Dame Olivia, immortalised as Sandy in ‘Grease’, dies aged 73

The British-born singer died “peacefully” at her ranch in Southern California yesterday morning, surrounded by family and friends.

Newton-John is best known for her starring role in the 1978 film ‘Grease’, in which she starred opposite John Travolta as Sandy.

In a statement posted to Instagram, her husband John Easterling wrote: “We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time.

“Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.

“Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer.”

She is survived by her husband as well as her daughter Chloe Lattanzi.

Dame Olivia had a long and varied career in music and film, but will be most fondly remembered as Sandy from ‘Grease’.

She immortalised the role of the goody-goody high school student who joins Rydell High and transforms into a super-sexy greaser in a bid to win the affections of love interest Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta.

The 1978 film and its accompanying soundtrack – still much loved more than 40 years later – catapulted Dame Olivia to international fame.

Dame Olivia was born in Cambridge, England, to Welshman Professor Brin Newton-John and his German-born wife Irene, who was the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born.

The youngest of three children, she moved with her family to Melbourne when she was five.

By her mid-teens, she was already carving out a career as a budding star, having formed a girl group with classmates called Sol Four at the age of 14 before winning a talent contest on Australian TV show ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ and a trip to the UK.

Although initially hesitant to travel back to the UK, she took the trip a year after winning the programme, on the advice of her mother and, once there, she recorded her first single in 1966, ‘Till You Say You’ll Be Mine’.

Her second single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘If Not For You’, reached the top 10 in the UK and Australia, before her next single, ‘Banks Of The Ohio’, topped the charts in Australia.

In 1974, she represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Long Live Love’, and came in fourth place in the year Abba won with ‘Waterloo’.

She experienced further pop music success in the years following Eurovision, before the career-defining role in ‘Grease’ arrived in 1978.

Following the film, Dame Olivia returned to her music career, boosted by ‘Grease’. She continued performing and releasing music until her death.

She married actor Matt Lattanzi in 1984 and the couple had a daughter, Chloe Rose, in 1986.

The couple divorced in 1995. In 2008, she wed her second husband, businessman and conservationist John Easterling, and they remained married until her death.