Reddy became one of the world's most successful female singers of the 1970s music scene, scoring many certified gold hit records, including three #1 singles and fifteen Top 40 pop singles on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and has sold more than 15 million albums and 10 million singles domestically and 25 million albums worldwide.
She also became the first Australian to have a #1 single in the United States, win a Grammy Award, and host her own variety show on United States television. Born and raised in Australia, Reddy became a naturalized United States citizen in 1974. In 2002, she retired from performing concerts and recording and now resides in Sydney, Australia and was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2006.
Early years
Reddy was born into a well-known Australian show business family in Melbourne, Victoria. Her mother, Stella (née Lamond), was an actress, and her father, Max Reddy, was a writer, producer, and actor.
Her parents performed on the Australian vaudeville circuit. Reddy began performing on stage with her parents at just four years of age. In her late teens, after being briefly married to an older musician, she had a daughter, Traci. In 1968, Helen married longtime friend and soon-to-be producer and manager Jeffrey Wald and in 1974 her then-preteen daughter would record the bookend sequences for another of her mother's top-10 hits titled "You and Me Against the World." The Love Song for Jeffrey album, on which the song appeared, was dedicated to her then-husband, with whom she had a son, Jordan. They divorced in 1983.
After beginning her career in radio and television in Australia, she won a talent contest on the Australian pop music TV show Bandstand, which enabled her to move to the United States in 1966. Settling initially in New York, she met Jeff Wald, then an agent with the William Morris Agency; after living together for only four days, she and Wald married; he subsequently became her manager.
After a stint in Chicago, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, where Reddy tried to establish herself as a recording artist. Twenty-seven labels rejected her before she was finally signed to a contract with Capitol Records in 1970.
After years of trying to get her name out, Helen Reddy's first Top 40 U.S. hit (1971) was a cover of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (from the first Rice & Webber collaboration Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera). After it reached #13 in mid-1971, the music industry and record buying public began to take notice.
In 1972, Reddy co-wrote, with Australian musician Ray Burton, the song "I Am Woman," which became a worldwide feminist anthem, worldwide hit, and her first U.S #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Reddy has attributed the impetus for writing "I Am Woman" and her early awareness of the women's movement to expatriate Australian rock critic and pioneer feminist Lillian Roxon. Reddy is quoted in Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits as saying that she was looking for songs to record which reflected the positive self-image she had gained from joining the women's movement, but couldn't find any, so "I realized that the song I was looking for didn't exist, and I was going to have to write it myself." The single actually barely dented the charts on its initial release in the summer of 1972, but it wasn't long before female listeners adopted the song as an anthem and began requesting it from their local radio stations in droves, spurring it on to re-enter the charts in September and become a hit. "I Am Woman" earned a Grammy Award for Female Pop Vocal Performance and at the awards ceremony she concluded her acceptance speech by famously thanking God "because She makes everything possible".
Over the next five years, she had more than a dozen other U.S. Top 40 hits including two more #1 hits. These included the Alex Harvey country ballad "Delta Dawn" (#1, 1973), "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" (#3), "Keep on Singing" (#15, 1974), "You and Me Against the World" (written by Paul Williams and featuring daughter Traci reciting the spoken bookends) (#9), "Emotion" (an English version of the French tune "Amoureuse"), "Peaceful" (#12), "Angie Baby" (#1), "Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady" (#8, 1975), Richard Kerr-Will Jennings-penned "Somewhere in the Night" (#19; later a bigger hit for Barry Manilow), and the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song "I Can't Hear You No More" (1976). Her last Top 20 record was a 1977 revival of Cilla Black's 1964 hit "You're My World", co-produced by Kim Fowley. Reddy's final chart record was "I Can't Say Goodbye To You" in 1981. She was most successful on the Adult Contemporary charts, scoring eight #1 hits there over a three-year span, from "Delta Dawn" to "I Can't Hear You No More."
At the height of her fame in the late 1970s, Helen Reddy was a headliner, with a full chorus of backup singers and dancers to standing-room-only crowds on The Strip in Las Vegas. Reddy's opening acts were the then-up-and-coming Barry Manilow, and Joan Rivers. In 1976, Reddy covered the Beatles song "Fool on the Hill" for the musical documentary All This and World War II.
Reddy was also instrumental in furthering the career of Olivia Newton-John as she encouraged her friend to move from Britain to the United States in the early 1970s. At a subsequent party at Reddy's house after a chance meeting with Allan Carr, the film's producer, Newton-John won the starring role in the hit film version of the musical Grease as result.
Reddy has lent her acting and singing talents to many stage, movie and television productions.
Her film career includes roles in Airport 1975 and Walt Disney's Pete's Dragon (in which she sang "Candle on the Water," which has become one of her best-known songs despite only charting on the A/C charts). For her part in Airport 1975, Roddy was nominated for a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female.
Reddy appeared as a guest on numerous television specials and variety shows, and a guest star on episodes of numerous television series, including Love Boat, Fantasy Island, BeastMaster and others.
Reddy was a host and performer, between 1973 and 1975, on some episodes of the late-night variety television show The Midnight Special. She also hosted her own variety television program, The Helen Reddy Show, in the summer of 1973.
Reddy became a naturalised American citizen in 1974. In 2007, Reddy had a voice cameo as herself in the Family Guy television show's Star Wars parody "Blue Harvest". She played a 'red' themed ('Red'-dy) member of the Red Squadron alongside Red Five (Chris Griffin), Red Buttons, Redd Foxx, Big Red, Red October, Simply Red and others.
