Helen Reddy, the Australian singer best known for her hit song “I Am Woman,” passed away in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday. She was 78 years-old.

The death of Reddy, who had suffered from dementia for years before her passing, was confirmed by her children in a Facebook post.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy, on the afternoon of September 29th 2020 in Los Angeles,” they said. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman. Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”

Deadline reported that Reddy was born in 1941 to a showbiz family, and she made her debut onstage at the age of 4. Her first hit on the American charts came in 1971 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” Mary Magdalene’s big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. Sixteen months later, Reddy hit No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada with “I Am Woman,” a pro-feminism song that she co-wrote with Ray Burton. The song became the anthem of the women’s rights movement in the 1970, and made Reddy an international superstar.

The lyrics of the song are in part, “I am woman, hear me roar / In numbers too big to ignore / And I know too much to go back and pretend / ‘Cause I’ve heard it all before / And I’ve been down there on the floor / No one’s ever gonna keep me down again.”

Last year, Reddy was the subject of the movi  I Am Woman, a biopic starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Reddy that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to be part of AFI Fest. The film was directed by Unjoo Moon, who had this to say after Reddy’s passing:

When I first met Helen Reddy she told me that I would be in her life for many years. What followed was an amazing 7-year friendship during which she entrusted me with telling her story in a film that celebrates her life, her talents and her amazing legacy.

I will forever be grateful to Helen for teaching me so much about being an artist, a woman and a mother. 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. On behalf of all of us involved in making the film I am Woman, producer Rosemary Blight and I extend our condolences to Helen’s family especially her children Traci and Jordan, her granddaughter Lily and her ex-husband Jeff.

Rest in peace, Helen Reddy.

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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