Gate Theatre
General information
Type	Theatre
Location	Dublin, Ireland
Completed	1928
Opening	1950s

The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists. The theatre later moved to 1 Cavendish Row (part of the Rotunda Hospital complex) where leading Irish architect Michael Scott undertook the revisions necessary to the room to convert it into a theatre. The theatre's current artistic director is Michael Colgan.

Edwards/McLiammoir Productions presented European plays in sharp contrast to the country kitchen fare available at the Abbey Theatre bringing the Irish Premieres of Ibsen and other such dramatists to the Irish public.

Orson Welles, James Mason and Michael Gambon started their acting careers at The Gate. In December 1983 the directorship of the Gate was handed to Michael Colgan. In 1991 the Gate became the first theatre in history to launch a full retrospective of the nineteen stage plays of Samuel Beckett. This festival was repeated at the Barbican Centre in London and New York's Lincoln Center.

The Gate also featured three separate festivals of the works of Harold Pinter, the first theatre in Europe to do such retrospectives.

In 2007, the first major musical to be produced by the Gate was Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, with David Shannon playing the title role.^[1] According to The Sunday Times review, "The black backdrop of David Farley's rough hewn set and the stark minimalism of Rick Fisher's lighting suggest a self-conscious edginess, with Shannon's stylised make-up, long leather coat and brooding countenance only adding to the feeling...[director Selina] Cartmell and Cathal Synnott, the musical director, use the comparatively intimate scale of the Gate well. The seven musicians lack firepower for huge orchestral crescendos, but tease out the score's claustrophobic elements...The Gate's interpretation of Sondheim's masterpiece is exciting and thoughtful, tragic and witty, entertaining yet provoking: a family musical, but not as we know it."^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gate Theatre Web site

Coordinates: 53°21′10″N 6°15′43″W / 53.35278°N 6.26194°W / 53.35278; -6.26194

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Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the murderer of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls (1846–1847) and he was later introduced as an antihero of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptations. Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person^[1][2] are strongly disputed by scholars,^[3][4][5] although there are possible legendary prototypes.^[6]

In the original version of the tale, Todd is a barber who dispatches his victims by pulling a lever while they are in his barber chair, which makes them fall backward down a revolving trapdoor into the basement of his shop, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. Just in case they are alive, he goes to the basement and "polishes them off" (slitting their throats with his straight razor). In some adaptations, the murdering process is reversed, with Todd slitting the throats of his customers before they are dispatched into the basement via the revolving trapdoor. After Todd has robbed his dead victims of their goods, Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime (in some later versions, his friend and/or lover), assists him in disposing of the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop. Todd's barber shop is situated at 186 Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church, and is connected to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in nearby Bell Yard by means of an underground passage. In most versions of the story, he and Mrs. Lovett hire an unwitting orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, to serve the pies to customers.

The tale surrounding the character became a staple of Victorian melodrama. Later it was the subject of a 1959 ballet by English composer Sir Malcolm Arnold and, in 1979, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim. Sweeney Todd has also been featured in several films, the most recent being 2007's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, based on the 1979 musical.

Literary history[link]

Sweeney Todd first appeared in a story entitled The String of Pearls: A Romance. This penny dreadful was published in 18 weekly parts, in Edward Lloyd's The People's Periods and Family Library, issues 7-24, 21 November 1846 to 20 March 1847. It was probably written by James Malcolm Rymer, though Thomas Peckett Prest has also been credited with it; it is likely that each worked on the serial from part to part. Other attributions include Edward P. Hingston, George Macfarren and Albert Richard Smith.^[6][7] In February/March 1847, before the serial was even completed, The String of Pearls was adapted as a melodrama by George Dibden Pitt for the Britannia Theatre in Hoxton. It was in this alternative version of the tale, rather than the original, that Todd acquired his catchphrase: "I'll polish him off".^[6] Neil Gaiman, in a promotional "penny dreadful", identified a number of earlier texts that feed into the Todd story, some dating back to at least the late 17th century.^{[citation needed]}

Another, lengthier, penny part serial was published by Lloyd from 1847/8, with 92 episodes and published in book form in 1850 as The String of Pearls with the subtitle "The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance". This expanded version of the story was 732 pages long.^[6] A plagiarised version of this appeared in America c. 1852–53 as Sweeney Todd: or the Ruffian Barber. A Tale of Terror of the Seas and the Mysteries of the City by "Captain Merry" (a pseudonym for American author Harry Hazel (1814–89)).^[6]

In 1875, Frederick Hazleton's c. 1865 dramatic adaptation Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls (see below) was published as Vol 102 of Lacy's Acting Edition of Plays.^[6]

A scholarly, annotated edition of the original 1846–47 serial was published in volume form in 2007 by the Oxford University Press under the title of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, edited by Robert Mack.

Alleged historical basis[link]

The original story of Sweeney Todd was quite possibly based on an older urban legend, originally based on dubious pie-fillings.^[6] In Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers (1836/7), the servant Sam Weller says that a pieman used cats 'for beefsteak, veal and kidney, 'cording to the demand', and recommends that people should buy pies only 'when you know the lady as made it, and is quite sure it ain't kitten.'^[8] Dickens then developed this in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) published two years before the appearance of Sweeney Todd in The String of Pearls (1846-7), a character called Tom Pinch is grateful that his own "evil genius did not lead him into the dens of any of those preparers of cannibalic pastry, who are represented in many country legends as doing a lively retail business in the metropolis".^[9] A similar story, which first appeared in an 1824 publication called The Tell Tale, reported how a barber and wig-maker of the Rue de la Harpe in Paris cut his customers' throats, relieved them of their valuables and then had their bodies made into meat pies, utilising the services of a pastry cook, whose establishment was on the same street.^[6][7]

Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real person were first made in the introduction to the 1850 (expanded) edition of The String of Pearls and have persisted to the present day.^[6] In two books,^[1][2] Peter Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800. Nevertheless, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims.^[3][4][5] A check of the website Old Bailey at^[10] for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong on 10 July 1782 on the isle of Gorée, West Africa, and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802.^{[original research?][10]}

A late (1890s) reference to the urban legend of the murdering barber can be found in the poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson - The Man from Ironbark.

