Born on this Day in 1948.
Olivia Newton-John was born in England, and grew up in Australia. She is the granddaughter of Nobel prize-winning atomic physicist Max Born. Her mother’s family left Germany before WWII to avoid the Nazi regime.
When she was fourteen she became a regular on local Australian radio shows. She won on a talent show called Sing, Sing, Sing where the prize was a trip to England. She recorded her first single “Till You Say You’ll Be Mine” for Decca Records in 1966.
Her music had minimal success in the United States until 1973 when she released “Let Me Be There” which reached the Top 10 in the American Pop, country and AC charts and earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female and an Academy of Country Music award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.
Her next single “I Honestly Love You” became her signature song and earned two more Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance-Female.
Newton-John’s career took off after starting in the film adaptation of Grease which became the biggest box office hit of 1978.
What most biographies won’t tell you is that in the 70s, Oliva had a huge crush on me. Karen Carpenter was not amused.