Get physical with live 'Liv'

Lovers of standard pop with a yearning to relive the ’70s spirit will get the chance next Friday when Olivia Newton-John performs in Bangkok.
 After grabbing international fame with her 1971 debut album “If Not for You”, the British-born singer’s popularity never seemed to wane. Her follow-ups topped the “adult contemporary” charts in Australia and Europe.
In the US, the 1973 single “Let Me Be There” reached the Top 10 on the pop and country lists and earned her the Best Country Female Grammy (and “Most Promising” Country Music Award). The album “Let Me Be There” sat atop the country chart for two weeks.
Newton-John’s career soared even higher thanks to her starring role opposite John Travolta in the 1978 film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Grease”. It was the year’s biggest box-office hit and is now considered a classic, with tunes including “You’re the One that I Want”, “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and, of course, “Summer Nights”.
Newton-John’s greatest success came in 1981 with the double-platinum studio album “Physical”, which marked a transition to mainstream pop and soft rock. It added to her string of global hits, which include “I Honestly Love You”, “Have You Ever Been Mellow”, “Please Mr Please”, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and “Come On Over”.
In the meantime a devoted environmentalist and a cancer survivor, the singer, now 63, is still recording and performing all over the world. The 2012 tour began in Japan, crossed Southeast Asia and is next bound for Australia.
And that’s not all, not by a long shot, as Olivia explained when we asked her by e-mail what else is happening.
“I’m promoting a new film – I’m in ‘A Few Best Men’ – and my healthy-recipes cookbook ‘LivWise: Easy Recipes for a Happy Healthy Life’, which I wrote to raise money for my Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre.
“I also have a medical breast-self-examination device called the Liv Aid, available at www.Liv.com, to encourage women to check themselves regularly.”

One of your healthy products is a drink called Zamu.
Zamu is a delicious drink from Amazon Herb Co, which is made from organic rainforest ingredients including the main one, camu, which is a fruit that grows in the floodplain of the Amazon Basin. It has the highest concentration of vitamin C of any fruit on the planet, as well as many uplifting amino acids. It’s a feel-good, taste-good drink!

You must be amazingly healthy.
I am in perfect health, and I will be 20 years cancer-free this July! I eat organically as much as possible, exercise every day in some way, and I eat tonnes of my husband’s herbage from his company.

Cancer changed your life.
It was a gift for me, because without that experience I wouldn’t be helping raise funds for my Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne to help people through their cancer journey.
I also learned that cancer is not what I had feared and that it is not necessarily a death sentence – for which I’m very grateful – and I’m stronger than I knew.

What do you do to relax?
I walk on the beach and swim, play tennis and hang out with my husband and dog at home.

Is there anything in showbiz you haven’t done but would love to try?
Anything I do now is icing on the cake. I just love having fun now.

What’s your secret to longevity in the business?
I think I’ve been very lucky to have recorded some great songs with some wonderful producers, and that I was in the movies “Grease” and “Xanadu”, which are still so loved after all these years. The songs in them also have stood the test of time.

How do you like the music scene now?
I think there are some amazing artists and singers, and the standard keeps getting higher. I love Adele’s album at the moment. She’s an individual with a great voice and heartfelt songs.
I don’t have one favourite album because there are so many great ones, but I do love the first Beatles album – it’s one of the best ever.

What are you looking forward to in Thailand this time?
The food, and meeting the people, who are delightful. I’ve been there once before, and I love Thai food.

What have you prepared for the show?
 There’ll be songs from “Grease” and “Xanadu” and from my new movie, too. I’ll also sing songs from my country, and my old hits like “Physical”, “Jolene” and “Have You Never Been Mellow”, and some standards from my CD “Portraits”, where I honour the women of song I admire. And a few new songs from “Grace and Gratitude: Renewed”.
It will be a fun evening with me and my fantastic band!

SUMMER NIGHT
See Olivia Newton-John in Hall 106 at the Bitec complex on Bangna-Trat Road next Friday, March 23.
 Seats cost Bt1,500 to Bt6,000. Call (02) 262 3456 or see www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
She has earmarked Bt100 from every ticket sold for the National Cancer Institute to help women diagnosed with breast cancer.