Olivia Newton John & Electric Light Orchestra ~ Xanadu 1980 Disco Purrfection Version

There were actually three performers in "Xanadu", Olivia, The Tubes and The Electric Light Orchestra. The title theme "Xanadu" had Olivia vocalizing over the Beatlesque strains of ELO. A British band, they were better accepted by the American public than in their homeland by incorporating the classical elements of rock and fusing them in the manner of the Fab Four. By the time they recorded "Eldorado, A Symphony", they were recording with a classical orchestra and choir instead of doing overdubs. "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" took them to the top 10 in the US, and follow up singles like "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" kept them in the American consciousness. ELO holds the record for the most Top 40 songs appearing on the chart without ever having reached #1. Their most successful US single was the rock oriented "Don't Bring Me Down" #4 hit from their 1979 LP "Discovery". Jeff Lynne was approached by the producers of a new Olivia Newton John vehicle called "Xanadu" to write and perform half the soundtrack songs, with John Farrar completing the LP. The soundtrack album went double platinum, and ELO scored three top 20 singles, "I'm Alive" at #16, "Xanadu" at #8 and "All Over The World" at #13. Their chart fortunes continued with 1981's "Time" and the singles "Hold On Tight" and "Twilight". They had two more top 20 singles. Lynne famously went on to establish a new supergroup, The "Travelling Wilburys" comprised of Roy Orbison, Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and George Harrison.