Early years

Helen Reddy was born into a well-known Australian show business family in Melbourne, where she attended Tintern Grammar. Her mother, Stella Campbell (née Lamond), was an actress, and her father, Maxwell David "Max" Reddy, was a writer, producer, and actor.

Her half-sister, Toni Lamond, and her nephew, Tony Sheldon, are actor-singers. She has Irish, Scottish and English ancestry. Her great grandfather, Scotsman Thomas Lamond, was a one-time mayor of Waterloo, New South Wales, whose patron was Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead. Her maternal grandmother, Stella Lamond (née Pearl), sang and danced in small parts at the Majestic Theatre in Sydney. Patsy Reddy, New Zealand's Governor-General designate, is a distant cousin.

Reddy was born during World War II, six weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her father was a sergeant in the Australian Army with a unit of entertainers; he served alongside one of his actor friends, Peter Finch. They were serving together in New Guinea at the time of Helen's birth. Her father returned to service during the Korean War.

At age 4, she joined her parents on the Australian vaudeville circuit, singing and dancing; she recalled: "It was instilled in me: You will be a star. So between the ages of 12 and 17, I got rebellious and decided this was not for me. I was going to be a housewife and mother." Reddy's teenage rebellion in favour of domesticity manifested as marriage to Kenneth Claude Weate, a considerably older musician and family friend; divorce ensued and, to support herself as a single mother to daughter Traci, she resumed her performing career, concentrating on singing, since health problems precluded dancing (she had a kidney removed at 17). She sang on radio and television, eventually winning a talent contest on the Australian pop music TV show Bandstand, the prize ostensibly being a trip to New York City to cut a single for Mercury Records. After arriving in New York in 1966, she was informed by Mercury that her prize was only the chance to audition for the label, and that Mercury considered the Bandstand footage to constitute her audition, which was deemed unsuccessful. Despite possessing only $200 and a return ticket to Australia, she elected to remain in the United States with 3-year-old Traci and pursue a singing career.

Reddy recalled her 1966 appearance at the Three Rivers Inn in Syracuse, New York - "there were like twelve people in the audience" - as typical of her early U.S. performing career. Her lack of a work permit made it difficult to obtain any singing jobs in the U.S., and she was forced to make several trips to Canada which did not require work permits for citizens of Commonwealth countries like Australia. In the spring of 1968, Martin St. James - a hypnotist/entertainer and fellow Australian she had met in New York City - threw Reddy a party with an admission price of $5 to enable Reddy - then down to her last $12 - to pay her rent. It was on this occasion that Reddy met her future manager and husband Jeff Wald, a 22-year-old secretary at the William Morris Agency who crashed the party: Reddy told People in 1975, " didn't pay the five dollars, but it was love at first sight."

Wald recalled that he and Reddy married three days after meeting and, along with daughter Traci, the couple took up residence at the Hotel Albert in Greenwich Village. Reddy later stated that she married Wald "out of desperation over her right to work and live in the United States." According to New York Magazine, Wald was fired from William Morris soon after having met Reddy, and "Helen supported them for six months doing $35-a-night hospital and charity benefits. They were so broke that they snuck out of a hotel room carrying their clothes in paper bags." Reddy recalled: "When we did eat, it was spaghetti, and we spent what little money we had on cockroach spray." They left New York City for Chicago and Wald landed a job as talent coordinator at Mister Kelly's. While in Chicago, Reddy gained a reputation singing in local lounges - including Mister Kelly's - and, in the spring of 1968, she landed a deal with Fontana Records, a division of major label Chicago-based Mercury Records. Her first single, "One Way Ticket", on Fontana was not an American hit, but it did give Reddy her first ever appearance on any chart as it peaked at No. 83 in her native Australia.

The "I Am Woman" era and stardom

Within a year, Wald relocated Reddy and Traci to Los Angeles, where he was hired at Capitol Records, the label under which Reddy was to attain stardom; however, Wald was hired and fired the same day.

