Dame Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, the granddaughter of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born. Her family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, when she was six. Winning a television talent contest at sixteen, she moved to London to record, scoring early country-pop crossover hits including "I Honestly Love You" and "Have You Never Been Mellow."

In 1978, Newton-John achieved superstardom starring as innocent Sandy Olsson opposite John Travolta's Danny Zuko in the musical film Grease. Its soundtrack became one of the best-selling albums in history, featuring timeless duets like "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights," alongside her Oscar-nominated solo ballad "Hopelessly Devoted to You." In 1981, she reinvented herself with the synth-pop smash "Physical," which spent ten weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Surviving breast cancer in 1992, Newton-John dedicated thirty years to cancer advocacy, founding the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne. She was appointed DBE in 2020.