NJ’s John Travolta’s sweet message to Olivia Newton John
Olivia Newton John died Monday at the age of 73. For many, she will forever remain 30 years old, the age when the already famous singer played alongside John Travolta in “Grease”.
With 9 top 10 hits in the 1970s, she was the number 1 singer of that decade. Another way to put it is that she was the Taylor Swift of the 70s. She was such a big star.
Kylie Moore and I took a call about her passing on Monday from a guy who spent a day with her and her daughter when she was honored at the United Nations for her work with breast cancer. He choked on air saying how modest and down-to-earth she was. She didn’t have an ounce of diva in her and could have had one so easily.
SiriusXM Town Hall with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John with host Didi Conn at SiriusXM Studios
The outpouring of love on social media from fans and fellow celebrities has been like a tsunami. But the one that I think touched me the most came from his former “Grease” co-star and Jersey guy, John Travolta.
Travolta was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey and was 25 when she played Danny opposite Sandy.
On Instagram, he wrote:
Just a few years ago in West Palm Beach, Florida, the pair appeared together in costume some 40 years after the film. She in the yellow skirt and the cardigan with the white buttonhole. Him with slicked back hair and a black leather jacket. They attended a “Grease” chant and did a Q&A session that night.
Academy Presents “Grease” (1978) 40th Anniversary
My daughter spent a summer a few years ago watching “Grease” endlessly. Literally at least 50 times that summer. She knew it by heart. When I came home from work on Monday, she asked me if I had heard the news. The fact that a 15-year-old is as sad about Olivia Newton John as octogenarians says a lot about the star.
“Was she old? my daughter asked me.
“Could someone like her ever be old?” I answered.
“It’s true,” she said with a tear.
The opinions expressed in the above post are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.
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