Before she was Sandy Olssen in Grease, Olivia Newton-John was already one of the most exciting singers of the 70s. An early pioneer of country pop, John skillfully merged lilting ballads into mainstream soft rock smashes, with her first five charting singles all charting inside the Top Ten in the U.S – an incredible feat for an Australian artist!

Her demure arrival underwent a dynamo transformation with the arrival of the 1981s racy, career-defining hit, Physical which spent ten weeks at number one in 1981 and 1982, mirroring her character’s rebellious reinvention in the film. From her early angelic country hits to her dramatic reinvention, John’s evolution embodied a vision of pop that would bring us artists like Madonna and Taylor Swift in the future. But, in memory of an Aussie legend, we’re all the way back to this timeless hit from her ballad-driven beginnings. RIP. 

Olivia Newton-John | ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ [Live, 1978]

Hopelessly Devoted to You was originally composed for the Grease soundtrack by Farrar but never made it into the original cut of the film. It was released after the film had wrapped and ended up earning its only Oscar nod for best original song.

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