Helen Reddy came to the US in the mid-1960s after winning a talent contest in her home country of Australia. The 24-year-old single mom had $234 to her name when she landed a recording deal. But the record company hastily told her it had enough female singers and she should have fun in New York and then go home.
Photo by Philip Jackson, Associated Newspapers, Shutterstock / Araldo Di Crollalanza, Shutterstock
Fast forward a few years, and Helen Reddy’s songs were on the Billboard Top 10, including her hit anthem I Am Woman. Heck, she even scored her own TV show. While she wasn’t big in the UK, she was a huge star in both the US and Australia. Alice Cooper called her “the Queen of Housewife Rock,” which was actually a name Reddy thought was appropriate. But her approachable, easy listening music veiled the strangeness of some of her songs.
This is her story…