9 Aug 2022

Producer Chong Lim remembers friend Olivia Newton John

From Checkpoint, 5:55 pm on 9 August 2022

Tributes have been flowing from friends around the world after Olivia Newton John died at the age of 73.

Melbourne-based producer Chong Lim was friends with Dame Olivia for decades and worked as her music director and producer from the late 1990s.

"It's a very, very sad day today, we've lost a shining light," he told Checkpoint.

She had called him and left a humorous message on his phone about three weeks ago, Lim said.

"I was pretty busy then, I thought I'd give her a call and ironically it was today when I was going to call her.

"And unbeknownst to me she was sick. That's the kind of person she is. Always a sunny disposition, always thinking of everyone else besides herself.

"I really wished I had returned the call. I wonder what the call was about."

Lim had known Dame Olivia had been fighting cancer over recent years, but he said she was always thinking of others before herself.

"She was fantastic to work with… a very generous spirit and very friendly, but she was a perfectionist and nothing goes past her. She was a very sharp musician, an incredible musician at that. And if you did something wrong, she point you out. But very nicely.

"She was a Beyonce and Lady Gaga over time. She had a number one single, number one album, had a number one movie and she won numerous Grammys.

"She was the top of her field in in her day way before streaming…  She was a true superstar. And you can feel it when you meet her. She's very humble and very nice, but you can feel her regal presence. There's someone who's done something in the world, you feel that."

Lim told Checkpoint Olivia's legacy will be her cancer research and the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.

"She single-handedly raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build that hospital for cancer patients.

"I think that will be her incredible, everlasting legacy to the world."

And of course her music, he said. "Everyone knows Grease and everyone knows Xanadu and all the wonderful songs and movies she's been in. That will be her legacy."