Reddy became frustrated as Wald found success managing such acts as Deep Purple and Tiny Tim without making any evident effort to promote her; after 18 months of career inactivity, Reddy gave Wald an ultimatum: "he either revitalize her career or get out... Jeff threw himself into his new career as Mr. Helen Reddy. Five months of phone calls to Capitol Records executive Artie Mogull finally paid off: Mogull agreed to let Helen cut one single if Jeff promised not to call for a month. She did 'I Believe in Music' penned by Mac Davis b/w 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' from Rice and Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. The A-side fell flat but then some Canadian DJ's flipped the record over and ... It became a hit - No. 13 in June 1971 - and Helen Reddy was on her way."

Reddy's stardom was solidified when her single "I Am Woman" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972. The song was co-written by Reddy with Ray Burton; Reddy has attributed the impetus for writing "I Am Woman" and her early awareness of the women's movement to expatriate Australian rock critic and pioneer feminist Lillian Roxon. Reddy is quoted in Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits as saying that she was looking for songs to record which reflected the positive self-image she had gained from joining the women's movement, but could not find any, so "I realized that the song I was looking for didn't exist, and I was going to have to write it myself."

"I Am Woman" was recorded and released in May 1972 but barely dented the charts in its initial release. However, female listeners soon adopted the song as an anthem and began requesting it from their local radio stations in droves, resulting in its September chart re-entry and eventual No. 1 peak. "I Am Woman" earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. At the awards ceremony, Reddy concluded her acceptance speech by famously thanking God "because She makes everything possible". The success of "I Am Woman" made Reddy the first native of Australia to top the U.S. charts.

Three decades after her Grammy, Reddy discussed the song's iconic status: "I think it came along at the right time. I'd gotten involved in the Women's Movement, and there were a lot of songs on the radio about being weak and being dainty and all those sort of things. All the women in my family, they were strong women. They worked. They lived through the Depression and a world war, and they were just strong women. I certainly didn't see myself as being dainty," she said.

Over the next five years following her first success, Reddy had more than a dozen U.S. Top 40 hits, including two more No. 1 hits. They included Kenny Rankin's "Peaceful" (No. 12), the Alex Harvey country ballad "Delta Dawn" (No. 1), Linda Laurie's "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" (No. 3), Austin Roberts' "Keep on Singing" (No. 15), Paul Williams' "You and Me Against the World" (featuring daughter Traci reciting the spoken bookends) (No. 9), Alan O'Day's "Angie Baby" (No. 1), Véronique Sanson's and Patti Dahlstrom's "Emotion" (No. 22), Harriet Schock's "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" (No. 8), and the Richard Kerr/Will Jennings-penned "Somewhere in the Night" (No. 19; three years later a bigger hit for Barry Manilow). Reddy's total sales figures for the United Sales are estimated in excess of 10 million singles and 15 million albums; her worldwide album sales tally is estimated in excess of 25 million.

At the height of her fame in the mid-1970s, Reddy was a headliner, with a full chorus of backup singers and dancers to standing-room-only crowds on The Strip in Las Vegas. Among Reddy's opening acts were Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Bill Cosby and Barry Manilow. In 1976, Reddy covered the Beatles song "The Fool on the Hill" for the musical documentary All This and World War II.

Reddy was also instrumental in furthering the career of friend Olivia Newton-John, encouraging her to move from Britain to the United States in the early 1970s, giving her the best opportunity to expand her career. At a subsequent party at Reddy's house after a chance meeting with Allan Carr, the film's producer, Newton-John then won the starring role in the hit film version of the musical Grease.

Career eclipse

Reddy was most successful on the Easy Listening chart, scoring eight No. 1 hits there over a three-year span, from "Delta Dawn" in 1973 to "I Can't Hear You No More" in 1976. However, the latter track evidenced a sharp drop in popularity for Reddy, with a No. 29 peak on the Billboard Hot 100. Reddy's 1977 remake of Cilla Black's 1964 hit "You're My World" indicated comeback potential, with a No. 18 peak, but this track - co-produced by Kim Fowley - would prove to be Reddy's last Top 40 hit. Its parent album, Ear Candy, Reddy's 10th album, would become her first album to not attain at least Gold status since her second full-length release, 1972's Helen Reddy.

