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
Hit The Road Jack
Helen Reddy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No more no more no more no more,
Hit the Road Jack and don't you come back
No more
What'd you say
Old woman old woman, oh you treat me so mean,
You're the meanest old woman that I ever have seen,
I'll have to pack my things and go (that's right)
Now Baby, listen Baby, don't you treat me this-a way
'Cause I'll be back on my feet some day,
Don't care if you do, cause it's understood,
You got no money, and you just ain't no good
Well I guess if you say so
I'll have to pack my things and go (that's right)
Well
Uh, what you say?
I didn't understand you.
You can't mean that
Aw now Baby, Please.
What you trying to do to me!?
Helen Reddy's "Hit The Road Jack" is a classic blues song that depicts the emotions of a man who is mistreated by his lover. The song starts with the man telling his lover to leave and never come back. He repeats this mantra four times, as if to emphasize his point. The repetition is a typical technique in blues music and creates a sense of urgency.
The lyrics then shift to the man's lament about how he was treated by his lover. He calls her an old woman and says she is the meanest woman he has ever seen. The man then reluctantly agrees to pack his things and leave, suggesting that he has been mistreated for a while, but he can no longer endure it.
The song ends with the man pleading with his lover not to treat him this way. He promises that someday he will be back on his feet, and the tables will turn. The man declares that he does not care about her financial status but that she is just not good enough for him. He then begs his lover not to do this to him and questions what she is trying to do.
Overall, "Hit The Road Jack" is a simple yet powerful song that captures the spirit of the blues. It depicts the woes of a man who is mistreated by a lover and has no other choice but to leave. The rhythm, repetition, and melody of the song make it a classic blues hit that still resonates with audiences.
Line by Line Meaning
Hit the Road Jack and don't you come back
You should leave and not return
No more no more no more no more
Your presence is no longer desired
What'd you say
Can you repeat yourself?
Old woman old woman, oh you treat me so mean
You are unfair to me, elderly woman
You're the meanest old woman that I ever have seen
You are the most unkind elderly woman I've encountered
Well I guess if you say so
I will comply with your wishes
I'll have to pack my things and go (that's right)
I must collect my belongings and depart from your dwelling
Now Baby, listen Baby, don't you treat me this-a way
Please do not continue to treat me in this manner, my love
'Cause I'll be back on my feet some day
I will recover eventually from my current situation
Don't care if you do, cause it's understood
I am indifferent to your decision as it was expected
You got no money, and you just ain't no good
You are broke and not valuable
Well I guess if you say so
I will comply with your wishes
Well
Pause for a moment
Uh, what you say?
Can you repeat what you said?
I didn't understand you.
I'm unclear about what you said
You can't mean that
Surely, you don't intend that
Aw now Baby, Please.
Oh, please be kind to me, my love
What you trying to do to me!?
Why are you treating me this way?
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, THE RAY CHARLES FOUNDATION DBA TANGERINE MUSIC, Peermusic Publishing, Kassner Associated Publishers Ltd, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Percy Mayfield
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@mariainez7327
Im driving to New Orleans with this type of music in my playlist!! Very fun road music to go Antique shopping :)))
@mtdouthit1291
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy ousted today 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
@lemongrab3276
Andrew is the best singer ever existed
@fckinnonstick9919
One of the best version I heard next to the original! Not know before until I heard it in one of the American idol rude audition by andrew fenlon and kara :)
@remishehab3978
Same!!
@mariainez7327
Me too!!
@mjhonold8530
Great song version!! Love it!!
@CristinaBolbaran
What an awesome version!!! i heard it on american idol and didn't know who had made this version and after searcing and searcing i finally found it
@fckinnonstick9919
It was one of the rudest audition of American Idol with kara and the guy named andrew fenlon :)
@remishehab3978
@@fckinnonstick9919 did you think so? I thought he was just a bit socially awkward and conservative.