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Vale: Helen Reddy

Australian singer & actress, best known for the worldwide hit I Am Woman, has died.

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Legendary Australian singer and actress Helen Reddy, best known for the worldwide hit I Am Woman, has died, aged 78.

A post on her official fan page confirmed she died on September 29.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” a statement said.

“She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”

Peter Ford told 6PR, “She has been in not great health for several years now, you may be aware that dementia struck her about three years ago and she’s been getting progressively worse.”

Melbourne-born Reddy, had hits including Delta Dawn, Angie Baby, Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) and Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady.

After winning a talent contest on Bandstand, she arrived in New York as a 24-year-old single mother of a three-year-old with just over $US200 to her name, she overcame years of struggle in the US to become the world’s top-selling female singer in 1973 and 1974.

She won a Grammy for I Am Woman, had her own weekly prime-time television variety show The Helen Reddy Show and branched into an acting career on screen and stage that included a Golden Globe nomination for Airport 1975.

In addition to numerous appearances on television shows In Melbourne Tonight, The Merv Griffin Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Muppet Show, The Val Doonican Music Show, American Bandstand, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Good Morning Australia, Burke’s Backyard, and The Royal Charity Concert.

Her TV acting credits include The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Jeffersons, BeastMaster, Diagnosis Murder.

Unjoo Moon, Director / Producer of the recent film I Am Woman said, “When I first met Helen Reddy she told me that I would be in her life for many years. What followed was an amazing 7-year friendship during which she entrusted me with telling her story in a film that celebrates her life, her talents and her amazing legacy. I will forever be grateful to Helen for teaching me so much about being an artist, a woman and a mother. She paved the way for so many and the lyrics that she wrote for I Am Woman changed my life forever like they have done for so many other people and will continue to do for generations to come. She will always be a part of me and I will miss her enormously. On behalf of all of us involved in making the film I Am Woman, producer Rosemary Blight and I extend our condolences to Helen’s family especially her children Traci and Jordan, her granddaughter Lily and her ex-husband Jeff.”

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

5 Responses

  1. Helen’s voice and talent was amazing. 😭 Songwriter Mac Davis has also passed away. 😥 Hopefully rage will have a tribute special although they haven’t yet for Skyhooks’ Peter Starkie.

  2. What a career – and a great Aussie success story of a woman with the true grit and talent to make it big in the world’s toughest market.
    I did watch ‘I Am Woman” on Stan but what a big disappointment…really a cut and paste job of her career and tribulations with bad sets and acting more worthy of All Saints …
    Maybe could have been better handled in a decent mini series with decent script and storyline. Anyway we’ll probably never know as Helen’s audience is also ageing away .

    1. I signed up to Stan a month ago specifically to watch this movie. Very disappointed. More like a midday movie and it failed to clearly map out what lead to her feminist viewpoint.

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