The Greatest Hits Collection 1971-1994 linear notes

The Liner Notes from Olivia Newton-John, The Greatest Hits Collection 1971-1994 CD

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN The Greatest Hits Collection 1971-1994

Olivia was born in Cambridge, England in 1948. She was the youngest child of Brin Newton-John, professor of German and his wife, Irene, daughter of Nobel Prize winning physicist Max Born (Her brother, Hugh, lives in Australia and her sister, Rona, in Malibu). In 1953, the Newton-John family moved to Melbourne, Australia, where Professor Newton-John was appointed Dean of Ormond College. In Melbourne, at the age of 15, Olivia formed an all-girl group with high school friends called the Sol Four. Later that year she won a talent, contest performing Everything's coming up roses, and a trip to London as a grand prize, which she took a year later. Also in 1953 Olivia became a regular on both a local daytime television show and a weekly pop music program in Australia.

Olivia went to London, England, in 1954. There she and Australian friend, Pat Carroll (who later married John Farrar) formed a duo. Together they toured Europe, playing night clubs and American armed sevices bases. In 1968 Olivia became a solo act when Pat's visa expired. During 1969-'70 Olivia was featured in a musical film as part of a group called Toomorrow. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman (of the James Bond films) and Don Krishner (of the Monkees fame).

1971-'72 John Farrar and Bruce Welch produced Olivia's first hit single, Bob Dylan's If not for you, establishing her as a major international recording star. Olivia toured with Cliff Richard and became a regular on his BBC television series It's Cliff Richard. The same year she was invited to perform at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

1973 The Academy of Country Music awarded her Most Promising Female Vocalist, and Olivia received her first Grammy Award as Best Country Vocalist for the title cut of her debut album Let me be there, which went gold.

1974 Named Top Female Vocalist Of The Year from the Country Music Association, Olivia also took home Grammys for I honestly love you, in the category of Record Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance Female. Olivia became the first artist to be embroiled in a music categorization controversy regarding her crossover status when If you love me, let me know hit both the pop charts (#5) and the country chart (#1). The song was taken from the #1 album of the same name. Other awards for the year included: Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock, Favorite Single/Country, Favorite Female Vocalist Country and Favorite Album Country (Let me be there) from the American Music Awards; and a People's Choice Award in the category of Favorite Female Musical Performer.

1975 Clearly love her fourth gold album in a row, followed the #1 album for that year Have you never been mellow. The latter LP was awarded Favorite Album Pop/Rock by the American Music Awards and included the title track Have you never been mellow and Please, Mr., please, both of which hit the pop and country chart's Top Five and struck gold. The American Music Awards also gave Olivia top honors with Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock and Favorite Female Vocalist Country.

1976 Olivia recorded her first and only album in Nashville, Don't stop believin', with producer John Farrar. The year also saw the release of the album Come on over, which featured the hit single Sam. Both records were certified gold. Awards included: Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock from the American Music Awards and a People's Choice Award as Favorite Female Musical Performer. Olivia hosted her own ABC TV special - her first in America.

1977 Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits' was released and sold double platinum. Earlier that year, the album Making a good thing better was released, produced by John Farrar.

strong>1978 The most successful movie musical and soundtrack in history, Grease, was released, starring Olivia and John Travolta in the lead roles. Three singles from the multi-platinum - 8 million plus - album hit the Top Five: Hopelessly devoted to you (#3 and gold); Summer nights (duo with John Travolta #5 and gold); and You're the one that I want with John Travolta (#1 and platinum), which was also one of the longest running #1 singles in the history of UK Charts. Grease the album was #1 on the charts for 12 weeks in the U.S.

1979 The People's Choice Award was presented to Olivia for Favorite Motion Picture Actress Olivia was honored at Buckingham Palace by Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and received the prestigious OBE (Order Of The British Empire). A little more love was released as the first single from Totally hot and went to #3, on the pop charts, with gold sales. Deeper than the night hit #11. Totally hot successfully crossed Olivia over from a country pop singer to a pop star.

