Queen of 70s Pop

Today in Music History: December 9, 1972

The women of the 70s rocked country, pop, soft rock, hard rock, disco, and early punk all at once. Before there was a King of Pop, there was a female singer who was being called the Queen of 70s Pop thanks to her string of 15 Billboard top 40 songs and three chart toppers reaching No.1. This rich-voiced, auburn-haired Australia native was ubiquitous that decade: on radio, on television and in the movies.

Welcome to the spotlight...

 
Helen Reddy: Australian pop singer and actor who was the first Australian-born performer to have a No.1 single in the Us and win a Grammy Award, and host her own variety show on United States television

Helen Reddy, singer, actress and activist, was born into a well-known Australian show business family in Melbourne, Australia. Her mother, Stella (née Lamond), was an actress, and her father, Max Reddy, was a writer, producer, and actor. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1974. A pop music legend, for over 40 years Helen Reddy has enjoyed huge international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10 and three of those songs reached No. 1, including her signature hit "I Am Woman."

The Host to Multiple Firsts...

• First artist to win the coveted American Music Award for "Favorite Pop/Rock Female" artist
• First Australian to win a Grammy Award 
• First recording artist to have three No. 1 hits in the same year
• First Australian to host her own one-hour weekly primetime variety show on an American network, along with several specials that were seen in over forty countries

1972 'I Am Woman' initially sputtered in its attempt to gain a foothold on the pop charts. It had fallen completely off the charts by late that summer before re-entering the Hot 100 in September and beginning a steady climb upward. Thanks to Reddy's frequent appearances on television that fall and to the volume of call-in radio requests those appearances generated—mainly from women—the song reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1972.

No.1 singles on this day through the decades...

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  1978 Boney M had their second UK No.1 single with their version of the Harry Belafonte 1957 hit 'Mary's Boy Child'. On the list of the all-time best selling singles in the UK, Boney M. appear in fifth place (with 'Rivers of Babylon') and tenth place (with 'Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord'). The single sold almost 1.8 million copies.

• 1978 Chic started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Le Freak.' Nile Rodgers later stated that the song was devised during New Years Eve of 1977, as a result of him and bassist Bernard Edwards being refused entrance to Studio 54, in New York City, where they had been invited by Grace Jones, due to Jones's failure to notify the nightclub's staff. He said the lyrics of the refrain were originally "Fuck off!" rather than "Freak out!"

• 1989 Billy Joel started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'We Didn't Start The Fire'. Its lyrics are made up from rapid-fire brief allusions to over a hundred headline events between 1949 (Joel was born on May 9 of that year) and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front.

• 1995 Michael Jackson scored his 6th solo UK No.1 single when 'Earth Song' started a 6-week run at the top of the charts. It gave Jackson the UK Christmas No.1 of 1995 and his best-selling UK single ever. The song kept the first single released by The Beatles in 25 years, 'Free as a Bird', off the No.1 position.

No.1 album chart topper on this day...

1966 Supergroup Cream released their debut studio album 'Fresh Cream' in the UK. The three piece of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker also released their second single 'I Feel Free' on the same day.

1988 According to a poll released in the US, the music of Neil Diamond was favoured as the best background music for sex, Beethoven was the second choice and Luther Vandross was voted third.

2005 Joss Stone, Lemar and Ms. Dynamite backed by the African Children's Choir and 1,200 school children set a new world record for the most children singing simultaneously. The ‘Big Sing’ was held at The Royal Albert Hall, London. The singers led a performance of ‘Lean On Me’ which was broadcast to more than half a million people.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...