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John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Strangers (1964–70), Marvin, Welch & Farrar (1970–73), and The Shadows (1973–76). In 1980, he released a solo album. As a songwriter and producer, he worked with Olivia Newton-John from 1971 to 1989. He wrote her U.S. number-one hit singles: "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "You're the One That I Want" (1978 duet with John Travolta), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978), and "Magic" (1980). He also produced the majority of her recorded material during that time, including her number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975), and Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1982). He was a co-producer of the for the film Grease (1978).
Farrar also produced Newton-John's first American number-one hit single, "I Honestly Love You", which was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1975. In 1969, Farrar married the Australian singer Pat Carroll, who had been Newton-John's singing partner. In July 1970, Farrar and Carroll relocated to the United Kingdom and, since late 1975, they have resided in the United States. They are the parents of Sam Farrar, bassist of Phantom Planet and Maroon 5, and Max Farrar, a composer and producer whose work includes songs with Lewis Capaldi and The Script.
In August 1964, The Strangers were hired as the house band for the ATV O pop music program, The Go!! Show. Both Farrar's future wife, Pat Carroll, and their close friend, Olivia Newton-John, appeared on The Go!! Show as singers backed by The Strangers. Carroll and Newton-John formed a vocal duo, "Pat and Olivia", and in 1967, they first toured the United Kingdom, including a gig at the infamous Raymond Revuebar club in Soho.
After returning to Australia from a tour, Carroll could no longer work in the UK because her work visa had expired, while Newton-John, who was a British citizen, returned to work in the UK. Farrar dated and married Carroll and, following their wedding in 1970, Carroll stopped pursuing headliner status. She occasionally reprised the duo with Newton-John, and worked as a session singer on Farrar's or Newton-John's work. During 1968, The Strangers supported the Australian leg of a tour by the British instrumental group, The Shadows. In June 1970, The Strangers released their most successful hit, "Melanie Makes Me Smile", which peaked at No. 14 on the Go-Set National Top 60 in August.
Farrar left the Strangers in July 1970.
Farrar also worked as a backing guitarist and vocalist with Cliff Richard. Marvin, Welch & Farrar put out two albums, an one in 1971, and Second Opinion (in both quadraphonic and stereo formats) in 1972. In 1973, a third album featured just Marvin and Farrar. The Shadows reformed soon after, and Farrar joined as second lead guitarist and vocalist. In 1975, the group represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Let Me Be the One". In 1973, Farrar had appeared in the same contest as a backing guitarist and vocalist for Richard's entry, "Power to All Our Friends". The following year he backed and produced Newton-John on her effort, "Long Live Love".
From 1971 to 1976, various members of The Shadows were employed as session musicians for Newton-John's early albums, recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios. Aside from Farrar and Welch, they included Brian Bennett, Alan Hawkshaw, Alan Tarney, Dave Richmond, and Trevor Spencer. Some other session musicians were the fellow Australians Kevin Peek and Terry Britten, who had both worked with Richard, and some other musicians. They worked under co-producers Farrar and Welch until midway through Newton-John's second album, Olivia. Thereafter, Farrar was her main producer. He produced her number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975), and Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1982). Farrar also produced Newton-John's first American number-one hit single, "I Honestly Love You", which was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1975. His last production for Newton-John was her album, Warm and Tender in 1989.
Farrar's work with Newton-John embraced a wide range of styles, from "You're the One That I Want" (duet with John Travolta) to "Physical". Farrar's biggest success with Newton-John as a writer-producer came with the film version of the musical, Grease. In 1977, during filming, its producers were replacing some of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's pieces from the original score and wanted some more commercial songs, including a solo number for Newton-John, so Farrar wrote and submitted two originals, "Hopelessly Devoted To You" and "You're the One That I Want". Both were accepted, despite strong reservations from director Randal Kleiser, who believed that the songs didn't fit the style, and became two of the soundtrack's most successful singles, being international number-one hits during 1978.
In June 2004, Farrar recalled writing the two songs: "'You're the One That I Want': The weird thing was it was the fastest song I ever wrote. It came so fast, the actual melody and the feel of it. 'Hopelessly Devoted To You': I spent the longest period writing the lyrics of any song I've ever written. Every thesaurus and every rhyming dictionary I had, just trying to really make it work properly". Other number-one hits for Newton-John that were written and produced by Farrar are "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "Don't Stop Believin'" (an easy-listening chart-topper from 1976, not the Journey song of the same name), and "Magic" (1980). Farrar produced one side of the Xanadu soundtrack for the 1980 film of the same name. The other side featured tracks by Electric Light Orchestra and was produced by their guitarist-vocalist, Jeff Lynne. In March 1981, Farrar was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the song "Suspended in Time" from Xanadu.
In 1995, Farrar collaborated with Newton-John and lyricist Tim Rice on the score of Cliff Richard's musical, Heathcliff based on the Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights. Farrar also co-wrote songs for a musical based on the 1959 film, Gidget, which, , had been indefinitely postponed. Farrar runs the Moonee Ponds Studio at Sweetwater Road in Malibu.
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