OLIVIA Newton-John could be the person that coaxes Sia back
on stage.
Chart-topping
pop recluse Sia has set out a mythical list of demands to tour again — one of
which is singing with her hero Newton-John.
“I’d get on
stage with her, it’d be a big thrill to sing with her for me too, so hopefully
one day,” Newton-John said today.
Sia came to one
of Newton-John’s Vegas concerts this month, happily posing for a photo.
“She’s an
adorable lady,” Newton-John said. “I can relate, she’s afraid of performing
live and I was like that for years. She’s very fortunate in this time, because
of social media she doesn’t have to perform live if she doesn’t want to. But I
think she’s getting very tempted to do it again, so we’ll see if she does.”
Newton-John is
about to start a tour with Australia’s favourite singer, John Farnham.
“John’s my
favourite singer too, so this is a treat for me,” she said.
“It’s a bit of a
treat for me as well,” Farnham added.
Rehearsals
for the Two Strong Hearts tour have included some lessons with a choreographer,
reportedly for the duets from Newton-John’s iconic film Grease.
“It’s not
choreography, because I’ve got two left feet, but there’s a little bit of
movement going on,” Farnham said. “And it’s going to get very Grease-y.”
“John is going
to surprise people,” Newton-John promised.
The pair will
open and close the show together, as well performing a string their own hits,
some by themselves, some, like Farnham’s Burn For You, are reworked as duets.
“Olivia hadn’t
heard Burn for You before we started rehearsals
for this tour and she said ‘That’s such a beautiful song’,” Farnham said.
“Interestingly I’ve never sung that as a duet with a woman before. Looking deep
into Olivia’s eyes I’ll have to pretend she’s (my wife) Jill. It’s about interpretation
of the song, it is a beautiful song and I do love Olivia, so I don’t have a
problem singing that.”
The pair
met around 1970 in London (“we can’t quite remember exactly what year, but it
seems like we’ve been in each others’ lives forever,” Farnham said) and have
worked together with The Main Event (with Anthony Warlow) and at the 2000
Olympics in Sydney.
Their song from
that event, Dare to Dream, will be revived for the Two Strong Hearts
tour.
“Those two
events with John were not only hugely successful but personally very
satisfying,” Newton-John said.
“People ask me
all the time what my career highlight is and the Olympics always comes to mind
first. Just those five minutes or whatever it was was huge. It was so amazing,
representing Australia made me proud and to sing with John was amazing. How can
you top that moment? So I was very quick to say yes to this tour. It’s going to
be great fun. It already is. John makes me laugh, I don’t know how I’m going to
hold it together on stage.”
Both Farnham
and Newton-John’s children are about to follow their parents into music.
After a few
years in the musical wilderness, Newton-John’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi has
re-recorded her mother’s classic hit Magic — with
her mother.
“It’s now called You Have to Believe and it’s a dance remake of Magic with (house producer) Dave Aude,”
Newton-John said.
“We’ve just done
a video. I’m singing in the chorus, but I didn’t want to be featured too much.
She’s gorgeous and young, I want it to be about her. It sounds fabulous, very
modern. Chloe’s written a new verse, her voice sounds amazing.
“She’s starting
again, rewriting songs, talking to producers. It’s very exciting. I’m sure
being our children it’s difficult in some ways, they have to establish who they
are and what they want to be and I think Chloe’s found that and it sounds like
Rob has too.”
Farnham’s son
Rob has finished recording an album with his band Rival Fire.
“The same with
Livvy’s daughter, it can be difficult to work with the preconceptions,” Farnham
said.
“But I’m really
proud of his music. He’s getting some serious interest from some serious
places, here and in the US. They’ve done a great job, they’ve written all the
songs, they went to America to record them, it’s come up really well.
“It’s really
good, it’s edgy. The title track of the album is called Riot and it’s fantastic. I’ve tried to stay
out of the way. I’m sure they’re happy to pay their dues, they’ve seen us do
it, they know it’s worth the trouble.”
“Maybe they’ll
sing together one day,” Newton-John says. “Wouldn’t that be cool?”
While
Madonna has complained about ageism stopping her new music getting heard on
radio, Newton-John (66) and Farnham (65) are pragmatic.
“I don’t think
about age too much,” Newton-John said. “I think it’s about music. Madonna still
gets plenty of attention and airplay from what I can see.”
“With the
artists that have a world wide career like Olivia, Sia and Madonna, they’re
dealing with a huge population,” Farnham said.
“There’s what?
230 million people in America. You’re gonna get some airplay somewhere. I’m not
known much outside of Australia, we don’t have that kind of a population
therefore that airplay isn’t as forthcoming.
“I understand
it, my record company Sony want another album from me. And I think to myself
‘Why? It’s not going to get any airplay’. Having said that, if I make the right
album who knows? I don’t want to make another covers album, I don’t want to
make a tribute album. If I make another album, sorry Sony, when I make another
album it will be original songs. But it’s very difficult.
“I’m 67, or am I
66? No, I’m 65. It’s hard to find grown up songs for someone my age. I’m not
going to make the album until I get the right material. We’ve got some serious
contacts songwise around the world. If someone comes up with a red hot song
they might not give it to some bloke in Australia who might get some airplay,
they’re going to look for someone with access to 300 million people. I’m fairly
down the ladder there. It’s about finding the right songs. Gathering the songs.
It might take another three years.”
The Two
Strong Hearts tour, performed with a 60 piece orchestra and Farnham’s band
under the guidance of musical director Chong Lim is testing the singers’ famous
voices.
“Olivia has a
very very high range, I don’t have a very low range,” Farnham said. ``I could
never reach the heights she goes to, there’s a few spots where I’m right down
on the bottom of my range, it’s a little outside my comfort zone, but I’m
digging it.”
“He sounds
great,” Newton John adds. “And I’m singing rock and roll for God’s sake! We’re
both being challenged but that’s what’s fun about it.”
While
Newton-John said she would be up for writing with Sia (”that would be awesome,
we’re meeting again soon in Tokyo so we’ll get to know each other better then”)
don’t expect too much more coverage on social media of the pair.
“I have someone
that does my social media for me,” Newton-John says. “I do post pics on
Instagram, Chloe set that up for me, sometimes I’ll put up a picture of a
sunset but I forget. Weeks go by ...”
Farnham is not
bothered by Twitter or Facebook, his pages are run by his record company.
“I don’t know
I’m that interesting,” he says. “Just moved the lawn! Who cares! And I haven’t
got a bum as big as Kim Kardashian.”
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