Disclaimer: this countdown isn’t meant to be an all-time definitive list. These are simply my favorites.
The first singer I developed a crush on — and possibly my first celebrity crush since I’m sure my crush on Carrie Fisher developed later — was Olivia Newton-John. I blame my aunts for taking me to see Grease in the theater when I was 5 (don’t worry; I didn’t get the references until later).
Want an idea of how strong my crush was? In 4th grade, I was a founding member of the Olivia Newton-John Fan Club at Ficquett Elementary School.
I’ve had the Grease soundtrack on double-LP for as long as I can remember, and I still maintain to this day that sweet, innocent Sandy is way more attractive than “bad girl” Sandy.
I was already familiar with her older music because I heard it on the radio, so my fandom sort of retrofitted to what I already knew. Even though she was Australian, Olivia did country in her early years — and did it well.
She also cultivated a middle-of-the-road, wholesome adult contemporary milieu, at least until Grease led her to change her image.
After Grease, Olivia went sexier, with more rock and pop influences that were of the moment and informed her sound and her image.
And then came the Physical album. I was growing up more, too, so I noticed the sexiness. But beyond the controversy and the abject sex appeal, the Physical album was really good pop music.
The hits from that album were great, but the album cuts were even better. I bought the 40th anniversary edition when it came out and realized how amazing this album was from start to finish. I think I like some of the album cuts better than the singles.
She continued making movies after Grease, each one with diminishing returns and increasingly poor reviews, and her star diminished somewhat by the mid-’80s. I had moved on to Amy Grant as my musical crush, but Olivia still had (and still has) a special place in my memories.
When she passed away last year, I wrote at PJ Media:
While I moved on to other crushes as Newton-John moved to a lower profile in the late ’80s, her music and her performance in Grease still hold a special place in my heart.
Another icon of my childhood is gone, but I’ll always cherish my memories of her.
She truly was a one-of-a-kind talent.
Photo: Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons