Dogwood Festival Show
Olivia Newton-John, a rising international singing star, and comedian Don Rice III will perform here March 22 under sponsorship of the Dogwood Arts Festival.
(Cynthia) Mrs. Donald Paine and Neal Culver, Festival co-chairmen, said the pe-formance will be at 8 p. m. at the Civic Coliseum. Tickets will go on sale in early March.
Those wanting a preview of the singing style that has won Miss Newton-John a stack of British, Australian and American awards can see her on the Bob Hope Special from 9 to 10 Sunday night on Channel 6 (WATE) television.
“Most Popular” Twice
Since she made her first recording three years ago in England. Olivia Newton-John has sung in most of Britain’s major cities, France, Japan, Australia and the United States.
She twice was voted Britain’s most popular girl singer, and she became the first British singer to win a country music award in this country.
She’s won a “Grammy” for the best female country vocalist.
Her single, “Banks of the Ohio,” won her a Silver Disc for over a quarter-million sales in the United Kingdom and a double Gold Award in Australia. Her three singles, “Let Me Be There.” “If You Love Me, Let Me Know,” and “I Honestly Love You” were gold discs. She’s expected to sing “I Honestly Love You” on the Hope show.
Miss Newton-John’s Welsh-born father had an academic background and her German-born mother was the daughter of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. When she was 5, the family left Cambridge, where she was born, and went to Australia where her father was master at Ormond College.
She pointed her life toward a musical career when she was 14 and she and three school friends formed a sing-ing group called The Sol Four.