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The Tubes
The Tubes in Oslo, Norway in 1977 Photo: Helge Øverås
Background information
Origin	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Genres	Rock, Hard rock, New Wave
Years active	1973–present
Labels	A&M, Capitol
Website	Official website
Members
Roger Steen Prairie Prince Rick Anderson Fee Waybill David Medd
Past members
Vince Welnick Bill Spooner Michael Cotten Bob Mcintosh Re Styles Mingo Lewis Jane Dornacker David Killingsworth Gary Cambra

The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics.^{[citation needed]} They are perhaps best-remembered for their 1983 single "She's a Beauty," a top 10 U.S. hit with a frequently-played music video in the early days of MTV.

Career[link]

The Tubes started as a group of high school friends from Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. Two Phoenix bands, the Beans and The Red, White and Blues Band, both relocated to San Francisco in 1969 and eventually merged. The new band's core membership remained largely intact for more than a decade: Fee Waybill (real name John Waldo Waybill) (vocals), Bill "Sputnik" Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Prairie Prince (real name Charles L. Prince) (drums), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano), and Rick Anderson (bass). Singer Re Styles (born Shirley Marie MacLeod) (vocals) and ex-Santana percussionist Mingo Lewis were also fixtures for much of the band's early history.^[1]

Show business excess was a common theme of the band's early work, with Waybill sometimes assuming the onstage persona of "Quay Lewd" (a pun on Quaalude), a drunk, drugged out, barely coherent lead singer, wearing flashing glasses and stilt-like tall platform shoes.

The First Album[link]

The Tubes' first self-titled album was produced by Al Kooper. The track "White Punks On Dope" was an "absurd anthem of wretched excess" and a tribute to their rich, white teenage fan base in San Francisco^{[citation needed]} Since then the song has been covered by Mötley Crüe, and the German rock musician Nina Hagen took the tune and set new lyrics to it (not a translation of the original lyrics), titled her work TV-Glotzer ("Couch Potato"), and used this song as the opening track of her own debut album Nina Hagen Band, released 1978 on CBS/Germany Records. The album track "What Do You Want From Life?", which became another of the Tubes' signature songs, satirizes consumerism and celebrity culture and climaxes in a "hard-sell" monologue by Waybill which name-checks celebrities such as Bob Dylan, Paul Williams and Randolph Mantooth and well-known products of the period including the Dynagym exercise machine and a host of American vehicles including the Winnebago and the Mercury Montclair.

The Second Album[link]

The Tubes' second album, Young and Rich on A&M Records, was produced by Ken Scott. It featured the hit "Don't Touch Me There", a suggestive duet between Waybill and Re Styles, which was arranged in classic "Wall of Sound" style by Jack Nitzsche. The song was co-written by Ron Nagle and Tubes dancer/vocalist Jane Dornacker, who died in a helicopter crash in 1986.

The Third Album, A Live Album and Then The Fourth Album[link]

The Tubes' third album gave way to thematic experimentation with Now and after their live record What Do You Want From Live, recorded during their record breaking run at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, the fourth album for A&M, Remote Control was a concept album produced by Todd Rundgren about a television-addicted idiot-savant. The cover of Remote Control shows a baby watching Hollywood Squares in a specially made "Vidi-Trainer."

The music videos[link]

One critic opined that with their media savvy and theatrical skills, The Tubes were born to create rock video, but arrived several years too early.^[2] However, the band did produce at least one collection of music videos, which were issued on the 1982 Pioneer Artists laserdisc "The Tubes Video" (this videodisc contained versions of twelve of the band's hits, including "White Punks On Dope," "Mondo Bondage," "Talk To Ya Later," and several others from yet-to-be-completed "The Completion Backwards Principle" album, in slickly produced music videos based on the group's stage shows).

