Happy Birthday to Helen Reddy!

Helen Reddy, who turns 69 today, was one of the biggest pop stars of the 1970s with a decade-long string of hits.

I was a huge fan then and saw her perform in concert at the Anaheim Convention Center with my cousin when I was a kid. Then about 20 years later while on vacation in London, I saw her perform in the musical Blood Brothers on the West End and it was a thrill.
Her biggest hit was 1972′s I Am Woman which she co-wrote and became the anthem of the women’s liberation movement in the 70s.

She also reached the top of the charts with Delta Dawn, Angie Baby, Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), You and Me Against the World, Keep On Singing, I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Peaceful, Emotion, Candle on the Water, and Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady.

I love all of her hits but my favorite recordings of Reddy’s are her 1976 hit Somewhere in the Night (the same song was also a hit for Barry Manilow), 1977′s You’re My World which I think is her best vocal performance ever, her 1976 cover of The Beatles’s Fool on the Hill and 1981′s I Can’t Say Goodbye to You.
Miss Reddy also dabbled in movies at the peak of her career playing a singing nun in Airport 1975 and she was the lead in the 1977 Disney film Pete’s Dragon.

She retired from showbiz nearly a decade ago and moved back to her native Australia where she lives in Sidney and works as a hypnotherapist.

But she emerged four years ago for a series of book signings when she released her memoir The Woman I Am. I went to a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica (where Reddy lived for many years).

There was a really nice Q&A session and I got to ask her about that Blood Brothers run and she remembered it as a particularly “lovely” experience in her career. She also appeared in the show on Broadway.

Even though she’s more low-profile now, Miss Reddy and her music will never be forgotten!