HELEN REDDY - I AM WOMAN - HOSTING THE FIRST MIDNIGHT SPECIAL - ED MCMAHON

Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that October 25, 1941 is the anniversary of the birth of Australian singer and songwriter Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy.
Rest in peace Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy!


An Inspirational Evening with Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy spoke about spiritual power, personal responsibility, and global transformation at Dolores Cannon's 2009 Ozark Mountain Transformation Conference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXWtwLtlg2Q

Images:
1. March 3, 1973, file photo, Helen Reddy wins a Grammy Award for the best female song of the year in Nashville, Tennessee for “I Am Woman.”
2. Helen Reddy's 1974 album 'Free and Easy'
3. Helen Reddy, husband Manager Jeff Wald, and son Jordan Sommers vacation in Hawaii on March 29, 1980 they pose for photographs at the Kahala Hilton Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Helen Reddy's children Jordan Sommers and Traci Sommers

Biographies:
1. .imdb.com/name/nm0714761/bio
2. allmusic.com/artist/helen-reddy-mn [login to see] /biography

1. Background from {[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0714761/bio/]}
Helen Reddy Biography

Born October 25, 1941 in Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died September 29, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA (natural causes)
Birth Name Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy
Nicknames The Singing Nun
The Queen of 1970s Pop
Height 5' 3" (1.6 m)

Mini Bio (1)
The #1 Grammy-winning "I Am Woman" became not only THE anthem of the feminist movement during the radical 1970s, but also the signature song for its lovely, crop-haired, reddish-haired composer and singer Helen Reddy. Many decades later this is the hit people still remember her for, despite the fact she had a host of other "top ten" records over the course of her long career.

Helen Maxine Lamond Reddy was born in Melbourne, Australia, to showbiz parents, comedy actor/producer/writer Max Reddy and singer/soap opera actress Stella Lamond, and is the half sister to singer/actress Toni Lamond. Of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry, Helen began performing at the age of four at the Tivoli Theatre in Perth, Australia, touring much of her native country with her parents. She left boarding school at age 15 to work on the road singing and acting. Her musical style is best described as a light amalgam of rhythm and blues, easy rock and jazz. Her soothing, quivery vocals and equally warm appeal was instantly embraced, eventually earning her own Australian radio show. "Helen Reddy Sings" aired twice weekly on the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

In 1966 Helen won a trip to New York in an Australian Bandstand International contest and, though she met with little success during this excursion, did meet and marry second husband Jeff Wald, a manager and an agent with the William Morris talent agency. They married the following year and went to Los Angeles. Helen converted to Judaism before the marriage.

Wald worked Helen into a few performances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), fifteen appearances total, and the resulting attention earned her her first hit with a top version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the Broadway rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" in February 1972, peaking at #13 on the Billboard hit list. Signed by Capitol Records, she enjoyed hit after hit throughout the early 1970s, with "Delta Dawn" (1973) and "Angie Baby" (1974) reaching #1.

In 1973, Helen had her own summer-replacement variety show and was a popular hostess for a time on NBC's late-night variety show The Midnight Special (1972). She tried to parlay her singing success into a film career starting with a featured role as a nun in the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974). This led to a wholesome starring role in the promising Disney children's film Pete's Dragon (1977), but it was only mildly received. . During this time, she also appeared on TV in episodes of "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "The Jeffersons" (as herself), "Beast Master," "Diagnosis Murder" and a guest voice on "Family Guy." She appeared in only two more films -- a cameo in the raucous "Fat Boys" comedy Disorderlies (1987) and a featured role in the comedy crime chiller The Perfect Host (2010). A third film, a comedy "mockumentary" entitled Senior Entourage, has yet been released.

In 1982, she divorced Wald and married a third time the following year to drummer Milton Ruth. Helen has ventured on into the concert and symphony orchestra forums as well as becoming a popular cabaret and nightclub attraction. In recent years she has graced a number of musical theater productions both on Broadway and in London's West End.

