Olivia Newton-John: before she was Sandy in Grease she was one of the great new country singers of the 1970s

Following the sad news that Olivia Newton-John has passed away too young at only 73, today the media is awash with stories of the much-loved star, and in particular her rise to international fame in the films Grease and its sequel.

Her role as the squeaky clean all-American teen Sandy gave her iconic status around the world.

But for many her real talent was as a heartfelt, tender singer, and after winning an Australian TV talent show singing Anyone Who Had a Heart and Everything’s Coming Up Roses, she used the prize to come to the UK where she embarked on a career in music, touring European nightclubs in a duo with her friend Pat Carroll, before being recruited into the group Toomorrow.

It was only when her first solo album was released that she gained recognition with Bob Dylan’s If Not For You, the title of the album, which became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and the second release, On The Banks Of The Ohio, became a top ten hit in the UK and her adopted home of Australia.

This was followed by John Denver’s Country Roads, Take Me Home. And it’s those early recordings that stick in my mind as among her greatest achievements.

It was as one of the great new country stars though that she was becoming better known. Championed by Helen Reddy, she moved to the USA and in 1974 was voted best country female vocalist of the year.

That pure country styled vocal ease that gave her that initial fame was surely why she came to the attention of Hollywood, and she was soon jettisoned her into movie stardom alongside John Travolta. And what a team they made: those scenes in Grease are legendary.

It was in 1978 that she was cast in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Grease alongside Travolta - it became a box office smash around the world and fed into a global obsession with the classic American high school romance. It packed in hit after hit and by tweaking the role of Sandy from Polish American to vacationing Australian the producers got away with her Aussie accent, and at 28 years old during filming she played a teen with total credibility.

After Grease came Xanadu, a box office flop in cinema terms but the soundtrack went platinum.

Grease took her from wholesome to sexy, but for real fans it was that delicious and totally individual voice that kept us true. Her success was rewarded with an OBE and in recent years her work for charities and in particular for cancer awareness earned her the much deserved Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.