Olivia Newton-John, the four-time Grammy winner passed away in her southern California home, at the age of 73 in August after losing a battle with breast cancer.
The 2022 American Music Awards turned emotional when pop star Pink paid a heartfelt tribute to the late actress and singer, Olivia Newton-John at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. According to PEOPLE, the 43-year-old singer performed Newton-John’s hit track Hopeless Devoted To You from her 1978 movie Grease. The singer performed in a sparkling gown with feather motifs in the shade of champagne as some of the iconic images from Olivia Newton-John’s career flashed on the gigantic screen behind Pink. The four-time Grammy winner passed away in her southern California home, at the age of 73 in August after losing a battle with breast cancer.
Ahead of her performance, Pink had a chat with Entertainment Tonight and called Olivia “an absolute icon”.
“I can't tell you what I'm singing, but I will tell you that my daughter Willow did Grease in her last summer production, and she is teaching me the song," she added.
However, in the past few weeks, Pink had remained tight-lipped about her performance at the 2022 AMAs and she dropped no hints to her fans on what they could expect during her stage performance. While making an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she teased, “It’ll be magical.”
It was Pink’s second performance on the night of the AMAs where she paid tribute to Newton-John and earlier in the evening she performed her new single Never Gonna Not Dance Again live. The So What hitmaker walked down the red carpet with her husband of 16 years, Carey Hart, and their two children, Willow and Jameson. Pink also announced her ninth studio album TRUSTFALL, which will be her first since 2019’s Hurts 2B Human, on Good Morning America.
According to The Hindu, Olivia Newton-John, who shot to fame with her film Grease opposite John Travolta, had a successful music career as well which span decades and earned her 4 Grammys. She disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis several years ago and talked about how it has metastasized and spread to her back, which forced her to cancel several of her performances. She soared on the top of the world’s pop music charts in the 1970s and 1980s with songs like I Honestly Love You and Physical.
Upon her death, Newton-John's Grease co-star John Travolta had also posted on his Instagram, in her memory and wrote, "My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again."
A beautiful tribute to Olivia Newton-John from @Pink💘
— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 21, 2022
The #AMAs are LIVE on ABC, tune in. 👀 pic.twitter.com/ePwIGOQLVQ
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6EU2KHR8rQ
https://twitter.com/ABCNetwork/status/1594454199068413952
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Matt Winkelmeyer