On stage, screen and audio[link]

• The String of Pearls (1847) a melodrama by George Dibden Pitt. It opened at Hoxton's Britannia Theatre, and billed as "founded on fact". It was something of a success, and the story spread by word of mouth and took on the quality of an urban legend. Various versions of the tale were staples of the British theatre for the rest of the century.
• Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls (c. 1865), a dramatic adaption written by Frederick Hazleton which premiered at the Old Bower Saloon, Stangate Street, Lambeth.^[6]
• "Sweeney Todd, The Barber", a song which assumes its audience knows the stage version and claims that such a character existed in real life. Stanley Holloway, who recorded it in 1956, attributed it to R. P. Weston, a songwriter active from 1906 to 1934.
• Sweeney Todd (1926), the first film version of the story, starring G.A. Baughan in the title role. The film is now lost.
• Sweeney Todd (1928) a silent film starring Moore Marriott as Sweeney Todd and Iris Darbyshire as Mrs. Lovett. This is the first surviving film adaptation.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), a film version of the Victorian melodrama starring Tod Slaughter as Sweeney Todd and Stella Rho as Mrs. "Lovatt".
• "The Strange Case of the Demon Barber" (8 January 1946), an adaptation of the Sweeney Todd story featured in an episode of the radio drama The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In this interpretation, an actor playing the character on stage begins to believe he is committing similar murders while sleepwalking, while Holmes and Watson uncover something different that may prove his sanity.
• In 1947, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CBC Stage Series broadcast a radio adaptation of the Pitt play starring Mavor Moore as Todd, Jane Mallett as Mrs. Lovett, John Drainie as Tobias, Lloyd Bochner as Mark Ingesterie and Arden Kaye as Johanna Oakley. The production was adapted by Ronald Hamilton and directed by Andrew Allan, with original music composed by Lucio Agostini.
• Sweeney Todd (1959), a ballet version performed by the Royal Ballet with music by Malcolm Arnold. The choreography was directed by John Cranko.
• Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970), a horror film with John Miranda as Sweeney Todd and Jane Helay as Maggie Lovett, directed by Andy Milligan.
• "Sweeney Todd" (1970), an episode of the ITV series Mystery and Imagination starring Freddie Jones as Sweeney Todd and Heather Canning as Nellie Lovett. In this adaptation, written by Vincent Tilsey and directed by Reginald Collin, the title character is portrayed as insane rather than evil. Lewis Fiander played Mark Ingesterie with Mel Martin as the heroine Charlotte and Len Jones as Tobias.
• Sweeney Todd (1973), an hour-long TV production by the CBC Television series The Purple Playhouse with Barry Morse as Todd. This was again Pitt's version of the play.
• Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1973), a play by the British playwright Christopher Bond. This version of the story was the first to give Todd a more sympathetic motive: he is a wrongfully imprisoned barber who returns to London after 15 years in an Australian penal colony under the new name Sweeney Todd, only to find that the judge responsible for his imprisonment has raped his young wife and driven her to suicide, and adopted his daughter. He at first plans to kill the judge, but when his prey escapes, he swears revenge on the whole world and begins to slash the throats of his customers. The character's new, tragic backstory was Bond's way of grafting dramatic themes from The Revenger's Tragedy onto Pitt's stage plot.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. A Musical Thriller (1979), the acclaimed musical adaptation of Bond's play by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler starring Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd (here christened Benjamin Barker) and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett. George Hearn and Dorothy Loudon later succeeded Cariou and Lansbury in the lead roles. In 1982, the musical was televised on The Entertainment Channel, starring Hearn and Lansbury, and directed by Terry Hughes and Harold Prince. It was produced by RKO Pictures and RKO/Nederlander Productions.
• The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998), a television movie directed by John Schlesinger, commissioned by British Sky Broadcasting for which Ben Kingsley received a Screen Actors Guild Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of the title role. Joanna Lumley portrayed Mrs. Lovett.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert (2001), a filmed concert version of Sondheim's musical, stars George Hearn as Sweeney Todd/Benjamin Barker, Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett, Timothy Nolen as Judge Turpin and Neil Patrick Harris as Tobias.
• In Jersey Girl (2004) Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck) and his on screen daughter sing "God, That's Good!!" from the Sondheim version for her school play, accompanied by Liv Tyler.
• The second episode of the BBC Radio comedy series 1835, entitled "Haircut, Sir?", written by Jim Poyser and broadcast in June 2004 had aimless aristocrat Viscount Belport (Paul Rider) and his servant Ned (Jason Done) joining the police force under Sir Robert Peel and encountering demon barber Sweeney Todd (Jonathan Keeble) on their first case.
• A Broadway revival of the Sondheim musical, directed by John Doyle, was mounted at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in 2005. The ten-person cast, who played their own instruments in new orchestrations, consisted of John Arbo (Jonas Fogg; bass player), Donna Lynne Champlin (Pirelli; piano, accordion, flute), Alexander Gemignani (The Beadle; piano, trumpet), Mark Jacoby (Judge Turpin; trumpet, percussion), Diana DiMarzio (Beggar Woman/Lucy Barker; clarinet), Benjamin Magnuson (Anthony Hope; cello, piano), Lauren Molina (Johanna Barker; cello), Manoel Felciano (Tobias; violin, clarinet, piano), Patti LuPone (Mrs. Lovett; tuba, percussion), and Michael Cerveris (Sweeney Todd; guitar). Cerveris, LuPone, and Felciano were all nominated for Tony Awards; the show itself was nominated for Best Revival, and won Tonys for Best Direction and Best Orchestration.
• Sweeney Todd (2006), a BBC television drama version with a screenplay written by Joshua St Johnston and starring Ray Winstone in the title role and Essie Davis as Mrs Lovett.
• Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls: an Audio Melodrama in Three Despicable Acts (2007), an audio play by Yuri Rasovsky, won three 2008 Audie Awards for best audio drama, best original work and for achievement in production.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) a film directed by Tim Burton, adapted from Sondheim's musical. It stars Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and Ed Sanders as Toby. The cast also includes Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli and Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford, Turpin's henchman. The film received two Golden Globe Awards - one for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (Johnny Depp), and one for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards, winning for Art Direction.
• "Demon Sweeney Todd", a song written by the NWOBHM band, Saxon in their album Into The Labyrinth released in 2009
• Sweeney Todd Musical, a 2009 musical rendition by the Repertory Philippines group, starring Audie Gemora in the title role, and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Mrs. Lovett. Gerard Salonga of Filharmonika conducted the orchestra. It was directed by Baby Barredo and Michael Williams.
• Oh My Meat Pie, an episode in the 12th season of Good Eats, an educational cooking show on The Food Network starring Alton Brown. Brown plays his great-grandfather who stumbles upon a pie shop in London run by Mrs. Lovett; they are frequently visited by her neighbor, Mr. Todd, a barber. At one point, Lovett provides Brown with a large tub of ground meat for his recipe of shepherd's pie and is evasive about what type of meat it is.
• "Andy's Play", the third episode in the 7th season of The Office, centers around Andy Bernard's role in a local musical production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
• "Major League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", the seventh episode in the 5th season of Robot Chicken, SpongeBob discovers that Mr. Krabs is killing other sea creatures and baking them into pastries. SpongeBob plays the role of Mark Ingestrie, while Mr. Krabs plays the role of Sweeney Todd.
• Inspired by Sweeney Todd's slaughter and sale of human flesh, the Danish motion picture "The Green Butchers", starring Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, also features cannibalistic slaughter and sale of meat leading to a booming business mainly based on the human meat, in this instance sold as marinated chicken.
• "Waiting to Exhale", the second episode of the 2nd season of the television series Dexter. When Dexter Morgan asks his colleague Vince Masuka where the best place to hide a corpse is, he ends his extensive answer with "Hell, even meat pies".

