Popular, Wholesome and Downright Nice
Popular, Wholesome and Downright Nice
By Gloria Paternostro
Gold and platinum records are on the walls of her beautiful Malibu home, but they're not featured. Instead they are hung modestly in the hallway which says a little bit about the character of Olivia Newton-John. This British-born, Australian-raised singer, winner of three Grammys and just about every other award the music business has to offer, has taken her success in stride and has no pretensions. Nor does criticism bother her. Her sweet, ethereal voice, coupled with her fresh, lovely looks, have made her the darling of the public but some critics have labeled her as pleasant
with an undercurrent of
bland.
She shrugs it all off with a smile. knowing there isn't too much she can do about it. Although Olivia seems young (she's 29) and fragile, she is, in fact, a longtime professional who appeared regularly on Australian television from the age of 16. When she won a talent contest and a trip to London, her mother encouraged her to go and went with her. Her first single, Bob Dylan's If Not For You,
became an international success and started her on the road to stardom. Her big break came when she toured with British idol Cliff Richard and became a regular on his TV show.
Her grandfather was British physicist Max Born, 1954 Nobel prize winner, and her Welsh father was headmaster of Ormond College in Melbourne. Despite such an academic background, Olivia dropped out of school at 15 to pursue music. Today the independence remains. She and her producer John Farrar, were the only professionals who liked Have You Never Been Mel1ow?
and I Honestly love You.
Both became hits, the latter winning two Grammys and leading to the Top Female Vocalist of 1974 Award from the Country Music Association. There was some dissension in Nashville about the award going to someone not considered true country,
but Olivia crossed the charts even more successfully than John Denver and probably did country music a lot of good by attracting new fans.
On stage, she is a low-key performer who totally disarms her audience, winning standing ovations wherever she goes, even the prestigious New York Metropolitan Opera House did not intimidate her and despite critics' predictions that the blase New York crowd would be hard for her to conquer, conquer them she did, keeping her standing-ovation record intact. Behind her outward charm there is not only warmth but also a quick intelligence and a lively personality that quickly surface as she warms to a conversation, although, she says, I'm not very good on chat shows. I tend to clam up. Everybody goes on them trying to impress, but I can't talk about myself that way. So people think I'm shy, which I'm not, really, or a bit colorless, with this virginal, white image.
And then she is laughing because she stars with John Travolta in Grease finds the image somewhat ridiculous. She has never hidden the fact that she was romantically involved with her manager, Lee Kramer. Then Lee left the scene and her personal life was up for grabs. So it wasn't long before rumors linked her with Grease co-star John Travolta. (This is Olivia's first starring role in a film. It will be released early next year, I expected those rumors,
she says calmly. We did nothing to encourage them, but there was no point discouraging them. I mean, if you're hanging out together because you're working on the set 12 hours a day, it's bound to happen.
And, in fact, although Olivia speaks cautiously about it, Kramer now seems to be back in her life at least for the moment. He's managing my business affairs again, and we're sort of seeing each other,
she says with a smile.
She has been quoted both as wanting a family but being afraid of marriage. Which is really true? As I grow older,
she says, I'm beginning to think how nice it would be to have a proper home life and a family. After all, I have everything I want and now it would be good to share it. If you'd asked me a year ago if I wanted children. I'd probably have said no. but now...Still, there are a few things I want to do first. I know I'm much more fortunate than most people because I could afford to have someone look after the child so I wouldn't exactly be tied down but I really want to be mentally prepared for it. It's such a big change.
Right now, her family consists of five horses, four dogs and three cats. My animals make me happy,
she says, her face lighting up.
My dogs' faces, they meet me when I come home and they're so loving and sweet and gorgeous.
She likes animals so much that when performing at the Metropolitan earlier this year, she took time out to work on a week-long drive to place stray animals. And I love nature particularly oceans and sunsets and moonlit nights,
she continues. I like romantic settings. But I'm not as romantic about friendships. My close friends are generally those I've had for a long time, and their friendship was there before I was successful. They like me for me, not my success. Maybe that's just playing it safe, but I meet hundreds of people and have to find out every time which ones really are friends and which aren't. Basically though I'm the sort that likes everybody and then finds out later I was wrong.
Olivia is most easily drawn to people with sensitivity and a sense of humor. She quickly sees the funny side of almost any situation, and the laughter bubbles up in her, something one humorless writer misinterpreted as nerves.
Olivia is known to have a shrewd business sense and it shows in her reasons for declining all offers for a television series.
To keep up the same standard of good work every week for so many weeks... you can't possibly do it,
she says. You haven't got the time to devote to it. It's better to be seen now and again and have people pleased to see you rather than have them say, 'Oh, her again.'
I've accomplished most things I ever wanted to do and things I never dreamed I could, I never thought I'd make a film, now I have. I'd love to write one. That would be fun. Directing interests me a lot too. Whenever I look at things, I tend to think how they would look through a lens, I think it would be a fantastic challenge.
In the final analysis, how would she like to be remembered? I'd like to know I had made other people enjoy my music. (Her Greatest Hits album was recently released.) I'd like people to be able to say I was good at what I did. As a person, they can't all know me only a few people really know me. I just hope I give them pleasure, that's all. And I'd like people to say that they liked me. It's important to me to be liked.
Of all the things Olivia Newton-John has wanted to achieve, this would seem to be the easiest.