![]() Ultimately, what ensured her a following was her spectacularly marketable niceness and even those who were not fans of her music found it difficult not to like her. In fact, her soprano voice, with its pleasing husky quiver, was not nearly so negligible as her detractors claimed. If white bread could sing it would sound like Olivia, one cruel critic observed. ![]() She continued to retain her strong mass appeal, and defied critical attempts to put her down for being bland. It was a universal flop – to the point of gaining a cult following for being one of the worst films of all time – but the soundtrack album was a major success and title track Xanadu (performed by Newton-John and ELO) was a No 1 in Britain. Her second film after Grease was Xanadu (1980), a rather ill-conceived musical fantasy in which she played a daughter of Zeus who wafts down to Earth to inspire a 1940s clarinetist (Gene Kelly) to set up a roller skating disco-niterie. Up until its success, however, she had not gained much recognition in Britain (where she had been born), but had topped the American music charts, with such songs as Let Me Be There and Come on Over, for several years. Grease brought Newton-John international fame, although she had been working as a singer since the late 1960s and was 30 when the film was released. But the film had a sunny retro charm, energy and humour and produced several enduring hits – You’re the One That I Want, Danny and Sandy’s high-energy finale, topped the singles’ charts on both sides of the Atlantic, as did Sandy’s solo number Hopelessly Devoted to You. That Danny is supposed to have met his match is not wholly convincing – the wholesome, doe-eyed Olivia failed ever to look as if she had really sprung from the wrong side of the tracks. Impressed by Danny’s hot-rodding prowess, Sandy kicks off her hooped skirtings and bobby-sox, and turns out at the vacation party as a vampy rocker, with frizzed-up hair and skintight Spandex trousers. Newton-John played the part of Sandy, a prim schoolgirl led gratefully astray by the Brylcreemed rebel, Danny (Travolta). An uplifting tale of high-school love set in late 1950s America, Grease was an instant box-office smash. OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, the actress and singer, who has died of cancer aged 73, was best known for her starring role opposite John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Grease (1978) she later revived her singing career and sold some 100 million records worldwide, becoming the most successful solo artist Australia has ever produced. She was best known for her 1978 role as Sandy in the film musical, when she starred opposite John Travolta, above. ![]() The singer, who moved to Australia as a child, died peacefully at her ranch in southern California surrounded by family and friends. ![]() Olivia Newton-John, the British-born star of Grease, died yesterday, aged 73, after a long battle with breast cancer. ![]()
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