Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, protagonist of the musical film “Grease”died this Monday after a long fight against cancer, whose last blow was diagnosed six years ago.
Born in Cambridge (United Kingdom) in 1948 and raised in Melbourne (Australia), the singer has died at her ranch in California, where she lived with her second husband John Easterling.
The family has expressed their condolences through a message on social networks highlighting her “30-year cancer journey”, which has made her an enthusiastic activist against the disease and for medical research. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumph and hope for more than 30 years, in which she has shared her experience with breast cancer,” said the husband, who asked that “instead of flowers” those interested send donations to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation, dedicated to research into plant medicine and cancer.
Newton John became world famous for starring in the 1978 musical film ‘Grease’ alongside John Travolta. Previously, her fame had been limited to the Commonwealth countries. For the United Kingdom she participated in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Long live love” (“Long live love”) and got fourth place (when Australia did not participate yet).
It was her role as the shy nerd Sandy who evolves into a bad girl for the love of Danny Zucko (John Travolta) in ‘Grease’ that catapulted her to fame. She was adapting a Broadway musical, from which Newton John performed songs like ‘You’re the One that I Want’, ‘Summer Nights’ or ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’.
He had previously had musical successes such as ‘If Not for You’, ‘Let Me Be There’ or ‘Have You Never Been Mellow’.
After ‘Grease’ he made films as a star, like ‘Xanadu’, which had no further run and was consecrated with songs like ‘Physical’, from 1981.
Throughout his musical career he sold more than one hundred million albums and is on the Billboard list of the best artists of all time.
Fight against cancer
Her health, however, took a heavy toll on her and kept her away from the stage for a long time, to which she returned whenever she could. In 1992 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it remitted after a partial mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. She was hospitalized again in 2013 for a tumor in her back and she had new metastases years later.
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In her personal life, Newton John was the mother of Chloe, born from a previous marriage with the dancer Matt Lattanzi, and occupied pages in the newspapers for the strange disappearance of her partner Patrick McDermott, who disappeared on the Californian coast in 2005 and was found alive in Mexico in 2016.
The singer remarried at the age of 59 with the billionaire John Easterling, 49, in Malibu (USA), with whom he has died.