Australia. She entered a talent contest on the television programme Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe. She won the contest and received a trip to England as the prize. By 1963, Newton-John was appearing on the local daytime TV shows and weekly pop programs in Australia. It was on the Go Show. When she was 16 years old, Newton-John returned to England to live with her mother. Newton-John was homesick in England as she missed Australia and her then boyfriend, Ian Turpie. This changed when friend Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo and toured nightclubs in Europe. After Carroll's visa expired, and she had to return to Australia, Newton-John cut her first solo single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine," backed with "For Ever," for Decca Records in England in 1966. Newton-John's first album was titled Toomorrow. Newton-John's solo career started to take off with her first solo album titled Olivia Newton-John, which was released in the United Kingdom on Pye Records. Newton-John quickly became one of Britain's most popular singers. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. In 1968 she met The Shadows' guitarist Bruce Welch, to whom she became engaged until 1972. They made appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and she starred with Cliff in the telefilm The Case. Newton-John's first international hit was a song written by Bob Dylan called "If Not For You,". In 1974 the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know and the single "I Honestly Love You" were released in the United States, and "I Honestly Love You" became her first single to chart at no:1 across the Atlantic. In 1975, encouraged by expatriate Australian singer Helen Reddy, Newton-John left England and moved to the United States, where she became a popular singer in both country and popular music. The 1975 release of Have You Never Been Mellow yielded a #1 album and a #1 song (the title single), and helped to continue her U.S. success. She had three more #1 hits, including the song "Physical", which stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks. She has received four Grammys in her career. Newton-John's film breakthrough came when she was offered the female lead in Grease (1978), after a chance meeting with producer Allan Carr at a party at Helen Reddy's house in Los Angeles. John Travolta, already chosen as the male lead in the movie, wanted Newton-John to be his co-star in the film, and he let his wishes be known to Carr and director Randal Kleiser before either of them met Newton-John. Concerned that she was either too old or not confident enough to play the part, Newton-John insisted on a screen test with Travolta. She liked what she saw when she viewed the test and then happily signed on for the project, shot in the summer of 1977. The film was the biggest box office hit of 1978 and remained popular enough that it was re-released in theaters in the United States on its 20th anniversary. Two songs from the movie soundtrack, "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", went to #1 on US and international charts and stood at the #1 position for nine and seven weeks respectively on the UK charts. Newton-John's solo number "Hopelessly Devoted To You" was also a hit. The album was also a huge hit in Australia and Newton-John attended the premieres in both Sydney and Melbourne. She was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Grease. Newton-John was married to Matt Lattanzi from 1984 to 1995. They had one child during their marriage, a girl named Chloe Rose Lattanzi, born in 1986. Chloe will be launching her own pop career later in 2006 with her debut album Lonely Nights in Paradise. In 1979, Olivia Newton-John was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2002, she was inducted into the Australian Music Hall of Fame by the Australian Recording Industry Association. In 2006, she was named an Officer (AO) in the Order of Australia for "service to the entertainment industry as a singer and actor, and to the community through organisations supporting breast cancer treatment, education, training and research, and the environment".
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