In 1978, Reddy sang as a backup singer on Gene Simmons's solo album on the song True Confessions.

Of Reddy's eight subsequent single releases on Capitol, five reached the Easy Listening Top 50 - including "Candle on the Water", from the 1977 film Pete's Dragon (which starred Reddy). Only three ranked on the Billboard Hot 100: "The Happy Girls" (No. 57) - the follow-up to "You're My World" and, besides "I Am Woman", Reddy's only chart item which she co-wrote - and the disco tracks "Ready or Not" (No. 73) and "Make Love to Me" (No. 60), the latter a cover of an Australian hit by Kelly Marie - which gave Reddy a lone R&B chart ranking at No. 59. Reddy had also ranked at No. 98 on the country chart with "Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler", the B-side to "The Happy Girls".

Without the impetus of any major hits, Reddy's four Capitol album releases subsequent to Ear Candy failed to chart. In 1981, Reddy would say: "I signed ten years ago...And when you are with a company so long you tend to be taken for granted. For the last three years I didn't feel I was getting the support from them."

May 1981 saw the release of Play Me Out, Reddy's debut album for MCA Records, who Reddy said had "made me a deal we couldn't refuse"; "we shopped around and felt the most enthusiasm at MCA." In fact, Reddy's new label affiliation would result in only one minor success: her remake of Becky Hobbs's 1979 country hit "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" returned her for the last time to the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 88; it also returned Reddy to the charts in the UK and Ireland (her sole previous hit in both was "Angie Baby"). Reddy's 14 November 1981 Top of the Pops performance brought "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" into the UK Top 50; the track would rise there no higher than No. 43, but in Ireland reached No. 16, giving Reddy her final high placing on a major national chart. MCA released one further Reddy album: Imagination, in 1983; it would prove to be Reddy's final release as a career recording artist.

The unsuccessful Imagination was released just after the finalisation of Reddy's divorce from Wald whose subsequent interference in her career Reddy would blame for the decline of her career profile in the mid-1980s: "Several of my performing contracts were canceled, and one promoter told me he couldn't book me in case a certain someone 'came after him with a shotgun.'" Reddy states that she was effectively being blacklisted from her established performance areas which led to her pursuing a career in theatre, where Wald had no significant influence.

Later recordings

In 1990, Reddy issued Feel So Young — on her own label —an album which included remakes of Reddy's repertoire favourites; her one interim recording had been the 1987 dance maxi-single "Mysterious Kind", on which Reddy had vocally supported Jessica Williams. 1997 saw the release of Center Stage, an album of show tunes which Reddy recorded for Varèse Records; the track "Surrender" - originating in Sunset Boulevard - was remixed for release as dance maxi-single. Reddy's final album to date was the 2000 seasonal release The Best Christmas Ever. In April 2015 Reddy released a cover of the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" for the album "Keep Calm and Salute the Beatles" on the Purple Pyramid label.

Film, theatre and television

A frequent guest on talk shows and variety programs of the 1970s and early 1980s — with credits including The Bobby Darin Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Muppet Show — Reddy helmed the 1973 summer replacement series for The Flip Wilson Show (Reddy had become friends with Flip Wilson when she'd worked the Chicago club circuit early in her career); the series, The Helen Reddy Show, provided early national exposure for Albert Brooks and the Pointer Sisters. Also in 1973, Reddy became the semi-regular host of the NBC late night variety show The Midnight Special, a position she retained until 1975.

Her film career includes an extended cameo as a nun in Airport 1975 - singing her own composition "Best Friend" - and a lone starring role in Walt Disney's Pete's Dragon, introducing the Oscar-nominated song "Candle on the Water". For her part in Airport 1975, Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female. Reddy was one of many musical stars featured in the all-star chorale in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and has since played cameo roles in the films Disorderlies (1987) and The Perfect Host (2010).