Comics[link]

The character of Sweeney Todd is presented as a villain in Marc Andreyko's Manhunter series, where he appears as a ghost which possesses men (causing them to resemble him) and murders women. A supporting character, Obsidian, is shown to be a fan of Sondheim's musical.

Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli were to have created a Sweeney Todd adaptation for Taboo, published by Steve Bissette and Tundra, but only completed a prologue.

Classical Comics, a UK publisher creating graphic novel adaptations of classical literature, has produced a full colour paperback Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweeney Todd (176 pages, November 2010, Original Text, ISBN 978-1-906332-79-2, Quick Text, ISBN 978-1-906332-80-8, forthcoming) with script adaptation by Sean M. Wilson, linework by Declan Shalvey; colouring by Jason Cardy & Kat Nicholson and lettering by Jim Campbell.

Rhyming slang[link]

In rhyming slang, Sweeney Todd is the Flying Squad (a branch of the UK's Metropolitan Police), hence the television series The Sweeney.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street edited by Robert Mack (2007). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-922933-3
• Robert Mack (2008) The Wonderful and Surprising History of Sweeney Todd: The Life and Times of an Urban Legend. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-9791-8
• Rothman, Irving N. "Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (1979). In The Barber in Modern Jewish Culture (2008). 365-76. ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-5072-1

External links[link]

• The String of Pearls etext of the 1846/47 penny dreadful that first featured Sweeney Todd
• BBC Radio 4 Extra - 1835: 2. Haircut, Sir?

This article is an autobiography, or has been extensively edited by the subject or an institution related to the subject. Please help edit it to conform to Wikipedia's neutral point of view, in line with the discussion on the talk page. (January 2012)

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David Shannon (born October 5, 1960, Washington, D.C.) is an American author and illustrator of children's books.Shannon grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design and now lives in Los Angeles. In 1998 he won the Caldecott Honor for his No, David!. He has also written A Bad Case of Stripes, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball, and The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza. Shannon illustrated Audrey Wood's The Bunyans, various books by Jane Yolen including The Ballad of the Pirate Queens and Encounter, as well as Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate^[1] and Pirates Don't Change Diapers.

Style[link]

Through his vibrant illustrations, Shannon creates imaginative, lively portrayals of his characters, making the books inviting to children. An entry for the Eight Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators states, "Shannon tells his stories with vibrant, imaginative pictures. Working with acrylic paints, he creates characters and settings that both illustrate and expand the story being told. His artwork is richly colored, and the results can be funny, mischievous, ironic, sensational, spooky, serious, even epic."^[2] Besides his many readers' praises, Shannon's work has also been recognized by various organizations, among them being the American Library Association and the School Library Journal. As Dwight Garner said, "David Shannon is among this country's most respected children's book illustrators; in a field that has nearly as many award ceremonies each year as the television industry does, Shannon has taken home most of their prizes…"^[3]

Background[link]

David Shannon was born in Washington D.C., but he spent his childhood in Spokane, Washington.^[2] Shannon knew that he enjoyed art and reading from the time that he was a small child, but he took a particular liking to movies and especially the villains in these movies. When Shannon spoke to Sonia Bolle in an interview, he said, "I loved Oliver Twist, but I liked the Artful Dodger more than Oliver. And I always thought the villains in Disney Movies were really cool."^[4] Shannon describes himself as a happy person and not a troublemaker, but he says that this fondness for villains made him realize as a child that "you need both sides for a good story."^[4] This was when Shannon first began coming up with stories in his head and transcribing them.

Education and career[link]

As Shannon grew older, he began to realize what his career aspirations were. As a student in high school, he decided early on that he wanted to have a career in an art field, but he didn't know what kind of artist the he wanted to be.^[4] Shannon was not a painter then, but he knew that he enjoyed making his own illustrations to books that he was reading in high school, which prompted him to consider being a comic book artist.^[4] Shannon says, however, that it "never occurred to me that I could illustrate books," so he attended art school at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and decided to focus on learning about political illustrations.^[2] In 1983, Shannon moved to New York City and began working for various magazines and newspapers, and two of his major jobs were for the New York Times and the Book Review.^[4] These jobs opened Shannon up to the world, and because of New York Times' national distribution, Shannon's work was seen by thousands of people. His first book was illustrating How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? (1989) by Julius Lester.^[5] After this book he was introduced to a variety of illustrating positions, which started his career in children's book illustrations.

Children's books by Shannon[link]

After Shannon had been illustrating books for a while, he was encouraged to write his own book. For his first book, Shannon decided to write a book about baseball, because it was a topic that he already knew well.^[4] This book was entitled, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball (1994), where Shannon was able to incorporate his dark painting style, which came from his love of villains, with a story about baseball.^[4] This book got Shannon interested in writing, and he has continued writing books ever since, and has decided to focus primarily on children's books.

