Helen Reddy: Being number one
10 May 2013
Becoming the first Australian to get a number one on the US charts inspires bitter-sweet feelings in iconic singer Helen Reddy.
The tireless artist, who continues to tour, is proudly Australian – “I’m seventh generation and can trace my family tree back to the first fleet” – but she also feels that her homeland in the 1970s was not receptive of her work or welcoming of her success.
“The fact is back then I had to leave Australia to find success as a singer,” she recalls. “I liked rhythmic blues. I had the right voice for it and I enjoyed singing it, but Australia wasn’t the place for a woman to have much success doing that. I knew I had to get to the US.”
It was no picnic over there either for a single mum in her early 20s with a pre-schooler in tow. With no green card, she had to sing for cash in clubs and just keep spruiking her talents to radio stations and television variety shows, hoping that someone would hear.
“It was a man’s world, the music industry – and they weren’t keen on letting me in,” she says. “I’d be having meetings with radio stations and they’d say that even though I sounded okay, they already had one female artist they were playing that week.”
In late 1971, five years after arriving in the US, she sat down and the penned the lyrics to the song that would become a feminist anthem, both of the times and for decades on.
About a year later, the week her son, Jordan, was born, I am Woman hit number one on the Billboard Top 100, and she became the first Australian to top the US charts and to win a Grammy.
Helen, now 71, is rightfully proud of her US success. “I worked hard for it and had to break through in a man’s world. But I’m also proud because that song I wrote inspired women to be strong.”
Watch Helen's triumphnat return to the stage earlier this year below and, if you like what you see, contact Trade Travel to join her exclusive Probus tour to Norfolk Island.
See Helen Reddy live in concert
Helen Reddy will be playing two exclusive concerts just for Probus members, as well as hosting members in her home, as part of a Probus 'Christmas in July' tour to Norfolk Island. Contact Trade Travel for a full itinerary or to book your spot.
W: www.tradetravel.com
E: [email protected]
T: 1800 645 103 (toll free within Australia) or 0800 443 044 (toll free within NZ)
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