Helen Maxine Reddy 25 October 1941 29 September 2020 was an AustralianAmerican singer songwriter author actress and activist Born in Melbourne Victoria to a showbusiness family Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four She sang on radio and television and won a talent contest on the television program Bandstand in 1966 her prize was a ticket to New York City and a record audition which was unsuccessful She pursued her international singing career by moving to Chicago and subsequently Los Angeles where she made her debut singles One Way Ticket and I Believe in Music in 1968 and 1970 respectively The Bside of the latter single I Dont Know How to Love Him reached number eight on the pop chart of Canadian magazine RPM She was signed to Capitol Records a year later During the 1970s Reddy enjoyed international success especially in the United States where she placed 15 singles on the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 Six made the top 10 and three reached number one including her signature hit I Am Woman She placed 25 songs on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart 15 made the top 10 and eight reached number one six consecutively In 1974 at the inaugural American Music Awards she won the award for Favorite PopRock Female Artist On television she was the first Australian to host a onehour weekly primetime variety show on an American network along with specials that were seen in more than 40 countries Between the 1980s and 1990s as her single I Cant Say Goodbye to You became her last to chart in the US Reddy acted in musicals and recorded albums such as Center Stage before retiring from live performance in 2002 She returned to university in Australia earned a degree and practised as a clinical hypnotherapist and motivational speaker In 2011 after singing Breezin Along with the Breeze with her halfsister Toni Lamond for Lamonds birthday Reddy decided to return to live performing Reddys song I Am Woman played a significant role in popular culture becoming an anthem for secondwave feminism She came to be known as a feminist poster girl or a feminist icon In 2011 Billboard named her the number28 adult contemporary artist of all time number9 woman In 2013 the Chicago Tribune dubbed her the Queen of 70s Pop Description above from the Wikipedia article Helen Reddy licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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