Lift-off - column on up and coming artists
The attractive singer who is the subject of my column this week is Olivia Newton-John.
Last year was a great one for Olivia with her two big hits - If Not For You and Banks Of The Ohio. She also made a beautiful recording of Love Song - the number that everyone thinks will be a hit sometime.
As a result of Olivia’s records and numerous television appear-ances, she has become firmly established as a star.
Originally, Olivia was the girl singer with the group Toomorrow-who were to be the new sensation of the seventies after the Monkees. In fact, the group was started by Donnie Kirshner who was also responsible for creating the Monkees. He immediately set to work making a full-length feature film involving Toomorrow.
It took two years to make and was directed by none other than Harry Saltzman, who made all the James Bond movies. But the film had only a moderate reception and so the idea was finally abandoned!
Fortunately, for Olivia, she met Bruce Welch and John Farrar from the group Marvin Welch and Farrar. They produced two fabulous hit records for her and her new disc, to be cut soon, will, I am sure, be equally successful.