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Olivia Newton-John

British and Australian singer (1948–2022)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ185165 ↗
Source-derived summary

Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer, songwriter and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time.

In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease, which was the highest-grossing musical film at the time and whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want"—which is one of the best-selling singles of all time—and "Summer Nights". This soundtrack also includes her solo "Hopelessly Devoted to You." Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner "I Honestly Love You" (1974) and "Physical" (1981)—Billboard's highest-ranking Hot 100 single of the 1980s. Other defining hit singles include "If Not for You" and "Banks of the Ohio" (both 1971), "Let Me Be There" (1973), "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "Sam" (1977), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978; also from Grease), "A Little More Love" (1978), "Twist of Fate" (1983) and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with the Electric Light Orchestra).

Newton-John's accolades include four Grammy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. She scored fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and fourteen of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Olivia Newton-John” as british and Australian singer (1948–2022). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 2022, 1978, 1974—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1948-09-26. The account is most persuasive where Olivia, Newton-John and British can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british and Australian singer (1948–2022). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q185165. VIAF identifies the subject as 85449059. The Library of Congress control number is n50006037. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 2022, 1978 and 1974.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Olivia Newton-John”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Olivia Newton-John primary sources, Olivia Newton-John archive and Olivia research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Olivia Newton-John”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Olivia Newton-John” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.