British Lass Sings Country Hits
By Mary Campbell AP News features writer
Can a British girl with a hyphenated name cut a record as far away from Nashville as London and get a country hit in the United States?
Sure. Olivia Newton-John did it with If You Love Me, Let Me Know
and then she did it with Let Me Be There.
Both became pop hits, too, and sold a million copies. Now she's recorded I Love You, I Honestly Love You
and advance orders are so strong that it's on the best-selling charts before it's in most of the stores.
And Olivia Newton-John hasn't yet set foot in Nashville.
She won a Grammy Award in the best country female vocal performance
category this year with Let Me Be There
and says, It's probably the first time an English person won an award over Nashville people.
But she wants to go to Nashville and says, I don't think it makes any difference where you make a record. I did hear about one lady singer who wasn't too happy about me, but I don't think they'll eat me there. I want to go there: I'm not afraid. The problem is just finding time to go.
Miss Newton-John, that's her real name, moved from Wales to Australia with her family at age five. Her father was master of the college at Ormond College in Australia. She liked to sing and entertain people as a child and at 13 entered a contest for a Haley Mills look-alike. She remembers that she won it but can't remember how many girls entered Probably two.
She and three other girls started a singing group called the Sol Four, stopped that when it interfered with high school. She entered another contest, this time singing and won, the prize was a trip to London. There she became half a duo with another Australian girl, Pat Carroll, but Miss Carroll's visa expired and she returned to Australia. Since 1971, Miss Newton-John has been singing solo.
I've been singing since I was 15; that's 10 years. I enjoyed the group and the double act but I think I've enjoyed being on my own most. You have only yourself to blame.
I always listened to folk music. I don't think it was too much planned that I'd become a country singer. But my record producer was quite keen on that music and thought it suited me and nobody else around London was doing it, so I did it.
My first solo record in 1971 was
If Not for You
. I had other songs almost making it, but not quite. I recorded Country Roads
and Banks of the Ohio
. The country stations knew of me.
Then the two songs that did make it were written by John Rostill. Unfortunately he died recently. He was a friend.
My new record was written by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen. I write some. One,
Changes.
is on my new album. One is on an English album that isn't out here. Maybe it'll be on the next one.
In this country, Miss Newton-John has three albums out, Olivia Newton-John
on UNI, Let Me Be There
and If You Love Me. Let Me Know
on MCA.
They don't have exactly the same songs as her albums in England because the second album for the United States was a collection of all her country cuts. But things will get lined up so that future releases will be alike.
Miss Newton-John is in the United States, having performed at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas for two weeks with Charlie Rich. Next, she says, I'll go on the state fair tour all over the place. In Vegas I wore long dresses. I think I'll wear trousers for the state fairs because I might be walking across muddy fields to get on stage. Trousers are more comfortable.
The band who'll be with her for the state fair tour is from Minnesota. We heard them on the last tour and we were pleased with them. They're not well known or anything but they play everything; they can play country and they can play jazz.