The Live Shows[link]

The Tubes put their creativity and art skills mainly into their live performances, in which songs could be full fledged production numbers, from a beach movie parody for "Sushi Girl", to leather clad S&M hijinks in "Mondo Bondage", to the game show antics of "What Do You Want From Life?" At their peak, their live act featured dozens of other performers, including tap dancers and acrobats. The Tubes' stage productions were choreographed by Kenny Ortega and featured cast members Jane Dornacker, LeRoy Jones, Michael Holman, Michael Springer, Edwin Heaven, Cindi Osborn, Heline Gouax, and Mary Niland from 1975-1977. From 1978-1979, the cast included Sharon Collins, Caty Bevan, and Loryanna Catalano. The Completion Backward tour featured Shelly Pang, Cheryl Hangland, and Cynthia Rhodes. From 1983-1985, Michelle Gray (who later married Rundgren) and Cheryl Hangland were principal dancers. Several crew members — including Tour Manager Steve "Chopper" Borges, Lee Collins, and Gail Lowe — made frequent appearances on stage in various roles as well.^{[citation needed]}

The Tubes' live shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s were rife with allusions to mainstream film (Dr. Strangelove, Rollerball, Saturday Night Fever, Grease), then-forgotten B-movies (Wild Women of Wongo, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman), music (Tom Jones, punk rock, a medley of Nelson Riddle television themes), contemporary pop culture (Patty Hearst, the Viking program), television (Let's Make a Deal, Fernwood 2Nite, the anime Raideen), and literature (Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side), presaging the subcultural reverence and over-the-top theatricality of later groups like The World/Inferno Friendship Society.^{[citation needed]}

These shows were expensive to produce, however, and while they earned the band a reputation for being one of the most entertaining live acts of all time, by the early 1980s, they found themselves short of money.

Their Ouster From A&M, and Their Tenure With Capitol[link]

Their proposed fifth album, the self produced Suffer for Sound, was rejected by A&M, who dumped the band instead, finishing out its contract with the oddities collection T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities And Smash Hits).^[3] The band was signed to Capitol Records by Bruce Garfield and Bobby Colomby, scaling back the live shows and redesigning itself as a straight laced rock band, teaming with producer David Foster.

The Fifth Album[link]

Their fifth album, The Completion Backward Principle, another concept album, featuring the classic rock staple "Talk to Ya Later", presented itself as a motivational business document, complete with shocking pictures of the band members cleaned up and wearing suits.^{[citation needed]} The band also had their first Top 40 hit in the United States in 1981, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" (recorded almost entirely by Spooner, without Waybill's participation).Outside Inside followed a few years later and yielded a few hits, including the number 10 (USA) hit "She's a Beauty".

The Sixth Album, and Their Ouster From Capitol[link]

In 1985, the band teamed up with Rundgren once again for their sixth album, Love Bomb. With Bruce Garfield and Bobby Colomby no longer with Capitol, The Tubes were dropped just as they were going on a national tour in support of the album — a tour that would leave the band a half million dollars in debt, forcing them to play low-budget gigs for a year to pay off their debts.^[4]

Waybill Leaves[link]

Waybill had already released an unsuccessful solo album (Read My Lips, on Capitol Records) in 1984, but during this time, he had also happily enjoyed a fruitful writing partnership with fellow Capitol Records label mate Richard Marx, their most popular and well known collaboration being "Edge of a Broken Heart", recorded by the female band Vixen. Waybill left the band in 1986 ("Fee broke up", one band member said).^{[citation needed]}, leaving the band without both its musical director and lead singer.

Personnel Changes[link]

Later in the year the remaining members of the band took on a longtime friend from Phoenix, Arizona, David Killingsworth, as lead vocalist. Killingsworth was the singer in the Red and White Blues Band with Prairie and Roger. Michael Cotten relocated to New York to pursue a career based on his artwork, stage design and production, and is considered one of the country's top production designers. In the fall of 1988, Bill Spooner traveled his final tour with the band and left in early 1989. Vince Welnick departed as well to take to the road with Todd Rundgren in 1989 and then joined the Grateful Dead in 1990. Gary Cambra joined on keyboards and guitar in 1989. He and Roger Steen took over most the lead vocal duties after Killingsworth left in early 1990.

Waybill Returns[link]

In 1993, Waybill rejoined the band. This lineup toured Europe and released two CDs, a compilation and the 1996 album Genius of America. David Medd joined in 1996 to play keyboards alongside Cambra. In 2001, the band released a live CD, The Tubes World Tour 2001, and continued to tour.

The One-Off Reunion[link]

On April 22, 2005 a reunion show took place at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, CA, with Waybill, Steen, Anderson, Spooner, Welnick and Cotten. 2005 also saw the release of their live album "Wild in London".