Shannon's biggest success came with the book No, David! (1998). After Shannon had been writing children's books for several years, his mother found a book that he made when he was five years old and sent it to him.^[5] This book consisted entirely of the words "no" and "David" because Shannon said that these "…were the only words I knew how to spell at that time."^[2] BShannon decided to make an actual book out of this where he retold the story of a mischievous child named David, based on himself, whose mother is always telling him 'no' because he is constantly jumping on the bed, banging pots and pans, and playing baseball where he is not supposed to.^[4] But she reassures him at the end when she finally says, "Yes, David, I love you." In addition, Shannon wanted to keep this book realistic, so he decided to keep the illustrations as close to the original ones as possible.^[5] As a result, Shannon said, "So that's how I found out what, deep down, I knew all along. I love storytelling. And I'm really lucky that I get to do it for a living."^[2] According to a review of this book, "Readers won't be able to resist taking a walk on the wild side with this little rascal, and may only secretly acknowledge how much of him they recognize in themselves."^[6] No, David! (1998) was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1999. Shannon followed No, David! (1998) up with David Goes to School (1999) and David Gets in Trouble (2002). In David Goes to School (1999), Shannon introduces David to the reader in a school setting. The book goes through all of the normal things that occur at school, continuing with the same "no" phrase, but instead of David's mother saying "no" all of the time, it is the teacher who is saying "no".^[7] In Shannon's latest book in the series, David Gets in Trouble (2002), David is back and up to his old tricks, but this time he has expanded his vocabulary and tries to give his mother every excuse you can think of for all of his bad actions.^[8] For instance, David gives such excuses as "I forgot," "it was an accident," and "it wasn't me".^[8] In addition to the previous books, this book was also reviewed and recommended by Adele Greenlee, who said that, "Children who enjoyed No, David! (1998) and David Goes to School (1999) will welcome this lighthearted sequel."^[8] Another popular book by David Shannon is The Rain Came Down (2000), when a summer shower that is unexpected causes great chaos in a small neighborhood. This huge shower causes a line of temper tantrums, but when the clouds suddenly break, all of the sour moods go away.^[9] In a review on this book, the author says, "Shannon expertly uses vertiginous angles as he builds suspense, then calms things down with a set of subdued portraits and a view of a quiet afternoon picnic."^[9]

Awards[link]

Among the awards Shannon has received are the following: How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball (1994) was on the New York Times list as one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 1994; No, David! (1998) was named as a Caldecott Honor Book, an ALA Notable Children's Book, a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon title, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and was on the New York Times Best Illustrated Book list; The Rain Came Down (2000) was awarded the Golden Kite Award; and How I Became a Pirate (2003) received the Booksense Best Picture Book.^[5]

Life Today[link]

Shannon currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.^[5] After being a part of the book world for so long, Shannon has begun to take on a variety of projects. One project that he is working on is the screenplay for Georgie Radbourn, that DreamWorks pictures is making for a live-action film.^[2] In addition, Shannon's theatrical agent is working on having David made into a television series. Shannon has also expressed that he may want to collaborate with his wife one day, who is an actress and voiceover (for Rugrats).^[2]

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• His page at Scholastic Books

Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John, performing at the Sydney State Theatre in September 2008
Background information
Born	(1948-09-26) 26 September 1948 (age 63) Cambridge, England, UK
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Pop, country, soft rock
Occupations	Singer, actress, songwriter, entrepreneur
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar, recorder
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Uni, MCA, EMI, Pye, Festival
Associated acts	Cliff Richard, John Travolta, Electric Light Orchestra, John Farrar, Helen Reddy, Bruce Welch
Website	olivianewton-john.com

Olivia Newton-John, AO, OBE (born 26 September 1948) is an English-Australian singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles^[1] and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. Her music has been successful in multiple formats including pop, country and adult contemporary and has sold an estimated over 100 million albums worldwide.^[2] She co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease, which featured one of the most successful film soundtracks in Hollywood history.

Newton-John has been a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues. Since surviving breast cancer in 1992,^[3] she has been an advocate for health awareness becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts. Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gaia Retreat & Spa in Australia.

Newton-John has been married twice. She currently lives with her second husband, John Easterling, in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida. She is the mother of one daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, with her first husband, actor Matt Lattanzi.

Life and career[link]

Early life and beginnings[link]

Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, to a Welsh father, Brinley ("Bryn") Newton-John, and a German-born mother, Irene Born, the eldest child of the Nobel prize-winning atomic physicist Max Born.^[4] Her mother's family had left Germany before World War II to avoid the Nazi regime (Newton-John's maternal grandfather was Jewish, and her maternal grandmother was of paternal Jewish ancestry). She is a distant relative to Ben Elton.^[4] Her maternal great-grandfather was jurist Victor Ehrenberg and her matrilineal great-grandmother's father was German jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John is the youngest of three children, following brother Hugh, a doctor, and sister Rona, an actress who was married to Grease co-star Jeff Conaway from 1980 until their divorce in 1985. Newton-John's father was an MI.5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II.^[5] In 1954, when she was six, Newton-John's family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where her father worked as a professor of German and as Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.^[6]

At fourteen Newton-John formed a short-lived all-girl group, Sol Four, with three classmates often performing in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law.^[7] She became a regular on local Australian radio and television shows including HSV-7's The Happy Show where she performed as "Lovely Livvy". She also appeared on the Go Show where she met future duet partner, Pat Carroll, and future music producer John Farrar (Carroll and Farrar would later marry). She entered and won a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe, performing the songs "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses". Newton-John was initially reluctant to use the prize she had won, a trip to England, but travelled there nearly a year later after her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.^[1]

Newton-John recorded her first single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine" b/w "Forever", in England for Decca Records in 1966.^[1] Newton-John was homesick in England for her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she had co-starred in the Australian telefilm, Funny Things Happen Down Under. Newton-John would repeatedly book trips back to Australia that her mother would subsequently cancel.^[7] Newton-John's outlook changed when Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo called "Pat and Olivia" and toured nightclubs in Europe. (In one incident, they were booked at Paul Raymond's Revue in Soho, London. Dressed primly in frilly, high-collared dresses, they were unaware that this was a strip club until they began to perform onstage.)^[8] After Carroll's visa expired forcing her to return to Australia, Newton-John remained in England to pursue solo work until 1975. She became engaged to the Shadows' guitarist Bruce Welch, but they never married.^[9]

Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow^[10] formed by American producer Don Kirshner who was also the music consultant for the earliest recordings of the Monkees. In 1970, the group starred in a "science fiction musical" film and recorded an accompanying soundtrack album both named after the group. The project bombed and the group disbanded.

