Olivia Newton-John Later career
By the age of 15, Newton-John had formed an all-girl band, Sol Four, and soon was a regular on local television (such as HSV-7's The Happy Show as Lovely Livvy) and radio shows in Australia. She entered a talent contest on the television programme Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe, and performed the songs Anyone Who Had a Heart and Everything's Coming Up Roses. She won the contest and received a trip to England as the prize. Initially, she did not want to go, but her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
On her return to Australia she appeared on the Go Show, where she met her lifelong friends, Pat Carroll and John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar eventually married.) When she was 16 years old, Newton-John returned to England to live with her mother. Newton-John was homesick in England as she missed Australia and her then boyfriend, Ian Turpie (with whom she co-starred in an independently produced Australian telefilm Funny Things Happen Down Under). This changed when friend Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo and toured nightclubs in Europe. After Carroll's visa expired, and she had to return to Australia, Newton-John cut her first solo single, Till You Say You'll Be Mine b/w Forever, for Decca Records in England in 1966.
Newton-John was recruited for the group, Toomorrow—the brainchild of American producer Don Kirshner, creator of The Monkees. The group recorded an album and starred in a science fiction musical both named after the group released in 1970. The project failed and the group was quickly disbanded.
|