Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy was born on 25th October 1941, is
an Australian singer, actress, and activist. In the 1970s, she enjoyed
international success, especially in the United States, where she placed 15
singles in 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". Helen was born into a well-known Australian show
business family in Melbourne, where she attended Tintern Grammar. Her mother,
Stella Campbell, 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 also actor-singers.
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, "[Wald] didn't pay the five dollars, but
it was love at first sight." 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 [must] 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. But
with this post we go back to 1968 with her first single “One Way Ticket” b/w “Go” (BF-384) recorded
on Philips Records. Both sides have never appeared on an album as far as I
know. Flac
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