Australian-born singer Helen Reddy, who the the iconic feminist anthem I Am Woman died at the age of 78.
Her children, Traci and Jordan, announced her death in a message posted on her official Facebook fan page.
“She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman,” they said, “Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”
For decades, Reddy suffered from Addison’s disease from which she had one of her kidneys removed when she was 17, and then from Dementia since 2015.
The song I Am Woman reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1972 and earned her Grammy Award for best female pop vocal performance in 1973, making her the first Australian-born artist to win a Grammy and the first to make the Billboard 100 record charts.
“I only have 10 seconds so I would like to thank everyone from Sony Capitol Records, I would like to think Jeff Wald because he makes my success possible and I would like to thank God because she makes everything possible,” she said in her acceptance speech, hoisting her Grammy in the air and leaving the stage to loud applause.
During that time, a number of male observers called the song angry, man-hating, dangerous or all three.
“That simply underlined the many things women needed liberating from,” Variety writer Dennis Harvery said in a 2019 article.
“Nobody called Sinatra a menace when he sang “My Way,” a no less straightforward hymn to self-determination.”
Reddy enjoyed a prolific career, starting with her version of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971.
Some of her songs including “Delta Dawn” and “Angie Baby”, went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts while others including “You and Me Against the World,” “Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)” and “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady” made it to the Top 10.
A 2012 interview revealed that the success of I Am Woman was of her reasons to step out of public life.
“That was one of the reasons that I stopped singing, was when I was shown a modern American history high-school textbook, and a whole chapter on feminism and my name and my lyrics (were) in the book,” she said.
“And I thought, `Well, I’m part of history now. And how do I top that? I can’t top that.′ So, it was an easy withdrawal.”
Her death comes less than three weeks after the release of a biopic about her life called, aptly called “I Am Woman.”
Director Unjoo Moon said that making the film resulted in a seven-year friendship with Reddy.
“I will forever be grateful to Helen for teaching me so much about being an artist, a woman and a mother,” she said in a statement.
“She paved the way for so many and the lyrics that she wrote for ‘I am Woman’ changed my life forever like they have done for so many other people and will continue to do for generations to come. She will always be a part of me and I will miss her enormously.”