We Met Olivia Newton-John - Tele Moustique

Issue Number 2773

Feb 1979: with the public, a new generation of young big screen stars today arouses the same craze as James Dean or even Elvis Presley in their time.

Following the film Grease, whose success exceeded that of Saturday Night Live, the void seems indeed to be filled by the couple John Travolta, 24 years old, a follower of Scientology, and Olivia Newton-John, six years his senior, a singer.

Behind these two astonishingly successful films hides the genius of Robert Stigwood, a businessman who spends the majority of his time on air planes. Signing John Travolta for three films (the latest is called Moment by Moment, with the couple Travolta and Lily Tomlin) and bringing to the screen Grease, a musical comedy in the vein of West Side Story, which had already been a success on Broadway, are two examples of his undeniable flair.

While the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever earned him more than 100 million dollars, (Even if the dollar fell to 30 francs per unit, that's three billion). the record based on Grease, his second production, also won the support of the crowds: 11 million records sold in the United States and 6.5 million in Europe alone.

His latest production, which cost him a whopping 12 million dollars, is another musical: Sergeant Pepper, based on the record made more than ten years ago by the Beatles. Neither Travolta nor Newton-John play in this latest comedy, which has met with mixed success in the United States.

Olivia Newton-John, for her part, has been singing professionally for fifteen years with no less than eight albums, the latest of which was released under the title Totally Hot. At the moment, her song Hopelessly devoted to you, which she performs alone, as well as two other songs of hers which she sings in duet with Travolta: Summer Nights and You're the one that I want, seem to monopolize the top of the world charts alongside Grease and Sandy, the second record by Travolta himself.

In Belgium, we know Olivia from her appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, where she placed fourth with Long live love.

She is English, born in Cambridge, where her father was a teacher. (Her grandfather, Max Born, is famous for having received the Nobel Prize in Physics!) When Olivia was five, the family emigrated to Australia, and there, at the age of 17, she won a television competition that allowed her to travel to London, where she settled permanently as a singer. She recorded a few albums there and often appeared on television, in a duet with Cliff Richard.

After a small role in the Australian film Christmas down under, she got her first real role in a bad science fiction film: Toomorrow, She was 21 years old.

In 1973, she was named best country singer in the United States. She then decided to move to Los Angeles, after meeting Lee Kramer in Monaco, who would become her manager.

She always expects the worst, so since everything is going well at the moment, she's in seventh heaven, Kramer says of her.

During the Eurovision Song Contest, a 45 rpm single, I honestly love you, earned her the titles of best female singer and best record of the year in the United States.

Since then, she has regularly received gold and platinum records for the sales of her songs.

Today, she lives with Kramer in Malibu, California, where she bought a ranch. I ride horses and play tennis there. I have a lot of dogs: I love animals. When I was seventeen, I had to choose between a career as a veterinarian and that of a singer.

I receive a lot of offers for musicals and scripts of all kinds. I think I'm going to be in Riviera, another musical comedy set in the South of France. I participated in a show, which was turned into a record. The profits from the sales of this LP will go to UNICEF's children's aid fund. There's Rod Stewart, Elton John, the Bee Gees, and many more... After that, I plan to take a break to recover and reflect on what I've accomplished this year.

Interview with Tele Moustique

How do you manage to keep your balance in this fury of journalists, photographers and fans who constantly ask you out?

Olivia Newton-John. It's normal that my tour attracts media attention. I've never generated this much attention in Europe, but because of Grease, this changed of course! After the furore of a tour, I relax in Malibu, I live in the mountains, I ride horses, and I visit friends. People there are used to me and don't follow me everywhere.

What big changes have taken place in your music over the past five years?

ON-J: My music has certainly evolved; it's broader. It's a mix of country, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll.

If you had won the Eurovision Song Contest four years ago, would all this have happened?

ON-J: Yes, I believe in destiny.

What do you do with the enormous sums of money you earned from Grease?

ON-J: Oh, I think it's vulgar and embarrassing to talk about it!

Do you have any regrets about Grease?

ON-J: None. It was a completely new and very enthusiastic experience. I never dared to think the film would be such a success. The reaction was phenomenal, and I have only good memories of the shoot.

Would Belgian directors, for example, be able to afford to work with you now that you can charge a million per film?

ON-J: I'm not asking for that much. Money is certainly not a deciding factor in my choice.

Doesn't the song You're the One That I Want owe its success mainly to Travolta?

ON-J: I think he's half responsible for its success. This song was written on my instructions before the film; from that point of view, it's my success. But it doesn't bother me that people think it's by Travolta. It was John who gave me my big break in cinema when he chose me to play the role of Sandy Olssen, the Australian student in Grease. Yet my film career will never eclipse my singing career, I will continue to record records to this day.

What are the parts of your job that you don't like?

ON-J: I don't like flying. It's tiring and I'm very scared. One day we had a lot of trouble, it was a Friday the 13th and the plane had to crash-land. I'm not superstitious, but I won't fly on a Friday the 13th again.

Do you intend to start a family?

ON-J: I've known Lee Kramer for five years, maybe we'll get married. I'm not ready, because I've seen too many people, besides my parents and my sister, divorce around me.

Is aging a professional problem for you?

ON-J: Yes, for everyone, I think. I know I can't play this role of Sandy indefinitely, I want to be accepted for my acting skills.

The clothes you wore in Grease didn't suit you very well.

ON-J: I think so. I liked them. Everyone on the set was dressed that way, so I quickly got used to it. I had to be dressed that way and it also helped me feel like a girl from the fifties.

Have you chosen American nationality now?

ON-J: I don't have American citizenship yet. I have a British passport, I am domiciled in Australia and I am self-declared residents of America. I consider myself Australian, because I have the accent and I received all my education there. There you go, you know everything!

Interview by Dali De Clair.

Photocaption: Olivia Newton-John - Eleven million records of Grease sold in the United States and six and a half million in Europe.