New Footage of Olivia Newton-John Singing ‘Jolene’ With Dolly Parton Has Been Released
Previously unseen footage of Olivia Newton-John and Dolly Parton singing ‘Jolene’ has been shared.
The duet will be included on Newton- John’s forthcoming posthumous album ‘Just the Two of Us: The Duets Collection’. Olivia Newton-John, the iconic singer and Grease star, passed away last August at the age of 73.
Newton-John had been working on a duets album before her death which is set to be released this May. Parton began the new video by introducing herself (“in case you didn’t recognise me”) before saying how “excited” she is to be working with Newton-John.
She went on to call Newton-John, “one of my favourites of all time.”
“We’ve always stayed close through the years and I am just so proud to be part of this duets project that she’s doing,” she added. “We’re singing one of my favourite [songs] that I’ve ever written ‘Jolene’. She says it’s one of her favourites, so why not just do a duet on our favourite?”
Newton-John added: “I’m excited, I’ve always wanted to sing with Dolly.”
“[Dolly] was always there for me and what she did for me early on in my career in Nashville is something I will never forget,” Newton-John said in an accompanying press release.
They met for the first time in 1974, after Newton-John was named Country Music Association Female Vocalist Of The Year. According to the New York Post, she is the only non-American-born artist to have won the award. She later recorded her own version of ‘Jolene’ for her 1976 album ‘Come On Over’.
The full tracklisting for Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Just the Two of Us: The Duets Collection’ is yet to be revealed, but the compilation album will include a mix of new and archive performances with Mariah Carey, Michael McDonald, John Travolta, Barry Gibb, Vanessa Amorosi, Jon Secada and her daughter Chloe Lattanzi.
Meanwhile, Dolly Parton is hard at work on her new album, ‘Rock Star,’ which will include covers of songs by Prince, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
–Silviya.Y
