Ray Martin of A Current Affair in Australia caught up with Olivia, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow rehearsing for the Main Event in an old warehouse in West Melbourne.

The three of them are performing The Age Of Reason. A few mistakes are  made and at one point Olivia is singing too slow and laughingly cringes at the camera.

Ray Martin interviews the three of them, alone and together. Olivia talks about 1998 being the first time in 16 years that she's performed a concert. After having Chloe and not returning to the stage she was until recently too frightened to go back. However, Anthony Warlow mentions the calming influence Olivia has over him so obviously her nerves are now under control.

Anthony, in particular, is finding it a challenge to fit his voice with Olivia's and John's. But it seems he had nothing to worry about as Olivia says that as soon as they all started to sing they were "meant to be together."

Even though John and Anthony are vying on stage for Olivia's attention, which  is great for her ego, Olivia still feels the "quiet one" next to jokers John and Anthony.

Cut to 9 hours later and more rehearsals of Age Of Reason - this time they are getting it right.

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At the start of the show Olivia performs Stronger Than Before with Dionne, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. Olivia talks about how thrilled she is to sing with Dionne, her childhood idol, and great writers Burt and Carole. Olivia performs Burt's song Reach Out For Me that Dionne previously recorded. At the end of the show they all perform "That's What Friends Are for" accompanied by Burt on piano.

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Olivia appeared in this Spanish program in 1991 to perform 4 of her hits : Magic, Hopelessly devoted to you, Physical and I honestly love you.

Although all the songs are lipsynched to their original album versions, the performance - dedicated to Colette Chuda who had passed away shortly before that - is rather energetic.

Here's an oddity : for her fourth appearance on French television (that I know of), Olivia Newton-John chose to cover a 1968 Beatles song : Honey Pie (available on the Beatles' "White album") on jazz violonist Stéphane Grappelli's TV special.

At this point, Olivia's career hasn't yet really started in the US - Let me be there was not yet out - and there's really not much information about this performance. French singer - and Olivia's friend - Sacha Distel was also a guest on this show, so we can guess she appeared on it as a favor to him.

Honey Pie

This is a very interesting domcumentary : Olivia is joined by director Brian Grant and reflects on her past work with him, focusins on some of the Physical and Twist Of Fate EP videos.

Grant directed most of Olivia's music videos : the whole Physical album, the 1982 Utah live concert, most of the Twist Of Fate Video EP (Take a Chance was directed by David Mallet as well as the whole Soul Kiss Video EP), the 1988 Down Under special and the I need Love video.

In this program, they discuss the Physical, Silvery Rain, Stranger's Touch, Twist of Fate, Shaking you and (Livin' in) Desperate Times videos.

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Olivia came 23rd in the UK's best selling artists. This was based solely on on single sales, Olivia having sold 6,493,006 copies which include her Grease number 1 singles. Olivia gave an interview for this and her friends Didi Conn (who played Frenchy in Grease); Cliff Richard and Bruce Welch commented.

The interview included clips from Grease, her Physical video, her appearance in the early 70s movie Getaway with Cliff and a 70s Country Roads performance. Olivia also commented on fellow chart toppers the Bee Gees and Kylie Minogue (a fellow female Australian entry). Olivia complimented the Bee Gees on their great songwriting and how talented and pretty Kylie was.

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Olivia is a guest on Michael Parkinson's 200th show. Michael Parkinson is a respected chat show host in the UK and he's still going strong in 2003.

Olivia is adorable on this and very modest about her recent success in Grease. She's also joined by the Hollywood great Gloria Swanson. Gloria offered Olivia some advice - not to take sugar in her tea and Olivia has been trying to follow this advice ever since.

Parkinson asks Olivia about future movies and whether she's ever been asked to appear nude. Olivia says no as they know she doesn't want to do that. Hustler magazine had recently offered Olivia a million dollars to pose nude but Olivia had turned them down thinking it "vulgar". Gloria is so taken with Olivia that she calls her "so lovely".

Olivia performs her sexy song A little More Love and then Dame Edna Everage is the next guest. Olivia gives Dame Edna an Australian badge with the icon of three ducks going up a wall (?). Olivia cracks up at Dame Edna's humour throughout.

Elton John is the final guest and jokes about his and Olivia's supposed romance. Some bathrooms in New York (called Johns) are labelled Elton for men and Olivia for the women.

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In July of 1973, Olivia stopped in UK comedian Les Dawson's TV show to perform two songs : a cover of Don McLean's And I Love You So (which isn't featured on any of Olivia's albums) and what turned out to be her first major US hit : Let Me Be There

Dawson introduces her as "Olivia, Newton and John", before she corrects him. He also tells the audience Olivia is a mind reader, asking her what he is thinking of at the moment. Olivia pauses before calling him "cheeky".