The Tubes Project, and Other Milestones[link]

Michael Cotten started "The Tubes Project" in 2005, to save and digitize the band's reel to reel and video tape archive. The collection had been kept in the closet of Tubes fan club president Marylin Wood's son after being discarded in the late 80s. Included in the vault are full color shows taped for TV at Bimbos in San Francisco, 1975 and VARA TV from the 1977 European tour. Over 70 interviews were conducted with band members, crew, managers, cast and friends such as Re Styles, Todd Rundgren, Al Kooper, Devo and David Foster. Hundreds of photos were scanned and compiled from band members and fan collections for use in the hour and half documentary which was edited and shopped for further financial backing, gaining interest until the economic crash of 2008. No further plans have been discussed since about any planned release of any of this material.

Welnick, who long suffered from depression, committed suicide on June 2, 2006.

Cambra left the band in 2006 leaving David Medd as their sole keyboardist.

On September 23, 2007, the remaining members of the Tubes reunited in Phoenix for their induction into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.

On November 10, 2009, "Mondo Birthmark" a CD of previously unreleased rarities was released through the label Fuel 2000. The package was designed by Michael Cotten and Prairie Prince with rare photos and interviews of the group. The demos also feature former member Bob Macintosh on drums.

Career highlights[link]

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (January 2009)

1972: Tubes appear in Mitchell brothers film Resurrection of Eve as Jesus Bongo and the Millionaires

1973: Opened for the New York Dolls at the Matrix, Iggy Pop at Bimbos, and Led Zeppelin at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco

1974: Tubes shoot "video demo" at California Hall which lands a record deal at A&M Records, Cotten/Prince paint "Flying Record" mural on A&M sound stage

1975: Tubes play for two weeks of shows at David Allen's nightclub The Boarding House in San Francisco, several sell-out dates at The Roxy in Los Angeles and The Bottom Line in New York. Dec, 31- Headline and sell out Bill Graham's Winterland Ballroom^[5]

1976: Held residency at Bimbos in San Francisco for one month, Prairie Prince dubbed "The One, The Only" by columnist Herb Caen. Tubes hold "Talent Hunt" at the Boarding House hosted by Martin Mull; Robin Williams is contestant but loses

1977: Held residency at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for one month, The Whisky a-Go-Go in Los Angeles for two shows a night for one month, and Hammersmith Odeon in London for a week

1978: Headlined the Knebworth Festival with Frank Zappa and Peter Gabriel. On April 3, The Tubes performed live with Dolly Parton on Cher... Special, in the "Musical Battle to Save Cher's Soul Medley". As the title would imply, the performance was a duel between the forces of good and evil to determine where Cher would spend her eternal destiny. Dolly Parton was dressed in white and, with a team of brightly clad singers, portrayed an angelic host while The Tubes, dressed in black leather and performing "Mondo Bondage", battled to send Cher's soul into eternal damnation.

1979: Tubes play Japan; Cotten/Welnick/Prince/Styles appear on Japanese soap opera. Tubes appear in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine

1980: Appear in the film Xanadu singing the rock portion of the cross-genre song "Dancin'" opposite a big band.

1981: Record Grammy nominated "The Tubes Video" at Shepperton Studios, one of the first long form video discs.

1981: Sang "Sushi Girl" and "Talk to Ya Later" on the television sketch comedy program SCTV, Episode #86 airing July 24.

1981: Appeared and sang, "Sushi Girl", on late night talk show,"Tomorrow", with Tom Snyder.

1981: Compose the song "Road Map of My Tears" for the film Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, in which Waybill and Welnick appear, among other musicians, as the fictional rock group The Metal Corpses.

1982: Appeared in a commercial for Activision's video game Megamania

1983: Opened several dates for David Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour and on this tour, among other highlights, they were the first artists to ever play the newly opened Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. At the end of the Bowie tour, they played a few shows featuring their classic no-holds-barred theatrics in Portland, Oregon, and other west-coast cities.

1985: Tour with Todd Rundgren's Utopia, play Radio City Music Hall.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

^[7]

Singles[link]

Video albums[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-tubes/video/ Bill Graham Video Archive 1975-79
• The Tubes Project, archive video/press site
• Bill Spooner's website, with Tubes images
• Michael Cotten Studio
• Prairie Prince's website
• The Tubes on A&M Records
• 2007 Prairie Prince radio interview on Rundgren Radio
• 2009 Prairie Prince radio interview on Rundgren Radio

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.