Despite her late 1970s chart decline, Reddy still had sufficient star power in 1979 to host "The Helen Reddy Special" broadcast that May, on ABC-TV; Jeff Wald was the producer. In September 1981, Reddy announced she would be shooting the pilot for her own TV sitcom, in which she would play a single mother working as a lounge singer in Lake Tahoe. However, this project was abandoned. Reddy has been an occasional television guest star as an actress, appearing on the series The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Jeffersons (as herself), Diagnosis: Murder, and BeastMaster.

In 2007, Reddy had a voice cameo as herself in the Family Guy television show's Star Wars parody, "Blue Harvest". She played a 'red'-themed ('Red'-dy) member of the Red Squadron, alongside Red Five (Chris Griffin), Red Buttons, Redd Foxx, Big Red, Red October, Simply Red, and others. In 2010, she guest starred on Family Guy again singing the opening theme song for the show's fictional Channel 5 News telecast. She has a featured role in a 2011 crime film, The Perfect Host, starring David Hyde-Pierce.

In the mid-1980s, Reddy embarked on a new career in the theatre. Reddy mostly worked in musicals including Anything Goes, Call Me Madam, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and - both on Broadway and the West End - Blood Brothers. She also appeared in four productions of the one-woman show Shirley Valentine.

Notable stage roles include:

• Shirley Valentine - as Shirley
  • Stage West, Canada (June 1997)
  • 12 U.S. city tour (February - April 1996)
  • Theatre by the Sea, Rhode Island (1995)
• Blood Brothers - as Mrs. Johnstone
  • West End (1997)
  • Music Box Theatre, Broadway (January - May 1995)
  • Empire Theatre, Liverpool (1995)
• Love, Julie - as Gail Sinclair
  • Sharon Stage, Connecticut (August 1996)
  • Cape Cod (July 1996)
  • Westport Country Playhouse (June 1996)
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood - as Edwin Drood/Miss Alice Nutting
  • Sacramento Music Circus (July 1988)
• Call Me Madam - as Mrs. Sally Adams
  • Sacramento Music Circus (August 1986)
• Anything Goes - as Reno Sweeney
  • Long Beach Civic Light Opera (July 1987)
  • Sacramento Music Circus (July 1985)

2002 retirement

Reddy announced her retirement from performing in 2002, giving her farewell performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. That same year, she moved from her longtime residence in Santa Monica, California back to her native Australia to spend time with her family, living first on Norfolk Island, before taking up residence in Sydney. She also earned a degree in clinical hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming. She was a practising clinical hypnotherapist, and Patron of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists.

In April 2008, Reddy was reported to be living "simply and frugally off song royalties, pension funds, and social security... a 13th-floor apartment with a 180-degree view of Sydney Harbour." Her apartment had been recently appraised, causing Reddy concern over its future affordability; however, the New York-based landlord learned his tenant's identity and wrote her: "I had no idea it was 'the' Helen Reddy who was living in my unit. Because of what you have done for millions of women all over the world, I will not sell or raise your rent. I hope you'll be very happy living there for years to come."

For several years Reddy maintained that she would not return to the stage. In 2008, she stated, "It's not going to happen. I've moved on," and explained that her voice had deepened to a lower key and she wasn't sure if she would be able to sing some of her hits. She also said she had simply lost interest in performing. "I have very wide-ranging interests," she said. "So, singing 'Leave Me Alone' 43 times per song lost its charm a long time ago."

Brief comeback to concerts

In 2012, Reddy decided to return to performing after being buoyed by the warm reception she received when she sang at her sister's 80th birthday party. "I hadn't heard my voice in 10 years, and when I heard it coming over the speaker, it was like: 'Oh, that’s not bad. Maybe I should do that again,'" Reddy explained in 2013. On 12 July 2012, Reddy returned to the musical stage at Croce's Jazz Bar in San Diego and for a benefit concert for the arts at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, outside of Los Angeles. Reddy also sang a duet ("You're Just in Love") with senior choir member Rosalind Smith.

Being more in control of her performances also appeals to Reddy, who said, "I have more leeway in the songs that I choose to sing. I'm not locked into what the record company wants." She explained, "One of the reasons that I'm coming back to singing is because I'm not doing the greatest hits. I'm doing the songs that I always loved. So many are album cuts that never got any airplay, and they're gorgeous songs." She also does perform many of her best-known songs, including, "Angie Baby," "You and Me Against the World", a medley of "Delta Dawn"/"Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady," and "I Am Woman," reasoning on the latter that it's her signature song and one that the audience "comes to hear."

