In a statement posted on social media, Olivia Newton-John’s widower John Easterling said: “Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumph and hope for over 30 years, sharing her journey with breast cancer. “Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with herbal medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to herbal medicine and cancer research.” In 2017, Newton-John revealed that the breast cancer she first had in 1992 had returned and spread to her spine. She also revealed that she had a second cancer diagnosis in 2013, but had kept it quiet. She said she believed she would “win it” and called on her home country of Australia to adopt the laws of the US state where she then lived, California, to allow the medical use of marijuana. “My dream is that, in Australia soon, it will be available to all cancer patients and people suffering from cancer that causes pain,” he said, adding that while he had moments of despair, he had had “an incredible career” and “Nothing for complaint”. The cause of death has not yet been confirmed. Desperately Devoted… Olivia Newton-John as Sandy and John Travolta as Danny in the 1978 smash hit Grease. Photo: Ronald Grant Tributes to Newton-John began to appear shortly after her family’s statement. Travolta posted a heartfelt message on social media, writing: “My dear Olivia, you have made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you on the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!” “We have lost a great, iconic artist,” wrote George Takei. “Know that we are forever hopelessly devoted to you, Olivia. Rest in song and joy.” After her first cancer diagnosis, Newton-John became a prominent activist, establishing the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Research Center in Melbourne. Her prominence as an activist for research and better treatment will likely remain as central to her legacy as her showbiz career, which included four Grammy wins and the sale of more than 100 million records. But it was Grease, the lively 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical, for which she will be most fondly remembered. Offered the lead role of Sandy, the sweet summer hood of cool cat John Travolta, after meeting the producer at a dinner party, the then 29-year-old Newton-John had to be persuaded to take the part, worried that she was too old. i play a high school senior. The role was also changed to accommodate her Australian accent. Grease was the biggest box office hit of the year and the album’s soundtrack spent 12 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the US. Newton-John’s performance was nominated for a Golden Globe and she performed Hopelessly Devoted to You at the 1979 Academy Awards. The film remains a much-loved staple of the small screen and singalong circuit. Its soundtrack is one of the 10 biggest sellers of all time. Born in Cambridge, England in 1948, Newton-John and her family immigrated to Melbourne, Australia, when she was six years old. However, she remained proud of her roots: her father was an MI5 officer who worked on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park during the war. Her maternal grandfather was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born, who sought exile in the UK from Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II. Olivia Newton-John is greeted in Brighton for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Picture: PA At 14, Newton-John began her professional singing career, recording her first single in 1966 on a return trip to England, and her first solo album, If Not For You, in 1971. A brief career slump followed initial recognition for the album, before Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Her song, Long Live Love, finished equal fourth behind Abba’s winner Waterloo. This was followed by a period of singing and recording country music, before being covered in Grease. The transformation her character undergoes in the film – from tight-laced sweetheart to spandex-clad lass – inspired a similar shift in Newton-John’s music career, culminating in her 1981 album Physical. A second collaboration with Travolta in 1983’s Two of a Kind fell through, but the pair remained close friends over the following decades and most recently sang together in 2012. A series of musical comebacks have enjoyed varying degrees of success over the past four decades, which have also been spent battling illness, raising a daughter, Chloe, and campaigning for health, the environment and animal rights. “Cancer was enlightening,” he told the Observer in 2012. “When you’re sick, it doesn’t matter if you have all the money in the world – it doesn’t make any difference. I feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to live.”
