Singer of the Week, Billboard's Top Female Singer 1974
Every once in a while, a female singer comes along who is more successful than most all her competitors combined. Examples are Barbara Striesand. Aretha Franklin, Helen Reddy, Carole King, and Diana Ross. Now there’s Olivia Newton-John.
Olivia, who is relatively new to this business, has only been singing for 3 years. And in that time period, she has achieved more success than anyone could possibly imagine. She must be doing something right.
In those 3 years, she has been voted outstanding country and rock singer, along with being the top female singer in the album and singles poll. She is the only female singer to have 3 singles on the top 100 records of the year, and for this reason, she was chosen as Billboard’s (Hot 100) top female singer for the year of 1974.
Her top records include 3 top ten, “If not for you,” “Let me be there,” and “If you love me, let me know.” She has in her possession two number one records, “I honestly love you,” and her current smash single, “Have you never been mellow.” In four weeks her latest album hit number one, making her total records sold, 12 million, in the USA alone. Olivia doesn’t like to be classified as a country singer, although that’s where her earlier awards came from. She likes to be classified in her own category, which she calls people music.
Not many female singers make it in the music business, but when they do, as in Olivia’s case, they make it big. This seems to be Olivia’s year and it looks like there are many more of those to come. And besides all that, she’s pretty.