Olivia Newton John has passed away

[VGThuy]

Her cover of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was utilized in the Studio Ghibli film Whispers of the Heart, and it was so popular that many Japanese covers were done.

I love how they used that song as a backdrop for the very urban and very busy Tokyo. What a juxtaposition. I think it worked well because Olivia Newton-John's voice was so soft and beautiful that it just lent itself to the movie.

 

[olympic]

I became aware of ONJ with the premiere of 'Grease' in 1978 when I was in 3rd grade. My neighborhood pal got to see Grease because she had cool parents. Mine found some of the curse words and suggestive dialogue objectionable. But, I did get to see it on that new TV service called HBO years later in 1980 at my cousin's house as an 11 yr. old

I used to roller skate at the local rink to 'Xanadu' around 1980/81. Years later, I would watch a DQ lip-synch to it at a club called 'Quick' in Tribeca, back in pre-Giuliani NYC when the city still had an element of danger and adventure to it. I think that was my first live DQ performance as a 20 yr old.

My parents were aghast at the overt homoeroticism of the MTV video for 'Physical' in 1981, ONJ certainly transformed herself from country songbird, movie star, and then a more overtly button-pushing MTV star long before Madonna. She will be sorely missed.

Oh, and I recently saw her 1982 HBO concert special on Youtube. It's worth watching. I remember seeing it on HBO when it premiered back in 1982.

RIP

 

[Seerek]

Olivia Newton-John and ABBA competed in the same edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974 (ABBA won, ONJ came 4th). Lovely to see that they remained friends still all these decades later.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1556948468865835013

Absolutely. That picture that accompanied the tweet came from Olivia's 1978 TV special, where there was an epic musical segment with ABBA, Olivia and Andy Gibb lasting 18 minutes

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

 

[Judy]

Her cover of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was utilized in the Studio Ghibli film Whispers of the Heart, and it was so popular that many Japanese covers were done.

I love how they used that song as a backdrop for the very urban and very busy Tokyo. What a juxtaposition. I think it worked well because Olivia Newton-John's voice was so soft and beautiful that it just lent itself to the movie.

Thanks for sharing that. She had such a gorgeous voice.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Charlotte Clymer posted this memory to Twitter:
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1557076674046476289

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Absolutely. That picture that accompanied the tweet came from Olivia's 1978 TV special, where there was an epic musical segment with ABBA, Olivia and Andy Gibb lasting 18 minutes

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

youtu.be

I posted a link to that same closing segment earlier. Calling it epic is entirely justified.

 

[orbitz]

I had no idea ONJ did a cover of "I Touch Myself": Variety's 25 Essential ONJ songs

 

[love skating]

RIP She will definitely be missed. Here's a link to Olivia singing live I Honestly Love You with Kristi Yamaguchi skating for Scott Hamilton's Back on the Ice special. Such a lovely performance by both!

Scott Hamilton, Back On Ice

www.onlyolivia.com

 

[puglover]

Such an outpouring of love, admiration, fond memories from so many. I hope she knew she was held in such great esteem.