The British-Australian singer and actress, Olivia Newton-John, was born in 1948 in Cambridge, England; her father, Max Born, was a physicist and won the Nobel Prize for his research in quantum mechanics.
With her family, Olivia moved to Australia when she was five, but life brought her back to England ten years later after winning a trip for participating in a TV talent contest on the Australian program Sing, Sing, Sing.
In the ’60s, Olivia performed in clubs and on TV in England, and at the same time she recorded many hits including “I Honestly Love You” and “Let’s Get Physical.”
In 1978, Olivia played Sandy in Grease, with John Travolta. The movie soundtrack You’re the One That I Want was a best seller at that time.
Olivia’s album Totally Hot had more of a rock style in it. And in 1982, she won the Grammy Award for Best Video for Olivia Physical
By the end of the ’80s Olivia wanted to spend more time focusing on her personal life. She married American actor Matt Lattanzi and became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme.
Her 1989 album Warm and Tender reflected parts of her life and was mainly dedicated to her daughter.
In the 90s, she appeared in several TV Christmas movies. Then, in 1992, Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer, and two years after, in her album Gaia: One Woman’s Journey, Olivia talked about the environment and her battle with cancer
Olivia eventually went into remission but relapsed in 2017; during that time, she continued to record albums like A Celebration in Song, Stronger than Before, and Grace and Gratitude, and she also performed regularly in Las Vegas.
Inspired by her battle with cancer, Olivia helped to create the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre at Austin Hospital in 2012. Then in 2020 she founded the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund charity to sponsor research into plant-based treatments for cancer.
“I don’t think of myself as sick with cancer. I choose not to see it as a fight either because I don’t like war. I don’t like fighting wherever it is, whether it’s outside or an actual war inside my body. I choose not to see it that way. I want to get my body healthy and back in balance. Part of that is your mental attitude to it. If you think: ‘Poor me,’ or ‘I’m sick,’ then you’re going to be sick,” she once said.
After a long journey with breast cancer, Olivia passed away at her home on August 8, 2022.
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