Early success[link]

Newton-John released her first solo album, If Not For You (No. 158 Pop), in 1971. The title track, written by Bob Dylan and previously recorded by Beatle George Harrison for his 1970 album, All Things Must Pass, was her first international hit (No. 25 Pop, No. 1 Adult Contemporary ("AC")).^[11] Her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio", was a Top 10 hit in England and Australia. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. She made frequent appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show, It's Cliff Richard,^[12] and starred with him in the telefilm, The Case.

In 1974, Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Long Live Love". The song was chosen for Newton-John by the British public out of six possible entries. (Newton-John later admitted that she disliked the song.)^[13] Newton-John placed fourth at the contest held in Brighton behind ABBA's winning "Waterloo". All six Eurovision contest song candidates were recorded by Newton-John and included on her Long Live Love album, her first for the EMI Records label.

In the United States, Newton-John's career floundered after If Not For You. Subsequent singles including "Banks of the Ohio" (No. 94 Pop, No. 34 AC) and remakes of George Harrison's "What Is Life" (No. 34 AC) and John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (No. 119 Pop) made minimal chart impact until the release of "Let Me Be There" in 1973. The song reached the American Top 10 on the Pop (No. 6), Country (No. 7),^[14] and AC (No. 3) charts and earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female^[12] and an Academy of Country Music award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.^[11] The album, Let Me Be There, charted No. 1 on Country Albums for two weeks as well as No. 54 on the Billboard 200.

The Long Live Love album was released in the United States as If You Love Me, Let Me Know with the six Eurovision songs dropped for four different, more country-oriented tracks intended to capitalize on the success of "Let Me Be There". The title track was the first single reaching No. 5 Pop, No. 2 Country^[1] (her best country placement to date) and No. 2 AC. The next single, "I Honestly Love You", became Newton-John's signature song. Written and composed by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen,^[12] the ballad became her first No. 1 Pop (two weeks), second No. 1 AC (three weeks) and third Top 10 Country (No. 6) hit and earned Newton-John two more Grammys for Record of the Year^[15] and Best Pop Vocal Performance-Female. The success of both singles helped the album reach No. 1 on both the Pop (one week)^[16] and Country (eight weeks) Albums charts.

Newton-John's country success sparked a debate among purists who believed a foreigner singing country-flavoured pop music did not belong in country music.^[10] In addition to her Grammy for "Let Me Be There", Newton-John was also named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year in 1974, defeating more established nominees Loretta Lynn, Canadian Anne Murray, Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker.^[17] This outrage led to the formation of the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers (ACE).^[18] Newton-John was eventually supported by the country music community. Stella Parton, Dolly's sister, recorded "Ode to Olivia" and Newton-John recorded her 1976 album, Don't Stop Believin', in Nashville.^[17]

Encouraged by expatriate Australian singer Helen Reddy, Newton-John left England and moved to the United States. Newton-John topped the Pop (one week) and Country (six weeks) Albums charts with her next album, Have You Never Been Mellow. The album generated two singles – the John Farrar penned title track (No. 1 Pop, No. 3 Country,^[14] No. 1 AC)^[19] and "Please Mr. Please" (No. 3 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC).^[19] Newton-John's pop career cooled with the release of her next album, Clearly Love. Her streak of five consecutive gold Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 ended when the album's first single, "Something Better to Do", stopped at No. 13 (also No. 19 Country and No. 1 AC). Although her albums still achieved gold status, she did not return to the Top 10 on the Hot 100 or Billboard 200 charts again until 1978.

Newton-John's singles continued to easily top the AC chart, where she ultimately amassed ten No. 1 singles including a record seven consecutively:

• "I Honestly Love You" (1974) – 3 weeks
• "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975) – 1 week
• "Please Mr. Please" (1975) – 3 weeks
• "Something Better to Do" (1975) – 3 weeks
• "Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (1976) – 2 weeks
• "Come on Over" (1976) – 1 week
• "Don't Stop Believin'" (1976) – 1 week

She also provided a prominent, but uncredited, vocal on John Denver's "Fly Away" single which was succeeded by her own single, "Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," at No. 1 on the AC chart. ("Fly Away" returned to No. 1 after the two week reign of "Let It Shine".) Newton-John also continued to reach the Country Top 10 where she tallied seven Top 10 singles through 1976's "Come on Over" (No. 23 Pop, No. 5 Country,^[14] No. 1 AC) and six consecutive (of a career nine total) Top 10 albums through 1976's Don't Stop Believin' (No. 30 Pop, No. 7 Country).^[14] She headlined her first U.S. television special, A Special Olivia Newton-John, in November 1976.^[17]

By mid-1977, Newton-John's AC and country success also began to wane. Her Making a Good Thing Better album (No. 34 Pop, No. 13 Country) failed to be certified gold, and its only single, the title track (No. 87 Pop, No. 20 AC), did not reach even the AC Top 10 or the Country chart. Later that year, Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits (No. 13 Pop, No. 7 Country) became her first platinum album as she prepared to launch a new phase in her career.

[edit] Grease

Newton-John and John Travolta

Newton-John's career soared after starring in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Grease, in 1978. She was offered the lead role of Sandy after meeting producer Allan Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's home.^[6] Burned by her Toomorrow experience and concerned that she was too old to play a high school senior (she turned 29 during the latter 1977 filming), Newton-John insisted on a screen test with the film's co-star, John Travolta.^[6] The film accommodated Newton-John's Australian accent by recasting her character from the play's original American Sandy Dumbrowski to Sandy Olsson, an Australian who vacations and then moves with her family to the United States. Newton-John previewed some of the film's soundtrack during her second American network television special, Olivia, featuring guests ABBA and Andy Gibb.

Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978.^[20] The soundtrack album spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and yielded three Top 5 singles for Newton-John: the platinum "You're The One That I Want" (No. 1 Pop, No. 23 AC) with John Travolta, the gold "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (No. 3 Pop, No. 20 Country, No. 7 AC) and the gold "Summer Nights" (No. 5 Pop, No. 21 AC) with John Travolta and the film's cast. The former two songs were written and composed by Newton-John's long-time music producer, John Farrar, specifically for the film. ("Summer Nights" was from the original play written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.) Newton-John became the second female (after Linda Ronstadt in 1977) to have two singles – "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights" – in the Billboard Top 5 simultaneously.^[21] Newton-John's performance earned her a People's Choice award for Favorite Motion Picture Actress. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical and performed the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 1979 Academy Awards.

The film's popularity has endured through the years. It was re-released for its 20th anniversary in 1998^[22] and ranked as the second highest grossing film behind Titanic in its opening weekend.^[23] It was most recently re-released in July 2010 as a sing-along version in select American theatres.^[24] The soundtrack still sells strongly enough to often appear on Billboard's Top Soundtracks chart.

New image[link]

Newton-John's transformation in Grease from goody-goody "Sandy 1" to spandex-clad "Sandy 2" emboldened Newton-John to do the same with her music career. In November 1978, she released her next studio album, Totally Hot, which became her first solo Top 10 (No. 7) album since Have You Never Been Mellow. Dressed on the cover all in leather, the album's singles "A Little More Love" (No. 3 Pop, No. 94 Country, No. 4 AC), "Deeper than the Night" (No. 11 Pop, No. 87 Country, No. 4 AC), and the title track (No. 52 Pop) all demonstrated a more aggressive and uptempo sound for Newton-John.^[25] Although the album de-emphasized country, it still reached No. 4 on the Country Albums chart. Newton-John released the B-side, "Dancin' 'Round and 'Round," of the "Totally Hot" single to Country radio peaking at No. 29^[26] (as well as No. 82 Pop and No. 25 AC), becoming her last charted solo Country airplay single to date.

Newton-John began 1980 by releasing "I Can't Help It" (No. 12 Pop, No. 8 AC), a duet with Andy Gibb from his After Dark album, and by starring in her third television special, Hollywood Nights. Later that year, she appeared in her first film since Grease starring in the musical Xanadu with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck. Although the movie was a critical failure, its soundtrack (No. 4 Pop) was certified double platinum boasting five Top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.^[27] Newton-John charted with "Magic" (No. 1 Pop, No. 1 AC), "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard (No. 20 Pop, No. 4 AC) and the title song with the Electric Light Orchestra (No. 8 Pop, No. 2 AC). (The Electric Light Orchestra also charted with "I'm Alive" (No. 16 Pop, No. 48 AC) and "All Over the World" (No. 13 Pop, No. 46 AC).) "Magic" was Newton-John's biggest Pop hit to that point (four weeks at No. 1)^[27] and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career (five weeks at No. 1). The film has since become a cult classic and the basis for a well-reviewed Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical.^[28] (A successful international tour of the show followed.)

In 1981, Newton-John released her most successful studio album, the double platinum Physical. The title track, written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, spent ten weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100,^[29] matching the then record of most weeks spent at No. 1 in the rock era held by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life." The single was certified platinum and it ultimately ranked as the biggest song of the decade. (In 2008, Billboard ranked the song No. 6 among all songs that charted in the 50-year history of the Hot 100.)^[30] "Physical" even earned Newton-John her only placement ever on the R&B Singles (No. 28) and Albums (No. 32) chart. The Physical album spawned two more singles, "Make a Move on Me" (No. 5 Pop, No. 6 AC)^[31] and "Landslide" (No. 52 Pop).

Olivia Newton-John at the opening of a Koala Blue store in 1988.

The provocative lyrics of the title track prompted two Utah radio stations to ban the single from their playlists.^[32] (In 2010, Billboard magazine ranked this as the most popular single ever about sex.)^[33] To counter its overtly suggestive tone, Newton-John filmed an exercise-themed video that turned the song into an aerobics anthem and made headbands a fashion accessory outside the gym.^[34] Newton-John became a pioneer in the nascent music video industry by recording a video album for Physical featuring videos of all the album's tracks and three of her older hits. The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC prime time special, Let's Get Physical,^[29] becoming a Top 10 Nielsen hit. The success of Physical led to an international tour and the release of her second hits collection, the double platinum Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (No. 16 Pop), which yielded two more Top 40 singles: "Heart Attack" (No. 3 Pop)^[31] and "Tied Up" (No. 38 Pop). The tour was filmed for her Olivia In Concert television special which premiered on HBO in January 1983. The special was subsequently released to video earning Newton-John another Grammy nomination.

Newton-John re-teamed with Travolta in 1983 for the critically and commercially unsuccessful Two of a Kind,^[35] redeemed by its platinum soundtrack (No. 26 Pop) featuring "Twist of Fate" (No. 5 Pop),^[31] "Livin' in Desperate Times" (No. 31 Pop), and a new duet with Travolta, "Take a Chance" (No. 3 AC). Newton-John released another video package, the Grammy-nominated Twist of Fate, featuring videos of her four songs on the Two of a Kind soundtrack and the two new singles from Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2.

The same year, Newton-John and Pat Carroll founded Koala Blue.^[36] The store, originally for Australian imports, evolved into a chain of women's clothing boutiques. The chain was initially successful, but it eventually declared bankruptcy and closed in 1992.^[25] Newton-John and Farrar would later license the brand name for a line of Australian produced wines, confections, and bed/bath products.

Newton-John at the 1989 Academy Awards.

Newton-John married her long-time boyfriend, actor Matt Lattanzi, in December 1984.^[37] The couple had met four years earlier while filming Xanadu. Their daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, was born in January 1986. (They divorced in 1995.)^[38]

Newton-John's music career cooled again with the release of her next studio album, the gold Soul Kiss (No. 29 Pop), in 1985. The album's only charted single was the title track (No. 20 Pop, No. 20 AC). Due to her pregnancy, Newton-John limited her publicity for the album. The video album for Soul Kiss featured only five of the album's ten tracks (concept videos for the album's singles "Soul Kiss" and "Toughen Up" as well as performance videos of the tracks "Culture Shock", "Emotional Tangle" and "The Right Moment").

