Helen Reddy

Helen Reddy is best known for the horn-peppered early-’70s feminist anthem “I Am Woman,” which topped the U.S. charts and embodied the empowering message of the era’s women’s-rights movement. However, the Melbourne, Australia, native, born in 1941, had a long and distinguished career both before and after that hit. Reddy’s parents were actors; by age four, she had started performing with them on Australian vaudeville stages. After moving to the U.S. in the ’60s, Reddy broke through with a 1971 cover of Jesus Christ Superstar’s “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and then found her groove in easygoing pop, hitting No. 1 in the U.S. again with the gospel-country “Delta Dawn” and the shadowy soft rocker “Angie Baby.” Reddy released a steady string of albums through the early ’80s, then slowed her output considerably, retiring soon after 2000’s The Christmas Of Your Life. She passed away in September 2020 at the age of 78.