Of course, I bought an American promotional single of 'Sam' in 2000, but contrary to that one, this one has a picture sleeve and a different B-side. I can't pass up on a cheap Olivia single, so here we are...
My collection: 7" single no. 8412
Found: Soundcheck, Kaiserslautern (Germany), 22 August 2026
Tracks: 'Sam' / 'Changes'
The B-side, 'You made me love you', performed by Olivia, didn't appear on the soundtrack album for Xanadu, although it did appear in the movie.
My collection: 7" single no. 7717
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'Suddenly' / 'You made me love you'
In 1979, Andy Gibb performed along with the Bee Gees, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly, which was broadcast worldwide. After this, he returned to the studio to begin recording sessions for his final full studio album, 'After Dark'.
The 1979 album by Olivia Newton-John was called 'Totally hot', and the title track was released as a single. Featuring a more aggressive sound, the single failed to impress the audience who had come to know her as the sweet Sandy from the 'Grease' movie.
'Heart attack' was one of two new tracks on the 1982 compilation album 'Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2'. It was released as the first single of the two to promote the album.
'Tied up' was one of two new songs recorded for the 1982 compilation album called 'Olivia's Greatest Hits Volume 2'. The song was the second single released from the album, following 'Heart attack', the other new track recorded for the package.
Not to be confused with the 1975 track by Fleetwood Mac, 'Landslide' was written by Olivia Newton-John's producer John Farrar for her 1981 album 'Physical'. It was released as the third single from the album in early 1982.
I was never a fan of 'Grease' in 1978, when everyone in my class was. The girls were in love with John Travolta and the boys were in awe of him. Meanwhile, I preferred the singing qualities of Olivia Newton-John but thought the whole madness about one movie was a bit silly. I was always a bit sceptical of manias anyway.
So I go to this second hand shop I've seen on a website. The website says that there are bargain singles for 1 euro each. That's a reasonable price - if the singles are good. When I get there, the man says 'I am just getting rid of some stuff, so shall we say 10 cents each?'. It's like I'm suddenly a kids in a candy store with loads of cash to spend. So I buy literally everything that is vaguely interesting.
'Long live love' was written by Valerie Avon and Harold Spiro and performed by Olivia Newton-John, who represented the United Kingdom during the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. In a field of 17 contestants, she finished in fourth place. (The Contest was of course won by Abba with 'Waterloo' that year.)
Although Olivia Newton-John's 1985 album 'Soul kiss' was only a moderate success in Europe, it did achieve gold status in America and Australia. When the album was released, Olivia was pregnant and thus unable to promote the album as much as would have been expected.
Unlike almost everyone in my class, I was not a fan of the movie 'Grease' when it was released back in 1978. I hated John Travolta and the rather overly dramatic number 1 hits 'Greased lightning', 'You're the one that I want' and 'Summer nights'. However, when Olivia Newton-John's single 'Hopelessly devoted to you' was released, I had to relent a little. I liked the melody a lot, and even if I couldn't understand the lyric (I was eight years old, mind you) I knew this was a pretty powerful lovesong.
'Sam' was written by Don Blac kand Hank Marvin and appears on Olivia Newton-John's 1977 album 'Don't stop believin''. It was released as a single in the summer of 1977 and reached number 6 in the UK singles chart.
In 1985, Olivia Newton-John released the album 'Soul kiss'. The first single was the title track, and the second single was 'Toughen up'. While the first single was a hit in several countries, 'Toughen up' did not chart anywhere - the only exception being Australia, where the single stalled at number 93.
After Olivia Newton-John achieved world fame with the movie Grease, she picked up her own music career with the 1978 album 'Totally hot'. The single 'A little more love' shot to number 4 in the UK and number 3 in the Netherlands.
Olivia Newton-John will forever be associated with the movie 'Grease', in which she starred together with John Travolta in 1978. But does everyone know she played with him in another movie five years later? I guess not, because 'Two of a kind' was a commercial failure. Musically it was interesting mostly for Olivia's 1983 single 'Twist of fate', a rock-oriented track that also went past the record-buying audiences.
'Xanadu' was the theme song from the movie of the same name. The movie starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly and was an unofficial remake of the 1947 film 'Down to earth' with Rita Hayworth.
In 1985, Olivia Newton-John released her comeback album 'Soul kiss' and the title track was also the lead single. She'd been out of the limelight since 1982 when she had a worldwide hit with 'Physical'. 'Soul kiss' was a steamy popsong performed by Olivia while pregnant. It limited her ability to do promotion for the album, which stalled at no. 66 in the UK albums chart. The single didn't even chart. In the Netherlands, it was only a small hit.
Taken from the original motion picture soundtrack of 'Xanadu' featuring Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John, 'Magic' is Olivia's second single from that soundtrack. The title track was a number one hit in the UK, and the third single 'Suddenly' made number 15. By comparison, 'Magic' did less well by only reaching no. 32.