Helen Reddy co-hosted the first American Music Awards and won Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist there. The inaugural ceremony aired on February 19, 1974, with Reddy sharing hosting duties with Roger Miller and Smokey Robinson.
Reddy was already an established Australian-born singer and television personality when the AMAs began. Her winning competition in this category included Roberta Flack and Diana Ross, both major stars of the period. The award recognized the most popular female pop/rock performer, reflecting the AMAs’ emphasis on audience preferences rather than industry-jury voting.
A common mix-up is confusing Reddy’s role with that of Olivia Newton-John. Newton-John later became a major AMA winner and hosted the 1976 ceremony, but she was not the inaugural show’s winning female pop/rock artist. The first AMAs also used multiple genre-linked hosts, unlike many later ceremonies that generally featured one principal host.