As I mentioned on another 1978 article, Olivia taped several performances in France that year, and this is one of them : A little more love.
We're led to believe that singer Michel Sardou proposes to her, as Jean-Claude Brialy asks her if she does indeed plan to marry Sardou and she simply answers "Michel Sardou ? Pas question !" (which could be translated as "no way"), but obviously Olivia's bit was taped separately.

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Olivia's first appearance on the Tonight Show, then hosted by US TV legend Johnny Carson.

She gave a short interview where she discusses Australian slang with Carson and giving him examples, and performed two songs : If you love me (let me know) and I honestly love you, during which she gets a bit emotional, shedding a tear near the end of the song and her voice breaking down a bit.

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In September of 1981, Olivia launched her new single Physical in the TV series Solid Gold, which was similar to American Bandstand, only to include a group of dancers who'd perform choreographies to the current top ten hits. A year before that, Olivia duetted with Andy Gibb on two of his singles : I can't help it and Rest your love on me. As he was hosting the show at the time, Olivia performed a live version of the latter, similar to the single version (as opposed to the one they performed at the 1979 UNICEF Concert where Olivia started the song instead of Andy).

She also performed Physical for the very first time, joined by Solid Gold dancers, especially Tony Fields and Alex Cole. This performance set the whole aerobics tone designed to tame the lyrics' sexual innuendos down. Although lipsynched, the performance is very energetic and differs a lot from anything Olivia had done before on television (or musically, for that matter).

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Olivia's third appearance on French television was in a show called Chœur en Fête (loosely translated : Partying Choir) where the main guests were Les Compagnons de la Chanson, a vocal group founded during World War II.

She performed two songs : Love Song, which was the French B-side to Banks of the Ohio, her second single from her first solo album released in 1971.

Although this is the only performance of Love Song that I know of (except of the 1976 ABC TV special opening number), Banks of the Ohio basically the same treatment it got in German television show Disco which was most likely filmed around that time as well : Olivia walking around the set in a red dress. It's all about the nice close-ups in both videos.

This show was aired the day the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles opened. Several artists performed : Placido Domingo, the Beach Boys, Neil Diamond and, of course, Olivia Newton-John. In a segment taped in Sydney, she was joined by Australian actor Paul Hogan to wish the athetes luck (especially the aussies !).

Olivia then performed a medley of I Still Call Australia Home and Waltzing Matilda backed by two children's choirs and the Military District Band. It actually looks more like a music video, with a long musical bridge where footage of Australian athletes is shown, as well as beautiful Australian scenery. It ends with nice long shots while Olivia hold that note.

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Olivia performs Reach Out For Me live and is interviewed by Arsenio. They discuss Olivia's Warm and Tender album and Arsenio teases Olivia about one of the environmental tips included with the album. He laughs at the image of glamorous Olivia Newton-John, Mrs Lattanzi, going to the shops with a string bag.

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Olivia performs two songs on this lunch time show - Np Matter What You Do and Don't Cut Me down. Dressed in a black suit with big boots Olivia gives spirited performances.

The host is an old friend Gloria Hunniford. They show Take Me Home Country Roads from Top of the Pops and Gloria asks Olivia if this song opened doors in America. Olivia tells how John Denver on hearing that she'd covered his song invited her over to appear on his TV special. John Denver's TV special was filmed in Colorado in the middle of Winter. They filmed it in an igloo built in the snow but it was warm inside and had butterflies flying around. Steve Martin (before he became famous) played the banjo and Olivia remembers that he had a butterfly on his nose throughout his song. She also discusses her work early on in America with Dean Martin and Bob Hope.

Talk as always turns to Grease. Olivia gave away the red shoes to a charity auction but still has the Grease Jacket and pants and hopes one day to try them on.

The interview ends with a performance of Don't Cut Me Down. This is the only song on Gaia that was started before her illness. Whilst putting together Gaia she listened to old tapes and found this song in a draw. It wasn't complete with only a chorus and four lines. It's about old growth forests but Olivia says you can also take poetic license and it's all about friendship and love.

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Olivia and Pat Farrar appeared on Bert Newton's Australian breakfast show to promote their Koala Blue wine.

Bert showed a couple of black and white clips of Olivia and Pat back in the 60s including rare footage of them arriving home by airplane from England. Olivia's old boyfriend, Ian Turpie was mentioned Bert always seems to mention him when he interviews Olivia and she's learnt to expect it!  Bert had one message for Ian Turpie about his ex-boyfriend status -  "bad luck oh chum." It's all very jokingly done as everyone in Australia knows that Ian has been happily married for well over 20 years and Olivia is good friends with Ian and his wife Jan.

It's revealed that Pat's old boyfriend was Fred Welland who was in the band The Strangers with her now husband John Farrar. Olivia and Pat both agree that he was very cute. At that time he had a better car than John which mattered to Pat in those days! Pat and John didn't start dating until the late 60s by which time either Pat had grown wiser or John had bought himself a faster motor.

