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On this day, 18 November 1971, Australian/British singer and actress Olivia Newton John played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.
Olivia Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, to Brinley "Bryn" Newton-John (1914–1992) and Irene Helene (née Born; 1914–2003). Her father was born in Wales to a middle-class family. Her mother was born in Germany in a partly Jewish academic family who came to the UK with her in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime.
Newton-John released her first solo album, If Not for You (US No. 15) in 1971. (In the UK, the album was known as Olivia Newton-John.) The title track, written by Bob Dylan, was her first international hit.
Her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio", was a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. She made frequent appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and starred with him in the telefilm The Case.
Although principally raised in Australia, Newton-John remained a British subject throughout her childhood and did not formally become an Australian citizen until 1981 with an application that was expedited by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
