Dame Olivia NewtonJohn AC DBE was an Englishborn Australianraised singer and actress She is a fourtime Grammy award winner who amassed five No 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles 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 She has sold an estimated over 100 million albums worldwide In 1978 she costarred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease which became one of the most successful films and movie soundtracks in Hollywood history It features two major hit duets with costar John Travolta Youre the One That I Wantwhich is one of the bestselling singles of all timeand Summer Nights She became the second woman after Linda Ronstadt in 1977 to have two singles Hopelessly Devoted to You and Summer Nights in the Billboard top 5 simultaneously Her performance earned her a Peoples Choice Award for Favorite Film Actress She was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical and performed the Oscarnominated Hopelessly Devoted to You at the 1979 Academy Awards In 1980 she starred with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck in the musical fantasy film Xanadu Although it was a critical failure its soundtrack was certified double platinum and scored five top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 She charted with Magic Suddenly with Cliff Richard and the title song Xanadu with the Electric Light Orchestra Magic was NewtonJohns biggest pop hit to that point and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career The film has since become a cult classic and the basis for a Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical She helped pioneer the music video industry by recording a video album for Physical featuring videos of all the albums tracks and three of her older hits The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC primetime special Lets Get Physical becoming a top10 Nielsen hit She teamed up with Travolta again in 1983 for the critically and commercially unsuccessful movie Two of a Kind redeemed by its platinum soundtrack featuring Twist of Fate and a new duet with Travolta Take a ChanceIowa In 2002 she was inducted into Australias ARIA Hall of Fame and in 2015 she was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame In recognition for her work as an entertainer and philanthropist she was bestowed Australias highest honor the Companion of the Order of Australia in June 2019 In 2008 she raised funds to help build the Olivia NewtonJohn Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne Australia She led a threeweek 228 km walk along the Great Wall of China joined by various celebrities and cancer survivors throughout her trek The walk symbolised the steps cancer patients must take on their road to recovery She was a a longtime activist for environmental and animal rights issues She battled breast cancer three times and was an advocate for breast cancer research and health awareness Her business ventures included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and coowning the Gaia Retreat Spa in Australia
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