Over the years she was considered a primary interpreter of English playwright Willy Russell, having appeared in four productions of his one-woman show "Shirley Valentine." Other live musical productions have included "Anything Goes," "Call Me Madam," "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and Russell's "Blood Brothers," in which she made her Broadway debut.

In 2002 she retired from the business, and moved to her native Australia to work as a practicing hypnotherapist and motivational speaker, but returned from time to time before the camera both here and abroad. In 2017, Helen was diagnosed with dementia, and then resided at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Samuel Goldwyn Center for Behavioral Health in Woodland Hills, California. She died on September 29, 2020, in Los Angeles.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / [login to see]

Spouse (3)
Milton Robert Ruth (29 June 1981 - 14 November 1995) (divorced)
Jeff Wald (25 May 1968 - 3 January 1981) (divorced) ( 1 child)
Kenneth Claude Weate (1961 - 1966) (divorced) ( 1 child)

Trade Mark
Distinctive nasal vocals; Short, close-cropped hair

Trivia (31)
1. She appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care," both of which were released on March 13, 1991.
2. Daughter of comedian Max Reddy, and actress Stella Lamond.
3. Younger half-sister of actress Toni Lamond.
4. Son, Jordan Sommers, from her marriage to Jeff Wald.
5. Daughter, Traci Wald Donat, from her first marriage.
6. Cousin (by marriage) of Colleen McCullough.
7. Became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1974.
8. A reddish-violet tulip was named for her in Holland.
9. Half-sister Toni Lamond is a popular musical stage and cabaret singer/comedienne in Australia who has performed in such productions as "42nd Street" and "The Pirates of Penzance".
10. In 2000 she released her very first Christmas collection, "Helen Reddy: The Best Christmas Ever."
11. Served for three years as Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for her adopted state of California.
12. A British indie pop band called Trembling Blue Stars wrote a song in her honour called "Helen Reddy". It appears on their album "The Seven Autumn Flowers" (2005).
13. In the 2000s, Helen was a practicing Clinical Hypnotherapist based in Sydney, and was Patron of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists.
14. Sold more than 15 million albums and 10 million singles, and was the first Australian-born performer to win a Grammy award.
15. Active in community affairs, Helen Reddy once served for three years as Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the State of California.
16. Ex-husband Milton Ruth was a drummer who performed on her "Feeling So Young" album and served as a producer.
17. Was asked to play the cameo role of "The Nun" in Airplane! (1980) but passed.
18. Mother-in-law of Lucas Donat, who married her daughter, Traci Wald Donat on July 24, 1984. Lucas, a prolific producer and director of commercials, is the son of Michael Learned and Peter Donat.
19. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording. The star is located in front of 1750 Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
20. She suffered from Addison's disease, a failure of the adrenal glands, which requires constant treatment.
21. Inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2006.
22. Stepaunt of Tony Sheldon.
23. Release of her book, "The Woman I Am: A Memoir". [2006]
24. Living on Norfolk Island, off the east coast of Australia, where her cousin (by marriage), Colleen McCullough, also lives. Reddy maintained a home there, until moving back to Los Angeles, California, USA, to live near her children in the early/mid-2010s. [May 2002]
25. "I Am Woman" was the first #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit by an Australian artist.
26. In 2018 it was reported that Reddy had dementia and could no longer be interviewed.
27. Converted to Judaism in 1968.
28. Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes returned to her family.
29. In the early/mid-2010s, after retiring from her later life, second career in Clinical Hypnotherapy, she moved back to Los Angeles, California, USA, her adopted (since becoming a naturalized United States citizen in 1974) home country. Still suffering from Addison's Disease, and also beginning to suffer from the early stages of dementia, she moved back to the Los Angeles, California, USA area, where she could live and receive care closer to her daughter and son-in-law, Traci Wald Donat and Lucas Donat, and to her son and daughter-in-law, Jordan Sommers and Yasmina Sommers. She moved into the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Country House retirement home in 2015, sometime after receiving her formal diagnoses of dementia.
30. Announced her retirement from musical performance in 2002, but had a brief comeback from 2012-2015.
31. Her last known public performance was January 21, 2017 at the march for women's rights and unity in downtown Los Angeles, California, USA, on the day following the inauguration of Donald Trump, and which brought out 750,000 people. Reddy was introduced by actress Jamie Lee Curtis, and sang an a cappella version of her women's anthem "I Am Woman".

