"Don't Stop Believin'" by Olivia Newton-John

I was midway through "Arrow Through the Heart," a biography of Andy Gibb (reviewed here), when Olivia Newton-John passed away at the age of 73.  Since I was already immersed in a book about '70s music and musicians (including ONJ who, like the Bee Gees and Andy Gibb, was born in England but grew up in Australia), it seemed logical that her 2019 memoir "Don't Stop Believin' (which was also in my e-reader) should be my next read.   

(You might think, with that title, the book would be about the band Journey...! -- but it's also the title of a ONJ song and album from 1976, several years before Journey's classic song with the same title.) 

I'm a longtime fan of her music, dating back to the early 1970s, but I learned so much about Olivia Newton-John from this book (and was reminded of things I'd forgotten too).  She had a lot of sadness and tragedy in her life:  As a child, she lived through her parents' divorce. Over a very short period of time, her beloved goddaughter died of a rare form of cancer, her father died of liver cancer, her older sister Rona died of brain cancer in 2013, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 (which came back not once but TWICE, and which she treated with a combination of traditional and natural healing therapies). She also fractured her pelvis in 2018!  In the romance department, her marriage to much-younger actor Matt Lattanzi disintegrated;  a later relationship with cameraman Patrick McDermott ended bizarrely when he simply vanished into thin air from a fishing trip. In her later years, she found happiness with businessman and herbalist John Easterling. 

ONJ's experiences led her to become an activist for  cancer treatment, research and wellness (there's a cancer treatment and wellness centre in Melbourne, Australia, that bears her name), as well as environmental and conservation issues. I will admit that I found some of her thoughts about healing just a little "woo-woo" -- particularly a trip to the Peruvian rainforest with her future husband, Easterling -- but through everything, she remained upbeat and positive, and that's the tone and message that permeates this book. It's poignant to read the final chapter, in which she writes, "I'm winning for the third time when it comes to cancer." If only...! 

From an ALI perspective, Olivia endured multiple miscarriages before and after giving birth prematurely to her daughter, Chloe, in 1986 when she was in her late 30s, and was planning to adopt a Romanian orphan before her cancer was diagnosed.  And after the death of her sister in 2013, she teamed up with Amy Sky and Beth Nielsen Chapman to write and record the album "Liv On,"  all about carrying on after loss and grief. In the final chapter, she describes a retreat she attended in Cancun, Mexico, with a small group of other women living with cancer. "Just spending this time with these strong, amazing women left me feeling so empowered," she wrote. "Women reinforcing women is a powerful healing tool."  Amen to that!

She had a full, amazing life!  I am so sad that we've lost her, far too soon -- she was a bright light in this world. But what a legacy! 

4 stars on Goodreads. 

This was Book #34 read to date in 2022 (and Book #3 finished in August), bringing me to 76% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 7 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2022 tagged as "2022 books."