“In pre-Beatles British pop, the bosses were Australians,” Walker says. “I don’t know how Gormley picked up on Olivia, but he took her in, and then of course, when Pat Carroll and John Farrar went over there, Farrar formed a band with those Shadows guys [Welch, Hank Marvin, and Farrar].”
As a duo, Carroll and Newton-John made small waves on the UK TV and cabaret circuit but after Carroll returned to Australia, her husband Farrar became the key songwriter and producer in Newton-John’s story. It was he and Welch who arranged the traditional murder ballad Banks of the Ohio, and produced her debut studio album in 1971.
Olivia Newton-John at the G’Day USA gala in Los Angeles in 2018. Credit:AP
“Farrar was guitar player and singer in the Melbourne band the Strangers,” explains Melbourne music historian Ian McFarlane, author of The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. “They were massive in the ’60s and they were the house band for The Go!! Show ” – the Channel 10 pop show hosted by Ian Turpie, a former boyfriend of Newton-John’s.
Bizarrely, it was a British shoe salesman named Lee Kramer – “he made millions of pounds importing cowboy boots into England,” Walker says – who managed her crucial leap to Los Angeles to capitalise on her deal with MCA Records in the early ’70s.
Loading
But the gumnut mafia connections would continue. Farrar was Newton-John’s producer until 1989, teaming with Stigwood’s RSO to produce the Grease phenomenon, and writing a string of No. 1 hits including Have You Never Been Mellow, You’re the One That I Want, Hopelessly Devoted to You and Magic. It was Steve Kipner, a Bee Gees associate from way back, who co-wrote Physical in 1981. By that time, Newton-John was managed by Australian powerhouse Roger Davies, in the midst of his epic journey from Sherbet to Pink.
Still, great business connections can only explain so much in the rise of a fair dinkum global superstar. “I don’t know,” says Walker. “I don’t know how they marketed her, how they made it all work. I guess they had some good songs. I suppose it’s just that incredible breath of fresh air that she was.”
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
Why the Grease star made it in the US when so many others didn’t & Latest News Update
Why the Grease star made it in the US when so many others didn’t & More Live News
All this news that I have made and shared for you people, you will like it very much and in it we keep bringing topics for you people like every time so that you keep getting news information like trending topics and you It is our goal to be able to get
all kinds of news without going through us so that we can reach you the latest and best news for free so that you can move ahead further by getting the information of that news together with you. Later on, we will continue
to give information about more today world news update types of latest news through posts on our website so that you always keep moving forward in that news and whatever kind of information will be there, it will definitely be conveyed to you people.
Why the Grease star made it in the US when so many others didn’t & More News Today
All this news that I have brought up to you or will be the most different and best news that you people are not going to get anywhere, along with the information Trending News, Breaking News, Health News, Science News, Sports News, Entertainment News, Technology News, Business News, World News of this made available to all of you so that you are always connected with the news, stay ahead in the matter and keep getting today news all types of news for free till today so that you can get the news by getting it. Always take two steps forward
Credit Goes To News Website – This Original Content Owner News Website . This Is Not My Content So If You Want To Read Original Content You Can Follow Below Links