Olivia and Pat present Bert with a couple of bottles of their Koala blue wine. The brand name of Koala Blue now belongs to someone else. However, the owner is happy for Olivia and Pat to use it again as he found it wasn't worth much without Olivia's endorsement.

The interview inevitably talks about Olivia's career and the role John Farrar has played in it. Olivia and Pat are thrown off guard when asked by Bert what  their biggest hit as a duo was: "we didn't really have a hit" replies Pat. They manage to remember the TV special they did for Australian TV back in 1968 with fake rain and Bert says "all the old camp stuff, we're still doing it on this show."

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Olivia visited Europe in July 1996 and paid a visit to this German TV show (filmed in Amsterdam), her sister Rona and choreographer were with her. The host Linda De Mol loved Grease and performed Hopelessly Devoted To You with Olivia.

Olivia also mimed an energetic No Matter What You Do. A short interview followed about her recovery from breast cancer and Olivia praised Linda's singing.

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Olivia filmed this special for TV to coincide with Australia's Bicentennial celebrations in 1988.

She featured songs from her Rumour album along with a couple of other tracks. All the Australian people featured in this are real Australians and not actors.
The Special aired on Australian and US TV and was later released on home video and laserdisc around the world.

Includes : 
Tutta La Vita
Click Go The Shears
Walk Through Fire
Old Fashioned Man
Let's Talk About Tomorrow
Winter Angel
Get Out
Big And Strong
Love And Let Live
It's Always Australia For Me
The Rumour

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Olivia, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow were interviewed at the start of the Main Event concert rehearsals. The interview  by Richard Wilkins was for the Today breakfast show in Australia.

The trio had only just met but were confident that the show would work even though they each had very different voices and personalities.

When Olivia was asked if she'd find performing daunting with two guys who belted the tunes out she joked that she'd have a word with the soundman  - "turn them down!"

The interview included very brief behind the scenes footage of the three of them rehearsing with their 45 piece orchestra. As usual with John Farnham around there were lots of laughs, when Richard asked him to reveal the show's surprises he joked "mind your own business."

The interview ended on a sweet note - John  and Anthony singing "Happy Birthday" to Olivia.

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Olivia and Kelly Preston were interviewed live from Washington, DC for Fox News. They were in Washington having just given a presentation to the Congress for CHEC's "right to know" product labelling campaign.

Olivia was eager to introduce Nanacy Chuda, who Fox it seems weren't planning to interview. Olivia, who must have  realized that this would have been a missed opportunity for CHEC, made sure she was included. Olivia and Kelly both promoted CHEC's educational video whilst Nancy spoke more in-depth about CHEC's aims.

An amusing moment came when the interview was running out of time and the presenter was winding it up. Olivia hurriedly shouted (twice) get the video from checnet.org - she was concerned that people may not know where to obtain it from. However, she needn't have worried as at the end Fox put CHEC's website and phone number up on the screen.

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Olivia performed "You're The One That I Want" with Aussie host Sam Newman. Sam isn't a singer but the performance was fun and Olivia enjoyed it.

After the performance Olivia and Sam signed their leather jackets to be auctioned to raise proceeds for Olivia's cancer centre. Olivia also spoke about Kylie Minogue, who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Contrary to press reports at that time Olivia hadn't spoken to Kylie or had lunch with her yet.

Olivia also spoke about her football team Carlton, she'd supported them since childhood even though her family didn't really follow football.

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Olivia filmed this simple yet beautful video in 1998 (May ?) in Burbank, CA to promote her MCA Nashville Back with a Heart album.

Precious Love wasn't released as a single in the US, yet the video aired mostly on CMT. The video has been added to Olivia's VEVO channel in late 2009 in digital quality.

Precious Love

Olivia and Kelly Preston joined Rosie O'Donnell to talk about CHEC.

Olivia talked a lot during the interview (which is unusual  when she's on simultaneously with another guest); the issue is so close to her heart. They promoted the CHEC video and the web site, www.checnet.org, which had half  million hits so far from their previous day's promotion.

Rosie asked if there was scientific proof to link toxins in household products to childhood illnesses. It would add more credibility to the campaign if they could quote a couple of  studies (such studies have been  funded by CHEC) but as Olivia admits   she's no scientist. It's common sense to err on the side of safety.

The charity book Hollywood Moms which features Kelly Preston, Olivia and Rosie O'Donnell and their daughters was mentioned and a copy of this and the CHEC video were given to the audience.

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This is an outdoors performance of If not for you filmed at the Festival de la Rose d'Or in Antibes (FR) in 1971. This is where the Don't move away performance with Cliff Richard was filmed as well. There's a 6 seconds default at the beginning of the song, but this comes straight from the tv station's master, there's no repair I can do about it :( 

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This is a short interview Olivia gave to Molly Meldrum for his Australian music TV show Countdown to promote Make A Move On Me. She discusses her new hairstyle and her Landslide video featuring Matt Lattanzi. She thought Landslide was going to be the next single from the Physical album, but learns it's actually Make A Move On Me.

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