The Influence of ONJ

Back before karaoke became a thing to do at bars in the USA, my family friend gatherings included a karaoke session once the Yabut family got a machine.  Soon, we had a karaoke machine, too, which was probably the time I stopped playing the piano regularly to accompany myself when I felt the need to sing a song.

Growing up in 70s and 80s, my singing idol was Olivia Newton-John.  While others were praising "I Honestly Love You", my favorite was "Please, Mr., Please".  I always was a torch song kind of person, I guess.  That one was never available for me to sing, though.

The song that I actually sang, which became my standard, was "Hopelessly Devoted to You".  It was my song.  The family members knew to just queue it up whenever they saw me get up to sing.  Yeah, I sang other songs, too, but this was expected of me, and I loved singing it, especially when I hit that high note well at the end of the song.

Mercifully, I grew up at a time where cell phones were not a thing yet, so there isn't any video for me to show you.  I know there's video out there somewhere, but I'll just spare everyone from whatever I sounded like before I had formal vocal training.  :)

Naturally, that was my favorite song from "Grease".  Then ONJ went on to the film "Xanadu", and I sang all of those songs over and over again, too, just not on karaoke.  I loved all of those songs, and even sang the Gene Kelly parts.  As weird as that movie was, I could probably sing along to those songs today and still know all of the words.  My favorite out of that album was "Suspended In Time".

I wasn't so much into her newer stuff, but I did like "Twist of Fate".

Here's a video of her concert from 1982.  I'm going to watch this in its entirety today.

I remember being heartbroken when she first announced being diagnosed with breast cancer.  She lived through a few scares of that, and remained strong, which is probably why, even when I didn't listen to her new music, she was still that idol for me.

My idol is gone now, but I will never forget how much I wanted to be like her.  At the very least, I wanted to be Sandy.  :)  

Rest in peace, Olivia Newton-John.  Thank you for keeping me Hopelessly Devoted to You.