Newton-John’s musical career included the chart-topper I Honestly Love You, released the same year as her 1974 performance at the Eurovision Song Contest, where she finished fourth behind Swedish supergroup ABBA.

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In 1978, she delivered a performance that would remain central to her fame for the rest of her life: she played Sandy Olsson opposite John Travolta as Danny Zuko in the film adaptation of the Broadway smash hit Grease.

The film, including signature duets of Summer Nights and You’re the One That I Want with Travolta, remains one of the most successful films of all time, earning more than a third of a billion dollars at the US box office.

In the film, which co-starred Stockard Channing and Didi Conn, Newton-John played an Australian schoolgirl transplanted into Rydell High School in America.

For Newton-John and Travolta the film laid the foundation of a lifelong friendship, the pair intermittently reuniting on concert stages and at special events to perform the movie’s signature songs.

Travolta was among the first to pay tribute to Newton-John publicly.

“My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” Travolta wrote in a post to his Instagram account.

“Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever. Your Danny, your John.”

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As the news of Newton-John’s death broke early in the Los Angeles afternoon, other tributes followed.

Actor Jane Lynch, who sang Physical with Newton-John in an episode of Glee, wrote simply: “ONJ. Angel.”

Director James Gunn, who bought her home in Malibu years ago, described her as “my first real crush as a kid”.

“Really sad to hear about the passing of Olivia Newton-John,” he wrote on his Twitter account. “I loved Grease and her music. May she rest in peace.”

Later, Newton-John evolved musically with more emotionally complex work, such as the albums Warm and Tender and Stronger Than Before.

She also shifted her focus to healing and wellbeing, following a much-publicised battle with cancer, and started the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.

In the statement posted to her official Facebook account, Newton-John’s family has asked that donations be made in her memory to the fund.

Newton-John received an OBE in 1979, and in 2019 was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, though the title Dame Olivia did not fall into everyday usage.

She was admitted to the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame in 2002; in 2019 she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Newton-John was married twice; first to actor Matt Lattanzi in 1984, who she met on the set of the film Xanadu. The couple had a daughter, Chloe, in 1986 and divorced amicably in 1995.

In 2008, Newton-John married businessman John Easterling in an Incan spiritual ceremony. The couple bought a home on Jupiter Island, Florida, but never moved there. They later bought a horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, outside Santa Barbara.

Newton-John is survived by Easterling, daughter Chloe Lattanzi, sister Sarah Newton-John and brother Toby Newton-John.

She is also survived by her nieces and nephews Tottie, Fiona and Brett Goldsmith; Emerson, Charlie, Zac, Jeremy, Randall, and Pierz Newton-John; Jude Newton-Stock, Layla Lee; Kira and Tasha Edelstein; and Brin and Valerie Hall.