Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 1941 – 29 September 2020) was an Australian singer, actress and activist. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a show-business 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 B-side of the latter single, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”, reached No. 8 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 No. 1, including her signature hit “I Am Woman”. Reddy’s song “I Am Woman” played a significant role in popular culture, becoming an anthem for second-wave feminism. She came to be known as a “feminist poster girl” or a “feminist icon”. In 2011, Billboard named her the No. 28 adult contemporary artist of all time (No. 9 woman). In 2013, the Chicago Tribune dubbed her as the “Queen of ’70s Pop”. Read More
Helen Reddy on Forget
If you had told me when I was 18 that I wouldn’t have made it until I was 29, I would have said, Forget it.
Helen Reddy on Family, Time, Women, Successful, Career, Woman
I was very strongly influenced by women’s magazines and I really believed tha a woman could not be married and raise a family and have a successful career all at the same time.
Helen Reddy on Life, Thought, Fear, Flying
I thought Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying was one of the biggest pieces of crap that I’ve ever read in my life.
Helen Reddy on Control, Exercise
I wanted control over the merchandising, the actual packaging of the product. That was a big factor. The only way for me to exercise control on all those levels was to start my own label.
Helen Reddy on Work, Husband
I was looking for a husband, but meanwhile to survive, I had to work.
Helen Reddy on Marriage, Work, People, Obligation
I think that two people who decide to live together in a marriage situation, they have an obligation to make the marriage work for them.
Helen Reddy on Thought, Being, Numbers, Parents, Production
I worked with my parents on the stage in production numbers since I was 4, but I never really gave much thought to being a performer on my own until I was 12 or 13.
Helen Reddy on Privacy
I’m a very private person, and when I leave the stage, I leave the stage.
Helen Reddy on Woman
If I have to, I can do anything. I am strong, I am invincible, I am Woman.
Helen Reddy on Business, Work
I couldn’t do anything. I’d work in a department store for a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t hack it. I couldn’t even type! I had no skills whatsoever outside of show business.
Helen Reddy on People, Girlfriends, Hollywood
If you tell people your ambitions, they usually laugh at you. When I told my girlfriends when I was 12 that I was going to Hollywood, they all laughed. And here I am!
Helen Reddy on Wedding, Day, Girls
In the ’50s, a lot of girls never saw beyond the wedding day.
Helen Reddy on Children, Conversation, Pen, Public
I’ve been in a serious conversation with one of my children, and a fan has come up. I’ve been in a public bathroom and had the hand come under the stall with a paper and pen. That sort of thing anybody can live without.
Helen Reddy on Career, states, United, Years
I had a career for 25 years in Australia before I ever came to the United States.
Helen Reddy on Cause, Problems
I don’t think any one person is the cause of all of someone else’s problems.
Helen Reddy on Legal, Marriage, Quality
I believe wholeheartedly in marriage. I don’t exclusively mean a marriage with a legal contract, but any relationship that constitutes a marriage because of the quality of their relationship.
Helen Reddy on Numbers, Woman
I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and pretend.
Helen Reddy on Trying, Years
I always believed that I could make it or I would never have spent so many years trying to get here.
Helen Reddy on Fact, Hindsight
Hindsight is wonderful. It’s always very easy to second guess after the fact.
Helen Reddy on Time, Depression, Waste
Depression, as far as I’m concerned, is just a waste of time.
Helen Reddy on People, Artist, Living
Believe it or not, most people think of me as a recording artist, but actually the way I think of myself and the way I earn my living is as a performing artist.
Helen Reddy on Women, Appearance, First
A lot of women are turned off by the physical appearance of some of the first feminists.
Helen Reddy on Business, People
Most of the people I know in show business don’t need anybody pushing them at all. They’re extremely aggressive.
Helen Reddy on Music, Balance, Chaos, Order
I don’t know if it’s a sign of all the chaos that is happening out there or not, but I’ve lately craved the structure and order of classical music, the balance and symmetry.
Helen Reddy on Population, World
Three-quarters of the world’s population doesn’t have enough to eat!
Helen Reddy on People, American, English, Hell
It took me a year to really learn the American lingo. I really feel for people who are coming here and don’t speak English at all. It must be hell.
Helen Reddy on Man
You’re not going to find a man whose socks don’t get dirty or who doesn’t snore.
Helen Reddy on Health, Problems, Yoga
Yoga is wonderful. It clears up most health problems. It also gives you an overview.
Helen Reddy on Women, Career, Day, Hate, Law, Mail, School, Song
To this day I get mail from women who say, I went to law school because of your song. But I would hate to think out of the wide spectrum of things I have done in my career, that’s all I would be remembered for.
Helen Reddy on Being, Magic, Waiting
There is no magic person out there, no perfect human being out there waiting for you.
Helen Reddy on Music, Wealth, Being
There is a wealth of twentieth century music that is being re-discovered by a generation that hasn’t heard it.
Helen Reddy on Age, Time, Day, Living
Stop living a day at a time and stop worrying about age.
Helen Reddy on Politics, Questions, Years
Please don’t ask me any questions about the politics of 30 years ago.
Helen Reddy on Music, People, Baby, Being, Forget, Population
My audience is the baby-boomers, the bulk of the population. This is also a group that is being ignored by most record companies because they’re not the Top 40 hit singles market. They forget these people still listen to music.
Helen Reddy on People, Kids, Now, Years
My audience are the same people who bought my albums years ago. These people are now married, with their own homes, their own families. If I’m in concert, I get people now who bring their kids.
Helen Reddy on Women, America, Company, Talk
It took so long to make it in America. The year I arrived was a bad year for women singers, the record company told me. So I starved. I lived in a hotel so dreadful I can’t even talk about it.
Helen Reddy on Marriage, Women, Today
Women today have more of an overview of their lives and how marriage is or is not a part of it.
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