Olivia Newton-John picks the one that she wants for Legends in Concert

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“They asked me if I’d judge the competition of the girls trying out to be me, which was very weird and surreal as you can imagine,” Newton-John said.

Kelly Smith was the winner of the worldwide “You’re the One That I Want” contest held in 2015 to select the performer for the Legends in Concert show, which has been running in Las Vegas for 33 years and comes to Melbourne this month. The show also pays tribute to Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, David Bowie, Adele and Elvis Presley.

Olivia Newton John and Kelly Smith

A portion of the ticket proceeds of Legends in Concert performances at The Palms at Crown will be donated to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre, a cause close to the singer’s heart.

“That made it interesting to me,” she said. “(Audiences are) doing something good at the same time as being entertained.”

Newton-John first met Smith, who was performing as Cher at the time, during her three-year run of shows in Las Vegas and is confident she can pull off the transformation. “(Kelly) watched a lot of tapes,” she said.

With hits as varied as Hopelessly Devoted To You, Summer Loving, Xanadu, Let’s Get Physical, the country and western-infused Let Me Be There and even a Dylan cover, If Not For You, over her long career, the star says choosing her favourite song is “like picking a favourite child”.

“I don’t really have a favourite, they are all different parts of my life and career,” the four-time Grammy winner said.

Olivia Newton-John — If not for you, 1971

Newton-John, who has sold around 100 million records, is a constant visitor to her home town.

“My nieces and nephew are there, my brother is there, the hospital is there,” she said.

Her passion is her Cancer Wellness and Research Centre, based in Heidelberg’s Austin Hospital, which has helped many Melburnians.

“It’s really important to me, the hospital, the wellness centre. I’m constantly trying to draw attention to it and fundraise and that’s why Legends will be great.”

Her September release, Liv On, was co-written with Amy Sky and Beth Nielsen Chapman on the subject of grief and healing. “That record was a very personal one to make,” she said.

After a battle with breast cancer and the disappearance of boyfriend Patrick McDermott, she married American John Easterling in 2008. The couple live in the US, near her daughter Chloe Lattanzi.

With a Christmas album of duets with fellow Aussie icon John Farnham also out last year, Newton-John, 68, is not one to rest on her laurels.

“I actually want to sit on my laurels for a bit,” she joked.

“I just got two miniature horses and I have a farm with my husband, and a cat and a dog and chickens. I want to plant a garden and do more things. But I like to work.

“I choose to be optimistic about the future. If something doesn’t happen it wasn’t meant to.”

A biopic starring Delta Goodrem as Newton-John is filming in Eltham but, busy planning tours of the UK and the US next year, the singer isn’t ready to write her autobiography.

“Not yet,” she said. “I’m too busy right now, having too much fun, living in the moment.

“So much of my life has been in the public eye anyway but I try to keep as much of my private life private, which is pretty difficult.

“I’ve had quite a few unauthorised (biographies) so there might be a time when I do an authorised one so at least the facts are correct.”

Legends in Concert is at The Palms at Crown from January 18-29. Details: ticketmaster.com.au