About The Song
“Hopelessly Devoted to You” is a song recorded by British-Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John for Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978). It was written and produced by John Farrar and originally performed by Newton-John in the film version of the musical Grease (1978). The song was released in Australia in August 1978 and peaked at number two. It reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number seven on the Adult Contemporary chart. On the country chart, “Hopelessly Devoted to You” peaked at number 20 and was her first top 20 country hit in two years. Newton-John performed the song at the 21st Grammy Awards in 1979.
Olivia Newton-John’s contract for Grease stipulated that she should have a solo spot. However, nobody had any ideas for a song for her character, Sandy, until Olivia’s producer John Farrar came up with “Hopelessly Devoted To You” halfway through the shoot. Director Randal Kleiser wasn’t wholly convinced by the song at first and had to come up with an entirely new scene to fit it in. It was eventually filmed and recorded after the movie had wrapped and it earned the film’s only Oscar nomination, for Best Music – Original Song.
John Travolta evoked this song when he introduced the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars in 2023, seven months after Olivia Newton-John died of cancer at 73. “In this industry we have the rare luxury of getting to do what we love for a living, and sometimes getting to do it with people we come to love,” a tearful Travolta said. “They’ve touched our hearts, they’ve made us smile, and became dear friends that we will always remain hopelessly devoted to.”