Olivia Newton-John -- I Honestly Love You

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We're not too far away from the third anniversary of the passing of Olivia Newton-John who left this mortal coil in August 2022. It's hard for me to think of her as anyone else other than that pretty young blonde woman with the softest vocals imaginable, although she died at the age of 73.

For a lot of her file under Reminiscings of Youth, I've covered her discography going from the 1970s into the 1980s when she was tackling pop and dance music such as "Physical". And yet, my earliest memories of her go to the pink SONY radio when she was releasing the softer ballads and country music from the early 1970s. One of her most memorable songs from that period was "I Honestly Love You" which was released in August 1974, and created by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen.

I guarantee if they had played this ballad at her funeral, there probably wasn't a single dry eye in the place. It is one of the most tenderhearted love songs that I ever heard and if I did listen to this one on the day that the media announced her death, I probably wouldn't have been too dry-eyed either. As I recall, this got plenty of airplay, and not surprisingly, "I Honestly Love You" was a huge hit around the planet, hitting No. 1 in both America and Canada among other places. It also won Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 1975 Grammys.

Couldn't find an exact date for the release of "I Honestly Love You" aside from that month of August in 1974 so why not go with what was part of the Top 10 on Oricon on August 5th that year? I've got Nos. 1, 5 and 8.

1. Tonosama Kings -- Meoto Kagami（夫婦鏡）

5. Momoe Yamaguchi -- Hito Natsu no Keiken（ひと夏経験）

8. Finger Five -- Koi no American Football（恋のアメリカン・フットボール）