Olivia Newton-John returns with new songs

"I kept waking up at night with with songs in my head," she told a sold-out casino crowd Saturday night.

That prompted her album "Gaia: One Woman's Journey" on which she wrote all the songs. "One Woman's Journey" also is the title of her first tour since she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"I'm really very, very lucky. I treasure every day," she told a cheering audience that responded with three standing ovations - the longest and loudest after an energetic three-song set from "Grease," the 1978 ode to 1950s high school angst in which she starred with John Travolta.

The two-hour performance concentrates on her Grease-era hits like "Please Mr. Please," "Have You Never Been Mellow?" and 1974's "I Honestly Love You" that she re-recorded on last year's "Back With a Heart" album.

"It's such a wonderful song I didn't want anybody else covering it but me," she said.

A non-Newton-John medly highlights songs associated with three late artists - John Denver, Karen Carpenter and Linda McCartney: "Someone who lost the fight I won."

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