She maintains, however, that she still refuses to sing "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" because she dislikes the monotony of the repeated chorus. "They used to have a contest on the radio that you could get two free tickets to Helen Reddy’s show if you could tell us how many times she sang 'leave me alone.' I think it was like 42 times," she said.

Reddy performed at the Paramount nightclub at The Crown & Anchor in Provincetown on October 13, 2013. She performed 2 nights at Catalina Supper Club, Los Angeles in November 2014, shortly after her 73rd birthday. The following January 2015, Reddy performed 2 nights at Orleans Hotel Showroom in Las Vegas.

In July 2015, it was reported that Reddy was being treated for symptoms of dementia. Her family issued a statement via her Facebook page that Reddy was now retired from concerts and had become a resident of the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA. On August 6, 2015, Reddy's family issued a statement confirming that she has retired from live performances and was now living in the nursing home, but denying reports that she suffers from dementia. However, the denial of her diagnosis was contrary to what her son, Jordan Sommers, and another source close to Reddy confirmed to Lead Stories the previous month.

Personal life

Political service, citizenship

Reddy became a naturalised American citizen in 1974, subsequently availing herself of the opportunity to maintain dual American/Australian citizenship when the opportunity was made available. "I feel like I'd like to have a cup of tea and a good cry," Reddy said after the ceremony.

Reddy has been active in community affairs; in the 1970s she helped raise millions of dollars for Democratic political candidates. In 1978, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Reddy to the nine-member commission overseeing the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Her nomination was unanimously approved. She served on the commission for three years.

Family

Reddy is an enthusiastic genealogist; she has researched her family's history extensively and founded the Tasmanian Genealogical Society. “Genealogy is addictive; it begins as an interest, becomes a hobby, then a passion, and finally an obsession. Not only with each generation uncovered does the number of people to investigate double but so too does the desire to understand the forces that shaped them,” she writes in her autobiography.

Reddy was once asked in an interview once whether her name had any connection to the Reddy (actually her last name Reddy is of Irish origin) caste from India. Her response was:

I have done some research on my father's side; most of my research has been done on my mother's side. His father was born in Ireland but his great grandfather served with an Irish regiment stationed in India so it is possible that I have Indian ancestry. But it has not yet been established.
					

At 20, Helen married Kenneth Claude Weate, a considerably older musician and family friend whom she says she wed to defy her parents, who wished her to follow them into show business. The couple separated not long after the birth of their daughter, Traci.

In 1968, she married Jeff Wald, a native of The Bronx. She converted to Judaism before marrying Wald, with whom she had a son, Jordan Sommers, born in 1972.

In a 1975 People interview, Reddy admitted that her relationship with then-husband and manager Wald was volatile with the couple having "huge, healthy fights" but that she owed her success—she was then the world's most successful female vocalist for two years running—to Wald: "He runs it all. Naturally when the moment of performance comes I have to deliver—but everything else is him. It's not my career; it's our career."

By 2 January 1981, Reddy and Wald had separated and he had moved into a Beverly Hills rehab facility to treat an eight-year cocaine addiction, a $100,000 a year habit. Reddy subsequently filed for divorce, yet withdrew her petition the day after filing it, stating: "After thirteen years of marriage, a separation of one month is too short to make a decision." In 1982, after finding evidence of Wald's continued substance abuse, Reddy again separated from him and initiated divorce proceedings, which this time went through in January 1983. They agreed to shared custody of their son Jordan, but later became embroiled in a court battle after both filed for sole custody. Her son later changed his name to Jordan Sommers and became her assistant.

In June 1983 she married Milton Ruth, a drummer in her band; the couple divorced in 1995.

Other

In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Reddy's name and picture.

Discography

Main article: Helen Reddy discography

Bibliography

• Reddy, Helen (2006). The Woman I Am. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-58542-489-4.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]