Helen Reddy
Singer
THE SINGER Helen Reddy, who has died at 78, was best- known for the feminist anthem I Am Woman, which was also the title of a film about her, released only three weeks ago.
She was no one- hit wonder, though, having scored 15 top 40 singles and three number ones and sustained a career since 1971, when her version of I Don’t Know How to Love Him from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar was released.
Her other hits included Ain’t No Way To Treat a Lady, Angie Baby and You and Me Against the World.
But she acknowledged that
I Am Woman was a hard act to follow. It became a worldwide phenomenon and won her the best female vocal pop performance Grammy in 1973 –
prompting her contemporary, Alice Cooper, to call her the “queen of housewife rock”.
A performer since childhood, Ms Reddy was part of a showbusiness family in Melbourne, Australia. She won a talent contest that brought her to Mercury Records in the United States and launched her recording career, although she recalled she had to overcome industry executives who pigeonholed her as a jazz singer.
She retired from performing in the 1990s and returned to Australia, gaining a degree in
clinical hypnotherapy. She later returned to California, where in the 1970s she had served on a statewide Parks and Recreation Commission, and also returned to the stage occasionally.
Three years ago she performed I Am Woman at a women’s march in Los Angeles, singing alongside the actor Jamie Lee Curtis, who said it was the “honour of my life” to introduce her at the event.
Married and divorced three times, Ms Reddy is survived by two daughters and by her grandchildren.