Sounds of Pride: Olivia Newton-John, Our “hopelessly devoted” Aussie Ally
Writer/Editor of the Award winning LGBT blog, “The Randy Report” and special guest contributor
How could we go through Pride Month celebrating the “Sounds of Pride” without noting our favorite girl from ‘down under’ – the awesome Olivia Newton-John?
Not only has the Australian pop star sold more than 100 million albums, she’s been a stalwart LGBT ally the entire time. Livvy was one of the very first Aussie stars to call for marriage equality, and she’s performed at numerous Pride events in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Sydney.
Roller-skating, dancers, and special effects plus her gorgeous vocals took the song to #1 when the film was released.
Olivia has been associated with “I Honestly Love You” since early in her career. It’s her go-to song for closing her concerts, and for good reason. Not only is it a well-written song, but the lyrics are totes poignant. What many folks don’t know is the song was penned by fellow Aussie, Peter Allen. Now, knowing that the song was written by a gay man, take a listen to these lyrics. It might reveal a whole different life of the song for you.
And finally, how could we not love the woman who gave us gym guys getting all sweaty back in 1981? She knew what the gays liked 😉
If you haven’t seen in a while, make sure you get to the final seconds of the video. By the way, did you know Olivia won her 4th Grammy Award for ‘Physical’s’ music video?
Happy Pride everyone! Thanks to Larry for letting me play in theOUTfront’s sandbox. I’ve loved seeing all these great “Sounds of Pride” posts! – R.S.
Follow The Randy Report on Twitter @randyslovacek , Facebook and be sure to catch his weekly podcasts HERE!
Previous posts from theOUTfront series “Sounds of Pride –The Music of Community, Love, and Equality”
Billboard’s Top Ten, June 28, 1969
Madonna a “Ray of Light” in our Darkness
“I’ll Go with You,” celebrating Marriage Equality’s 3rd Anniversary
IZ takes us “Somewhere over the Rainbow”
#proudOUTloud
Olivia never gave me the impression of being political, raunchy, offensive or controversial. She embarrasses “all” individuals including conservatives, moral, traditional, and Christian people. She offends no one!
You’re absolutely right! She is a class act both personally and professionally. We couldn’t ask for a better ally than ONJ.
Yes. Her ties to the Gay Community began with Peter Allen of course, and let’s not forget that Randal Kleiser the Director of Grease is Gay not to mention the fact that her former Makeup Artist Armando Cosio died of AIDS Related Illness around 1985. Physical is still a popular Video where the Gorgeous Guys all are Gay (which is cool) and she showed what a great sense of humour she has about herself. She guest starred on Glee and did a Remake of Physical with Dancers young enough to be her kids. When Oprah did a series of Shows in Australia she invited Oprah’s American Audience to her Spa Gaia in Australia and a Young African American Gay Man was thrilled to meet her.
ONJ is very near and dear to our Community! We were thrilled to recognize her during our Sounds of Pride series and happy you enjoyed the post.
Peace, Love, and PRIDE 🙂
Did you know Armando personally?