Reddy's stage credits include performances in Anything Goes, Call Me Madam, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and works by British playwright Willy Russell. Reddy appeared both on Broadway and in the West End of London in the musical Blood Brothers, and in four productions of Shirley Valentine.
Active in community affairs, Reddy served as the state of California's Parks and Recreation commissioner for three years. In 2002, she retired from performing and moved from Santa Monica, California, to Norfolk Island.
Reddy published an autobiography, The Woman I Am, and appeared on the Today show in 2006. She was also added to the ARIA Hall Of Fame, with a tribute performance by Vanessa Amorosi of "I Am Woman" at the ceremony.
For several years, Reddy maintained that she would not return to the stage. In 2012, Reddy decided to return to performing after being buoyed by the warm reception she received when she sang at her sister's 80th birthday party. On 12 July 2012, Reddy returned to the musical stage at Croce's Jazz Bar in San Diego and for a benefit concert for the arts at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, a neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Reddy suffered from Addison's disease, a failure of the adrenal glands, and dementia in her later years.s
Crazy Love
Helen Reddy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For a thousand miles
And the heavens open
Every time he smiles
And when I come to him
That's where I belong
Yet I'm running to him
(CHORUS)
He give me love, love
Love, love, crazy love
He give me love, love
Love, love, crazy love
He's got a fine sense of humor
When I'm feeling low down
And when I come to him
When the sun goes down
Take away my trouble
Take away my grief
Take away my heartache
In the night like a thief
(CHORUS)
Yes, I need him in the daytime
Yes, I need him in the night
Yes, I want to throw my arms around him
Kiss him, hug him, kiss him, hug him tight
And when I'm returning
From so far away
He gives me some sweet loving
Brighten up my day
Yes, it makes me righteous
Yes, it makes me feel whole
Yes, it makes me mellow
Down in to my soul
The song "Crazy Love" by Helen Reddy is a powerful ode to the transformative power of love. The opening lines set the tone for the song, with the singer describing how she can hear her lover's heart beat for a thousand miles, and how the heavens open every time he smiles. These lines are brimming with romantic imagery and suggest that the singer feels an intense connection to her partner.
As the song progresses, the lyrics focus on the impact that the singer's lover has on her life. She describes how she feels like she belongs with him and is drawn to him like a river's song. The chorus is perhaps the most memorable part of the song, featuring the repetition of the phrase "He give me love, love, love, love, crazy love." This line encapsulates the powerful, all-encompassing nature of the singer's love for her partner.
The second verse describes the various ways in which the singer's partner brings her comfort and joy. His sense of humor helps her when she's feeling low, and he has the ability to take away her troubles, grief, and heartache. The final verse is perhaps the most poignant, as the singer expresses her need for her partner in both the daytime and the night, and her deep desire to hold him close. The line "Yes, it makes me righteous, yes, it makes me feel whole, yes, it makes me mellow, down in to my soul" sums up the transformative power of love, suggesting that it has the power to heal and transform us in profound ways.
Overall, "Crazy Love" is a beautiful and heartfelt tribute to the power of love, showing how it can completely transform our lives and make us feel whole.
Line by Line Meaning
I can hear his heart beat
I am deeply connected with him and can hear the rhythm of his life.
For a thousand miles
This connection transcends distance and is felt even when we are apart.
And the heavens open
The mere sight of him brings me joy and opens up a world of possibilities.
Every time he smiles
His happiness is infectious and fills me with hope and optimism.
And when I come to him
Being in his presence is where I feel most at home.
That's where I belong
He completes me and brings meaning to my life.
Yet I'm running to him
Despite everything, I can't help but pursue him passionately.
Like a river's song
My emotions for him flow freely like a river's melody.
He give me love, love
The love he gives me is abundant and bountiful.
Love, love, crazy love
It's a love that defies logic and reason, but is all-consuming.
He's got a fine sense of humor
He has a gift for making me smile and laugh, even in tough times.
When I'm feeling low down
He lifts me up when I'm feeling down and out.
And when I come to him
I seek refuge and solace in his loving embrace.
When the sun goes down
Even in the darkness, his love illuminates my soul.
Take away my trouble
He has the power to alleviate my worries and fears.
Take away my grief
His love is a healing balm that soothes my pain and sorrow.
Take away my heartache
He has the ability to lift the weight of heartbreak off of my shoulders.
In the night like a thief
His love is a welcome surprise that steals away my sadness in the darkest of hours.
Yes, I need him in the daytime
I can't go a single moment without yearning for his love and companionship.
Yes, I need him in the night
In the stillness of the night, I crave the warmth of his embrace.
Yes, I want to throw my arms around him
I am filled with an overwhelming desire to express my love for him physically.
Kiss him, hug him, kiss him, hug him tight
I want nothing more than to shower him with affection and hold him close.
And when I'm returning
Even after being apart, the love between us remains constant.
From so far away
Distance cannot diminish the strength of our love.
He gives me some sweet loving
His love is tender, gentle, and full of sweetness.
Brighten up my day
His love brings light and warmth to every day of my life.
Yes, it makes me righteous
His love fills me with a sense of purpose and goodness.
Yes, it makes me feel whole
His love completes me and makes me feel like I am enough.
Yes, it makes me mellow
His love brings peace and calm to my soul.
Down into my soul
His love penetrates every part of me and fills me with warmth and light.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LAURA NYRO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind