Sam Bowden

"Don't Stop Believin' is an album by Olivia Newton-John, released in 1976 and her first to be recorded in Nashville. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA and peaked at #33 on the US Pop chart and #7 on the US Country chart, and became her third chart-topping album in the Netherlands. The first single was the title track which peaked at #33 on the Hot 100 and #1 Adult Contemporary. "Every Face Tells a Story" ended Olivia's streak of seven consecutive #1 AC hits from 1974's "I Honestly Love You" through 1976's "Don't Stop Believin'". "Every Face…" also ended her streak of nine Top 40 hits in a row with its #55 peak. 1977's "Sam" was Olivia's highest-charting hit on the Hot 100 since the #13 peak of "Something Better to Do" in 1975, and was also her seventh Dutch chart-topping single. "Don't Stop Believin'", "Compasionate Man" and "Sam" were all released as singles to promote the album in Japan.

Of the many centennial tributes to Ellington, this one offers a stance that is marginally authentic, claiming to give a glimpse of what Ellington would've sounded like had he been a pop artist, which he was not. George Duke produced this session with three different big bands: one from L.A., another in Chicago, and the third is "Kashif's Biggest Band." There are many outstanding legit jazz artists playing in these big bands though, and they lend a certain amount of traditional feel within this overtly watered-down Ellington-ian effort.

"Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits" is the 1st greatest hits album by Olivia Newton-John released in 1977 in the United States. In some other regions, Newton-John released a 1974 compilation, "Greatest Hits - First Impressions". This album was therefore marketed instead as "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" and featured a different track listing. The album collected all of Newton-John's American Top 40 singles released between 1971 and 1977. "Changes" was the only track not released as a single, but it was one of Newton-John's first self-written songs that she recorded. The album was Newton-John's first Platinum certification peaking #13 Pop and #7 Country. It ended up being certified double Platinum in the US and Platinum in the UK and Canada, and also Gold in Hong Kong. The LP sold 133,660 and the cassette 27,150 copies in Japan.