1966–1968: Early career Reddy recalled her 1966 appearance at the Three Rivers Inn in
Syracuse, New York—"[T]here were like twelve people in the audience"—as being typical of her early US performing career. Her lack of a
work permit made it difficult to obtain singing jobs and she was forced to make trips to Canada which did not require work permits for citizens of
Commonwealth countries. In 1968,
Martin St James, an Australian
stage hypnotist she had met in New York City, threw Reddy a party with an admission price of to enable Reddy—then down to her last —to pay her rent. On this occasion, 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, "[Wald] didn't pay the five dollars, but it was love at first sight." 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."
1969–1975: "I Am Woman" era and stardom Within a year, Wald moved 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 acts such 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 [must] either revitalise 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 backed with "
I Don't Know How to Love Him" from
Tim Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Jesus Christ Superstar. The A-side fell flat, but then some Canadian DJs flipped the record over and it became a hit – number 13 in June 1971 – and Helen Reddy was on her way." "I Am Woman" first appeared on her debut album ''
I Don't Know How to Love Him'', released in May 1971. A new recording of the song was released as a single in May 1972 but barely dented the charts. 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 number-one peak. "I Am Woman" earned Reddy 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 Australian singer to top the US charts. In 2025, the Library of Congress selected "I Am Woman" for inclusion as a single in the National Recording Registry. 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. ,
Don Kirshner, Reddy and
Olivia Newton-John in 1974 On 23 July 1974, Reddy received a star, located at 1750 Vine Street, on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in the music industry. In August–September 1974, Reddy, along with
Rolf Harris and many other entertainers and performers, to perform at
Expo '74 in
Spokane, Washington. On Tuesday 24 September Australia held a "national day", with Reddy singing the
national anthem. In late 1975, Reddy toured East Asia, Australia and New Zealand and collected 16 gold records, including 6 gold records in Australia and 6 gold records in New Zealand. 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
Las Vegas Strip. Among her opening acts were
Joan Rivers,
David Letterman,
Bill Cosby and
Barry Manilow. In 1976, Reddy recorded
the Beatles' song "
The Fool on the Hill" for the musical documentary
All This and World War II. Reddy was also instrumental in supporting the career of friend
Olivia Newton-John, encouraging her to move from England to the United States in the early 1970s, giving her professional opportunities that did not exist in the UK. At a dinner party at Reddy's house, Newton-John met producer
Allan Carr, who offered her the starring role in the hit film version of the musical
Grease.
1976–1990: Career decline Reddy was most successful on the
Easy Listening chart, scoring eight number-one 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 number-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 number-18 peak, but this track – co-produced by
Kim Fowley – would prove to be Reddy's last top-40 hit. Its source album,
Ear Candy, Reddy's 10th album, became 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". That year also saw the release of Reddy's only live album,
Live in London, recorded at the
London Palladium. Of Reddy's eight subsequent single releases on Capitol, five reached the Easy Listening top 50 – including "
Candle on the Water", from the 1977 Disney film ''
Pete's Dragon (which starred Reddy). Only three ranked on the Billboard'' Hot 100: "The Happy Girls" (number 57) – the follow-up to "You're My World", and besides "I Am Woman", Reddy's only chart item that she co-wrote – and the disco tracks "Ready or Not" (number 73) and "Make Love to Me" (number 60), the latter a cover of an Australian hit by
Kelly Marie, which gave Reddy a lone R&B chart ranking at number 59. Reddy also made it to number 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, she said: "I signed [with Capitol] 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 had the release of
Play Me Out, Reddy's debut album for
MCA Records, which she said had "made me a deal we [Reddy and Wald] couldn't refuse"; "we shopped around and felt the most enthusiasm at MCA". The unsuccessful
Imagination was released just after the finalisation of Reddy's divorce from Wald, whose alleged subsequent interference in her career she blamed for the decline of her career profile in the mid-1980s: "Several of my performing contracts were cancelled, and one promoter told me he couldn't book me in case a certain someone 'came after him with a shotgun'."
1990s–2000: Later recordings In 1990, Reddy issued
Feel So Young on her own labelan album that includes remakes of her repertoire favourites. Meanwhile, her one recording in the interim had been the 1987
dance maxisingle "Mysterious Kind", on which Reddy had vocally supported Jessica Williams. The 1997 release of
Center Stage was an album of show tunes which Reddy recorded for
Varèse Sarabande; the track "Surrender"originating in
Sunset Boulevardwas remixed for release as a dance maxisingle. Reddy's final album 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.
2002–2010: Retirement Reddy announced her retirement from performing in 2002, giving her farewell performance with the
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The 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. In April 2008, Reddy was reported to be living "simply and frugally off song royalties, pension funds, and social security ... [renting] a 13th-floor apartment with a 180° view of
Sydney Harbour". In 2011 she was interviewed by Australian television and said she was very happy to be retired from show business.
2011–2020: Brief comeback to concerts In 2011, 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. She also performed 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 the audience "comes to hear" it. In August 2015, unnamed sources revealed that Reddy was diagnosed with
dementia and had moved into the
Motion Picture and Television Fund's Samuel Goldwyn Center, where she was cared for by family and friends. ==Film, theatre and television==