Motherhood and advocacy[link]

After a nearly three-year hiatus following the birth of Chloe, Newton-John resumed her recording career with the 1988 album, The Rumour. The album was promoted by an HBO special, Olivia Down Under, and its first single, the title track, was written and produced by Elton John. Both the single (No. 62 Pop, No. 33 AC) and the album (No. 67 Pop) fizzled^[39] as the nearly 40 year-old Newton-John seemed "old" when compared with the teen queens Debbie Gibson and Tiffany ruling the Pop charts at that time. (Ironically, this album was praised by critics as more mature with Newton-John addressing topics such as AIDS, the environment and single-parent households.) The second single, "Can't We Talk It Over in Bed," did not chart, but was released in 1989 by Grayson Hugh, the song's arranger, as "Talk It Over" becoming a Top 20 Pop hit. A year later, Newton-John recorded her self-described "self-indulgent" album, Warm and Tender. Inspired by her daughter, who appeared on the album cover, the album featured lullabies and love songs for parents and their children.^[25] This album, the last one produced by John Farrar, also failed to revive her recording career struggling to No. 124 Pop.

Newton-John was primed for another comeback in 1992 when she compiled her third hits collection, Back to Basics – The Essential Collection 1971–1992, and planned her first tour since her Physical trek ten years earlier. Shortly after the album's release, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer forcing her to cancel all publicity for the album including the tour. (Newton-John received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died.)^[40] Newton-John recovered^[41] and since became a tireless advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues. She is a product spokesperson for the Liv-Kit, a breast self-examination product. She is also partial owner of the Gaia Retreat and Spa in Byron Bay, Australia advertised as "the ideal place to renew, refresh, and restore your mind, body and soul."^[42]

Newton-John's advocacy for health issues was presaged by her prior involvement with many humanitarian causes. Newton-John cancelled a 1978 concert tour of Japan to protest the slaughter of dolphins caught in tuna fishing nets.^[43] (She subsequently rescheduled the tour when the Japanese government assured her the matter was being addressed.) She was a performer on the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert for the UN' International Year of the Child televised worldwide. During the concert, artists performed songs for which they donated their royalties, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause. She was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Programme.^[44] In 1991, she became the National Spokesperson for the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund/CHEC (Children’s Health Environmental Coalition) following the death of four year old Colette Chuda, a family friend, from cancer. (Chuda was featured along with Newton-John and daughter Chloe on the cover of Newton-John's Warm and Tender album.)

Newton-John's cancer diagnosis also affected the type of music she recorded. In 1994, she released Gaia: One Woman's Journey which chronicled her ordeal. This was the first album on which Newton-John wrote all of the songs encouraging her to become more active as a songwriter thereafter. In 2005, she released Stronger Than Before, sold exclusively in the United States by Hallmark. Proceeds from the album's sales benefited breast cancer research. The album featured the song "Phenomenal Woman" based on the poem by Maya Angelou that featured guest vocals from Diahann Carroll, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Delta Goodrem, Amy Holland, Patti LaBelle and Mindy Smith – all survivors of or affected by cancer.^[45]

The following year, Newton-John released a healing CD, Grace and Gratitude.^[46] The album was sold exclusively by Walgreens^[47] also benefitting various charities including Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. The CD was the "heart" of their Body – Heart – Spirit Wellness Collection which also featured a re-branded Liv-Kit and breast-health dietary supplements. Newton-John re-recorded some tracks from Grace and Gratitude in 2010 and re-released the album as Grace and Gratitude Renewed on the Green Hill music label. The Renewed CD includes a new track, "Help Me to Heal," not featured on the original album.^[48] The Renewed CD yielded Newton-John's first appearances on the Billboard Christian Albums (No. 36), Christian & Gospel Albums (No. 54) and New Age Albums (No. 2) charts.

In 2008, Newton-John raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She led a three-week, 228 km. walk along the Great Wall of China during April joined by various celebrities and cancer survivors throughout her trek. The walk [1] symbolized the steps cancer patients must take on their road to recovery. Newton-John released a companion CD, A Celebration In Song, the following month in Australia and later worldwide^[49] featuring new and previously recorded duets by "Olivia Newton-John & Friends." Her "Friends" included Jann Arden, Jimmy Barnes, John Farrar, Barry Gibb, Delta Goodrem, Sun Ho, Richard Marx, Cliff Richard, Melinda Schneider, Amy Sky and Keith Urban.^[50] (The album was re-released by Green Hill Records with different artwork in 2011.) In October, Newton-John helped launch the www.liv.com website and teamed with fitness franchise Curves to distribute one million Liv-Aid breast self-examination aids for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.^{[51][dead link]}

Newton-John collaborated with producer David Foster to record "Hope Is Always Here" for the November 2009 television special, Kaleidoscope. The song was written and composed for the show's performance by another breast cancer survivor, figure skater Dorothy Hamill. The song was released as a digital single after the show aired.

Newton-John was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama, 1 a Minute, released in October 2010.^[52] The documentary was made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and featured other celebrities who survived breast cancer or were affected by the disease. During the same month, Bluewater Productions released a comic book featuring Newton-John to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.^[53]

Newton-John was listed as president of the Isle of Man Basking Shark Society between 1998 and 2005.^[54]

Later career[link]

Newton-John continued to record and perform pop-oriented music as well. In 1998, she returned to Nashville to record Back with a Heart (No. 59 Pop).^[22] The album returned her to the Top 10 (No. 9) on the Country Albums chart. Its first single was a re-recording of "I Honestly Love You" produced by David Foster and featuring Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds on background vocals^[22] that charted Pop (No. 67) and AC (No. 18). Country radio dismissed the song, though it did peak at No. 16 on the Country Sales chart. The album track, "Love Is a Gift," won Newton-John a 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song after being featured on the daytime serial, As The World Turns.

Olivia Newton John and Stephen Elliott in January 2012 at the premier of A Few Best Men in Sydney, Australia

Newton-John's subsequent secular albums were released primarily in Australia. Newton-John, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow toured Australia as The Main Event. The live album won an ARIA Award for Highest Selling Australian CD and was also nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album. She and Farnham performed "Dare to Dream" at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.^[38] In 2002, Newton-John released (2), a duets album featuring mostly Australian artists (Tina Arena, Darren Hayes, Jimmy Little, Johnny O'Keefe, Billy Thorpe, Keith Urban) as well as a heartfelt "duet" with the deceased Peter Allen. The same year, Newton-John was inducted into Australia's ARIA Hall of Fame. Indigo: Women of Song, a tribute album covering songs by female artists such as Joan Baez, the Carpenters, Doris Day, Nina Simone, Minnie Riperton and others, was released in 2004. Newton-John dedicated the album to her mother, who had died the previous year.