1980 Xanadu was released as a feature film and soundtrack album. The film co-stars Gene Kelly and Michael Beck. The track Magic from the movie was released as a single and quickly moved into the #1 spot (for 4 weeks) on the charts, and gave Olivia another gold single. The soundtrack for Xanadu was both a double platinum and Top Four LP. In May, of that year, Olivia performed for the Royal Family at a command performance at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

1981 Physical the album, video and single gave Olivia a new image and a big hit. Physical, one of 13 Top 5 singles, was named the #1 single of 1982, where it stayed at the top spot for 10 weeks (Only Elvis Presley's Don't be cruel had ever been there longer, making Olivia's the third biggest record from 1955-1994). The Physical album sold double platinum and the single platinum. Olivia was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard's famous Walk of Fame.

1982 The video from Physical won a Grammy in the category of Long Form Video. The second single from the album, Make a move on me was released and made it to #5. Later that year Heart attack, a new recording for the Greatest Hits Volume II reached #3. Olivia won Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock and Favorite Female Pop Single's Artist from the American Music Awards and two Billboard awards for '#1 Single. Olivia's Greatest Hits, Vol. II was released and attained double platinum status.

1983 The film Two of a kind opened in the U.S. The comic and romantic full-length feature co-starred John Travolta. The single Twist of fate, produced by David Foster, was released and hit Top 5 on the pop charts. Olivia went on a worldwide concert tour to promote the album Physical

1984 Olivia married actor Matt Lattanzi, in Malibu. The soundtrack for Two of a kind was released and registered platinum sales worldwide.

1985 The album Soul kiss was released, containing the sultry hit title track was certified gold.

1986 Her daughter, Chloe Rose, was born in January. When Chloe was born, she totally changed my life and put everything into perspective. I knew then that I owed her a safe environment to be brought up in, with clear air, clean water and clean food.

1988 Her last album for MCA, The rumour, was released with the title track written and produced by Elton John. During the year she hosted her own HBO television special, HBO World Stage: Olivia Newton-John in Australia marking the 200th birthday of Australia.

1989 She signed to Geffen Records at the urging of A&R executive John Kalodner. Her first release for the label. Warm and tender, was an album of classic and original children's lullabies, inspired by her daughter Chloe. The album, packaged on recycled paper, included 10 tips on how everyone can help the environment and make a positive difference. The same year Olivia participated with many other recording artists in the making of Spirit of the forest a record to benefit the Brazilian rain forests. The album was debuted at the U.N. She also went to Brazil on a fact-finding mission as an investigative journalist for KTTV's The reporters.

1990 Olivia debuted in her first television movie for Disney Productions. The movie: A Mom For Christmas aired on NBC-TV. At the beginning of the year Olivia was named Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program. Timeless Tales From Hallmark, six classic fairy tales animated by Hanna/Barbara were hosted by Olivia for the home video market, with taped environmental messages for young viewers included on each video.

1991 Olivia spent most of the last six months of 1991 selecting songs for her new album. During the year she was very visible in her work with the United Nations, and other environmental and children's groups. She is member of NRDC, Mothers and Others For A Living Planet, and a founding board member of Earth Communications Office - a group which educates the media about the environment. She also wrote a children's environmental book. The early part of the year was spent in Europe promoting Grease (again!). Both the movie and soundtrack had a resurgence of popularity with the single You're the one that I want hitting the charts again.

1992-'94 Olivia Newton-John, one of the most popular and successful pop singers in history, surprised everyone when she took time off to raise her daughter. She also got involved in environmental issues, leading to her appointment as Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program. The greatest hits collection 1971-'94 covers the last 23 years of her career since she started recording. This album contains a selection of the most popular records plus three new exciting songs. The three new songs include: Not gonna be the one (produced by John Farrar, who helmed and wrote many of her hits), a dance track I need love (produced by Giorgio Flashdance Morodor and co-written by Steve Kipner who penned two other smash hits Physical and Twist of fate), and a love song Deeper than a river (written and co-produced by Diane Warren, who's had hits with Cher, Heart and Chicago among others).

Many of the songs on this collection have been deleted and are only available now for the first time on CD.

Ed - no author is credited for this biography and it is written from an American perspective despite being an European release. Minor corrections have been made to the original text for accuracy.