It’s a collab for the ages.
A reimagined version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” with the late Olivia Newton-John was released Friday. The track will be featured on the “Grease” singer’s album, “Just the Two of Us: The Duets Collection,” out May 5, which she recorded before her death.
The four-time Grammy-winning Newton-John died after a long battle with cancer on Aug. 8, 2022. She was 73.
A music video for the new duet shows Newton-John and Parton recording the song, on separate occasions it seems, as Newton-John tracks her vocals, sitting still in a tall chair while Parton stands, bouncing around as she re-records her 1974 classic hit.
“I’m so excited to be working with Olivia Newton-John, one of my favorites of all time,” Parton said in the clip. “We’ve always kind of stayed close through the years, and I am just so proud to be a part of this duet project that she’s doing.”
The legendary duo became friends in 1974 after Newton-John won the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year award. She is still the only non-American-born artist to win that trophy.
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Newton-John honored their friendship by recording her own version of “Jolene” for her 1976 album “Come On Over.”
“I have always wanted to record with Dolly,” Newton-John said during an interview in 2021, according to a news release. “She was always there for me and what she did for me early on in my career in Nashville is something I will never forget.”
Other collaborators on Newton-John’s upcoming duets album include Mariah Carey, Michael McDonald, John Travolta, Barry Gibb, Vanessa Amorosi, Jon Secada, her daughter Chloe Lattanzi and more.
Also Friday, Lattanzi, 37 revealed that the last words her mother said to her before she passed were: “My sunshine.”
“Right before she lost her ability to speak, she was making jokes,” she recalled.
Patron also has new music coming. Her album “Rockstar” — which she was inspired to make after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year — will include collaborations with Paul McCartney, Stephen Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Steve Perry, John Fogerty, Pink and Brandi Carlile.