Personal Quotes (2)
1. [on her role in Airport 1975 (1974)] I love the part, and portraying a nun certainly gives one a different perspective on life. At times while in my habit, I felt quite different than usual. It was a special feeling. The kind one feels when they've done something good and clean within themselves.
2. [on her role in Airport 1975 (1974)] The best thing about the picture for me is the chance to appear with veteran performers like Gloria Swanson, Myrna Loy, Nancy Olson and Martha Scott. When you're surrounded by people like that, you're bound to look good.

2. Background from {[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/helen-reddy-mn [login to see] /biography]}
Artist Biography by Marcy Donelson
A singer admired for her warm, crystalline vocal tone and smooth light-pop songs, Australia's Helen Reddy is best remembered for the chart-topping feminist anthem "I Am Woman" (1972). She reached the Top 40 over a dozen more times through the late '70s, including with the U.S. number ones "Delta Dawn" (1973) and "Angie Baby" (1974). During the peak of her career, she had a pair of Top Ten albums (1973's Long Hard Climb and the next year's Free and Easy) and briefly hosted her own summer variety series, The Helen Reddy Show, on NBC. Acting opportunities, including a starring role in the Disney musical film Pete's Dragon (1977), soon followed. Though she last reached the Hot 100 in 1981, Reddy found work on the stage, including a 1995 Broadway debut in the musical Blood Brothers. Meanwhile, she continued to release periodic recordings through 2000's The Best Christmas Ever, her 17th and final studio album. A movie about her life, I Am Woman, saw release in 2019, a year before Reddy's death.
Born Helen Maxine Reddy on October 25, 1941 in Melbourne, Reddy came from a dedicated show business family. Her father, Max Reddy, was a writer, actor, and producer, and her mother, Stella Lamond (aka Stella Campbell) was a regular on Australian television series such as Homicide and Bellbird in the '60s and '70s. Her older half-sister, Toni Lamond, was a performer from childhood, having been raised on the vaudeville circuit. Helen was born while her father was deployed as part of an Army entertainment unit that also included actor Peter Finch. When the Second World War ended, four-year-old Helen joined her parents on the vaudeville stage as a singer and dancer. At the age of 12, Reddy opted to live with her aunt, partly as a rebellion against her parents' lifestyle. After finishing school, a short-lived marriage to an older musician left her a single mother in her mid-twenties, and she turned to singing to support the household. Reddy quickly earned spots performing on radio and television, and in 1966, she took the top prize in a talent competition on TV's Bandstand, winning a trip to New York City and the chance to audition for Mercury Records. Though the trip was unsuccessful, she decided to stay in the States with her daughter.
For the next couple years, Reddy frequently traveled to Canada (a fellow Commonwealth country) for singing gigs, as the lack of a U.S. work permit proved a major obstacle. In 1968, an acquaintance in New York threw Reddy a party, charging admission to help her raise rent. It was there that she met Jeff Wald, whom she married just a few days later. Wald, who had been a working as a secretary at William Morris Agency, soon lost his job, and the couple moved to Chicago, where Reddy, now a U.S. citizen, found steady work as a lounge singer. Before 1968 was over, she signed with Fontana Records, a division of Mercury. Her debut single, "One Way Ticket," reached number 83 in Australia.
In 1969, Wald moved the family to Los Angeles and found work managing acts including Deep Purple and Tiny Tim. He eventually got Reddy the shot to record a 7" as a trial for Capitol Records. She decided on Mac Davis' "I Believe in Music" backed with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. The Andrew Lloyd Webber tune proved to be her breakthrough hit, reaching number 13 on the Hot 100 as well as the Top Ten in Canada and Australia in 1971. The album I Don't Know How to Love Him arrived on Capitol that May, peaking at number 100 in the U.S. She followed it six months later with Helen Reddy.
