HELEN REDDY - THE HAPPY GIRLS

THE HAPPY GIRLS

HELEN REDDY

SONGWRITERS: Kim Fowley; Rick Henn; Earle Mankey & Helen Reddy

COUNTRY: AUSTRALIA X U. S. A.

ALBUM: EAR CANDY

LABEL: CAPITOLIO RECORDS

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 1977

 

        Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 1941 – 29 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, songwriter, author, actress, and activist. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a show-business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on radio and television and won a talent contest on the television program Bandstand in 1966; her prize was a ticket to New York City and a record audition, which was unsuccessful. She pursued her international singing career by moving to Chicago, and subsequently, Los Angeles, where she made her debut singles "One Way Ticket" and "I Believe in Music" in 1968 and 1970, respectively. The B-side of the latter single, "I Don't Know How to Love Him", reached number eight on the pop chart of the Canadian magazine, RPM. She was signed to Capitol Records a year later.

During the 1970s, Reddy enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed 15 singles on the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six made the top 10 and three reached number one, including her signature hit "I Am Woman". She placed 25 songs on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart; 15 made the top 10 and eight reached number one, six consecutively. In 1974, at the inaugural American Music Awards, she won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. On television, she was the first Australian to host a one-hour weekly primetime variety show on an American network, along with specials that were seen in more than 40 countries.

           Between the 1980s and 1990s, as her single "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" became her last to chart in the US, Reddy acted in musicals and recorded albums such as Center Stage before retiring from live performance in 2002. She returned to university in Australia, earned a degree, and practised as a clinical hypnotherapist and motivational speaker. In 2011, after singing "Breezin' Along with the Breeze" with her half-sister, Toni Lamond, for Lamond's birthday, Reddy decided to return to live performing.

Reddy's song "I Am Woman" played a significant role in popular culture, becoming an anthem for second-wave feminism. She came to be known as a "feminist poster girl" or a "feminist icon". In 2011, Billboard named her the number-28 adult contemporary artist of all time (the number-9 woman). In 2013, the Chicago Tribune dubbed her the "Queen of '70s Pop"

       Ear Candy is the ninth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy, released on April 25, 1977 by Capitol Records. The album included a modern take on the doo-wop genre ("Long Distance Love"), a Cajun number that gave the Melbourne native her first and only appearance on Billboard magazine's Country chart ("Laissez les Bontemps Rouler"), and a dark self-parody on which Reddy proclaims: "I don't take no shit from nobody" ("Baby, I'm a Star" - not to be confused with the Prince song of the same name). Unprecedented for a Helen Reddy album, half of the songs recorded for Ear Candy were co-written by Reddy herself, including the second single: "The Happy Girls", Reddy's first self-penned A-side single since "I am Woman": however it was the first single: a remake of the 1964 Cilla Black hit "You're My World", which would afford Reddy a final Top 40 hit. 

And do I love you?

Well I know I really try;

Thinking of you;

Loving the sunshine in your eyes.

 

And when I falter,

Bringing you grief

Does it alter your feeling for me?

Oh baby can't you see?

 

That we're sharing,

All the ups we have in life,

While comparing,

All the downs that we've survived.

 

But how much stronger

Our love becomes.

And the longer we're living as one,

The more we'll overcome.

 

And I have lived the greatest love song,

That my singer's years have ever heard.

You make this weary woman happy.

I overflow, it's cause I know

You wouldnt trade me,

For the moon inside a jar

For you've made me

Both the moon and the stars

 

And in our twilight,

We will recall, that the highlight

For us in this world,

Was having dreams come true.

 

I'm so comfortable with you.

Jeff, you've made my dreams come true.

Here's a love song just for you.