Newton-John also released several Christmas albums. In 2000, she teamed with Vince Gill and the London Symphony Orchestra for 'Tis the Season sold exclusively through Hallmark. The following year, she released The Christmas Collection which compiled seasonal music previously recorded for her Hallmark Christmas album, her appearance on Kenny Loggins' 1999 TNN Christmas special and her contributions to the Mother and Child and Spirit of Christmas multi-artist collections. (Green Hill Records re-released this album with different artwork in 2010.) In 2007, she re-teamed with her Grace and Gratitude producer, Amy Sky, for Christmas Wish (No. 187 Pop) which was sold exclusively by Target in its first year of release.

Newton-John acted occasionally since Two of a Kind. She appeared in a supporting role in the 1996 AIDS drama, It's My Party. In 2000, she appeared in a dramatically different role as Bitsy Mae Harling, a lesbian ex-con country singer, in Del Shores' Sordid Lives.^[38] Newton-John reprised her role for Sordid Lives: The Series which aired one season on the LOGO television network. The series featured five original songs written and composed by Newton-John specifically for the show.^[55] In 2010, Newton-John starred in the film Score: A Hockey Musical, released in Canada.^[56] Newton-John portrayed Hope Gordon, the mother of a home-schooled hockey prodigy. The film opened the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

Newton-John's television work included starring in two Christmas films, A Mom for Christmas (1990)^[57] and A Christmas Romance (1994) – both Top 10 Nielsen hits. Her daughter, Chloe, starred as one of her children in both A Christmas Romance and in the 2001 Showtime film The Wilde Girls. Newton-John guest-starred as herself in the sitcoms Ned and Stacey, Murphy Brown, and Bette, and made two appearances as herself on Glee. For her first Glee appearance, Newton-John re-created her "Physical" video with series regular Jane Lynch. The performance was released as a digital single, returning Newton-John to the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 89) for the first time since her 1998 re-release of "I Honestly Love You". In Australia, Newton-John hosted the animal and nature series Wild Life and guest starred as Joanna on two episodes of the Australian series The Man From Snowy River.

Newton-John met gaffer/cameraman Patrick McDermott a year after her 1995 divorce from Matt Lattanzi. The couple dated on and off for nine years. McDermott disappeared following a 2005 fishing trip off the California coast.^[58] Various theories abounded regarding his disappearance ranging from his death by accident or foul play to McDermott staging his disappearance to avoid child support payments to his ex-wife, actress Yvette Nipar. Newton-John, who was in Australia at her Gaia Retreat & Spa at the time of his disappearance, was never a suspect in McDermott's disappearance^[59] and has refused to comment on any speculation. A US Coast Guard investigation released in 2008 "suggest[ed] McDermott was lost at sea,"^[60][61][62] although some have claimed contact with McDermott since his disappearance.^[63]

Newton-John returned to the tabloid headlines again in 2007 when it was revealed that her daughter Chloe was recovering from anorexia.^[64]

Newton-John released another concert DVD, Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony: Live at the Sydney Opera House, and a companion CD, Olivia's Live Hits, in January 2008. An edited version of the DVD premiered on PBS station, WLIW (Garden City, New York), in October 2007 and subsequently aired nationally during the network's fund-raising pledge drives. This was Newton-John's third live album after the 1981 Japanese release, Love Performance, and her 2000 Australian release, One Woman's Live Journey.

In 2008, Newton-John took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history.

Newton-John at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

In June 2008, Newton-John secretly wed John ("Amazon John") Easterling, founder and president of natural remedy firm, Amazon Herb Company. The couple had first met 15 years earlier, but they only became romantically involved in 2007. (Like Newton-John, this was Easterling's second marriage.) The couple married alone in a private Incan spiritual ceremony in Cuzco, Peru on June 21^[65] followed nine days later by a legal ceremony on the Jupiter Island beachfront in Florida. There were no guests at either service since the couple preferred to marry simply and privately. Only Newton-John's daughter, Chloe, was aware of the nuptials. The couple did not announce their marriage until a 4 July barbecue at Newton-John's Malibu, California home, where guests were surprised with the news.^[66] The wedding was confirmed thereafter by HELLO! Magazine which published exclusive pictures of both weddings.^[67] In June 2009, the Easterlings purchased a new $4.1 million home in Jupiter Inlet,^[68] and Newton-John sold her home in Malibu, California.

In January 2011, Newton-John began filming A Few Best Men in Australia with director Stephan Elliott in the role of mother of bride. The groom is played by (Xavier Samuel).^[69]

Current activities[link]

Newton-John still tours occasionally.^[70] Her recent public performances have included charitable functions to promote products such as Zamu.^[71] In 2012, Newton-John embarked on an Asian Tour of Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. An Australian Tour of Perth, Melbourne and Sydney is scheduled as well.^[72]

Discography[link]

Notes:

• a: Released with a different track listing in the North America. Also released in certain territories as Music Makes My Day.
• b: North American release of Long Live Love. Also features tracks from previous releases and the new title track.

Filmography[link]

Awards and honors[link]

Tours[link]

See also[link]

	Book: Olivia Newton-John
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• List of best-selling music artists
• List of songs by Australian artists which reached number-one on the Hot 100 (USA)
• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Olivia (The Biography of Olivia Newton-John), Tim Ewbank. (2008). Piatkus books. ISBN 978-0-7499-0983-3.
• Wood, Gerry. (1998). "Olivia Newton-John." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 380–1.
• The Story of the Shadows by Mike Read. 1983. Elm Tree books. ISBN 0-241-10861-6.
• Rock 'n' Roll, I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life – A Life In The Shadows by Bruce Welch ISBN 0-670-82705-3 (Penguin Books).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Olivia Newton-John

• Official website
• Olivia Newton-John at the Internet Movie Database
• Olivia Newton-John at Allmusic
• Gaia Retreat
• Great Walk To Beijing
• ON-J Cancer Centre Appeal
• Breast Health
• Newton-John, Olivia (1948–) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Olivia Newton-John