LOS ANGELES (UMe Records) - The most successful female solo star of the '70s,
Olivia Newton-John continually gains new fans as succeeding generations share in the magic of her phenomenal string of hits. Now the pop icon, who is on tour throughout this year, celebrates her extraordinary career with the largest-ever collection of her hits - her first two-CD retrospective - "Olivia Newton-John - Gold" (Hip-O/Geffen/UMe), released June 14, 2005.
Featuring 40 original recordings spanning her career from 1971 to 1998, each digitally remastered, and a package with extensive liner notes, credits and period photos, "Gold" is the ultimate Olivia Newton-John "best of" collection. Heard are 27 of her 28 Top 40 pop hits, including all 15 of her Top 10s (five No 1s), two of them platinum and nine others gold.
Her first two U.S. pop charters, 1971's "If Not For You" (No 25) and "Banks Of The Ohio," join the early '70s classics "Let Me Be There" (gold, No 6, Grammy winner), "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (gold, No 5) and the double Grammy winning "I Honestly Love You" (gold, No 1). Mid-decade brought the gold No 1 "Have You Never Been Mellow" and gold No 3 "Please Mr. Please" plus "Come On Over" (No 23), "Don't Stop Believin'" (No 20), "Sam" (No 33) and the rarely anthologized "Let It Shine" (No 30), "Something Better To Do" (No 13), "Every Face Tells A Story" and "Making A Good Thing Better."
Then in 1978 came "Grease," the most successful movie musical in history, in which she portrayed Sandy. Two duets with co-star John Travolta went Top 5 - "You're The One That I Want" (No 1, platinum) and "Summer Nights" (No 5, gold) as did her solo smash "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (No 3, gold). Her solo album that year yielded the gold No 3 "A Little More Love" plus "Deeper Than The Night" (No 11), "Dancin' 'Round And 'Round" and "Totally Hot." Though her 1980 film "Xanadu" did not do as well at the box office, its album was a blockbuster with the No 1 gold "Magic," the Top 10 title song featuring ELO and "Suddenly," a No 20 duet with Cliff Richard. "Gold's" "Fool Country" was a b-side.
Culled from 1981's "Physical" is the platinum title track (No 1 for 10 weeks), "Make A Move On Me" (No 5) and "Landslide." "Heart Attack" (No 3) and "Tied Up" (No 38) appeared on her 1982 "Greatest Hits" album and "Livin' In Desperate Times" (No 33) and a duet with Travolta, "Twist Of Fate" (No 5), on the soundtrack album to 1983's "Two Of A Kind." Mid- and latter-'80s tracks included are "Soul Kiss" (No 20), "The Best Of Me" (with David Foster), "Can't We Talk It Over In Bed," "The Rumour" and "Reach Out For Me."
"Olivia Newton-John - Gold" concludes with 1990's dance club fave "The Grease Megamix," 1992's "Deeper Than A River" and a 1998 remake of "I Honestly Love You" with Babyface that hit No 1 Adult Contemporary nearly 25 years after the original became the signature song of one of the most popular singers of our era.
