Jim Brickman Releases Long-Lost Olivia Newton-John Collaboration ‘My Dream’

It’s a happy day in our house as Grammy-nominated songwriter/pianist Jim Brickman has released a new (long lost!) Olivia Newton-John song,”My Dream,” featuring the Italian vocal trio Il Volo. As regular TRR readers know, my husband was Olivia’s publicist for 20+ years. He was also Jim’s publicist for over a decade. In 1999, when Jim was prepping for his PBS TV special “My Romance,” Michael introduced the two and they hit it off. Not only did she do the TV special but they began writing music together.

Fifteen years ago, Brickman got together with Olivia for a songwriting session. One song they never finished, however, was a duet called “My Dream,” which is being unveiled today. Jim recalls the song was written at a special time in Olivia’s life when she was bursting with ideas. “I remember that songwriting session. She was talking about her dreams—all the things she wanted to do, including starting the foundation. I said what she was saying sounded like the basis for a song, and we started writing together,” Brickman revealed. Jim, who’s been a staple in Adult Contemporary music since the 90s, shares this amazing story of finding the demo recording on a cassette tape as he rummaged some boxes in his home.

Hear Olivia Newton-John Sing About Her ‘Dream’ on Long Lost Recording Pal Jim Brickman Discovered After Her Death (Exclusive) https://t.co/g1PMC3xdH0

— People (@people) September 19, 2024

From PEOPLE:

The two formed a close friendship and began writing songs together. It wasn’t until after she died and Brickman was rummaging through old cassette tapes that he found an unfinished version of “My Dream.”

Thinking back, “It all happened in one day at Olivia’s house in Malibu,” he says. “First writing in the morning and then recording a quick demo in the afternoon at John Farrar’s, Olivia’s longtime collaborator’s, studio. The version you hear now, is from that original session. A very relaxed and happy day.”

Originally, “It started as a romantic duet,” he says, “but has now become more significant as a theme that resonated with Olivia about her Dream and hope for a cure for cancer.”

It’s amazing that technology could pull her voice from a demo cassette, create this whole arrangement with Il Volo, and that it could all sound soooooo good. I initially thought, “Oh, this is classic Olivia.” But really, this is exactly the kind of gorgeous music Olivia would be putting out today if she were still with us. As the world knows, we lost Olivia to her cancer journey in August 2022. You can stream the song on your favorite music platform here. Or for direct links to buy the new single (all proceeds go to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund), you can purchase/download from Apple Music here or on Amazon here. Jim shares the full story of how the song came to be in the clip below.