In 1972, Reddy hit number one with "I Am Woman," the title track to her third album. Co-penned by Australian musician Ray Burton (the Delltones, the Executives) and Reddy, who wrote the inspirational lyrics ("I am woman, hear me roar/In numbers too big to ignore"), the song became an anthem for female empowerment in the counterculture era. It won Reddy the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female in 1973, the year that also saw the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. Reddy was soon in demand on variety shows and late-night TV, earning her own summer replacement series in 1973 with NBC's The Helen Reddy Show. In the meantime, the I Am Woman LP reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Ten in Canada and Australia. She hit number one in all three countries with "Delta Dawn" from the 1973 follow-up Long Hard Climb. That album went as high as number eight in the States. The year 1974 brought two more hit albums, Love Song for Jeffrey and Free and Easy, the latter of which tied a career-high number eight on the Billboard 200. Free and Easy included her third U.S. number one single in as many years, "Angie Baby." That same year, she portrayed a guitar-playing nun in the action film Airport 1975 and reached the number nine spot on the Hot 100 with the Paul Williams-penned "You and Me Against the World," which featured her daughter, Traci. (By then, the family had grown to include a son, Jordan.) As Reddy became a pop culture fixture with multiple slots on TV series like The Carol Burnett Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (including as guest host), she returned to the U.S. Top Ten with "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" from 1975's No Way to Treat a Lady. Early the following year, Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits reached the Top Five in the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand. As Reddy's brand of adult-contemporary pop began to fall out of fashion, she made her final appearances in the Billboard 200 with 1976's Music, Music, which reached number 16, and 1977's Ear Candy, which topped out at number 75. In 1977, she could be seen in Disney's animated live-action hybrid musical Pete's Dragon alongside Hollywood legends like Mickey Rooney and Shelly Winters. The following year included an appearance in the musical comedy film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and she was the celebrity guest on an episode of The Muppet Show. As her commercial success wound down in the late '70s, albums like 1978's We'll Sing in the Sunshine, Live in London, and the next year's Reddy failed to chart in the U.S. or Australia (Reddy reached number 97 in Canada). Released in May of 1980, Take What You Find turned out to be her final album for Capitol.
Still a household name, Reddy signed with MCA and released Play Me Out in 1981. The label followed it with Imagination in 1983. That year, Reddy and Wald divorced, and Reddy married drummer Milton Ruth. Parting ways with MCA, she took to the stage, performing in regional theater on the West Coast, including productions of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes and Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam. Reddy also appeared in episodes of prime-time TV's The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Eventually, she returned to music with the self-released studio album Feel So Young, a mix of re-recorded hits and original material, in 1990. Reddy made her Broadway debut in January 1995, replacing Carole King as Mrs. Johnstone in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, a role she reprised on the West End. Following her third divorce, she toured the U.S. as Shirley in Shirley Valentine in 1997 and released the show tunes set Center Stage on Varèse Sarabande in 1998. What would be Reddy's last album, The Best Christmas Ever, followed in 2000.
After retiring from recording, Reddy went back to school and became a practicing therapist and motivational speaker. She still turned up occasionally on television, including on episodes of Diagnosis: Murder and Family Guy as late as 2011. She gave a concert in Los Angeles in 2016, and a film based on her life starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Reddy, I Am Woman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019. Helen Reddy died in Los Angeles on September 29, 2020. She was 78 years old."

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Nice brother David!

Beautiful singer!