The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American girl group from Oakland, California, which achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as R&B, pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country, and rock. The Pointer Sisters have won three Grammy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. The group had 13 US top 20 hits between 1973 and 1985.
The Pointer Sisters
The group had its origins when sisters June and Bonnie Pointer began performing in clubs in 1969 as "Pointers Au Pair". The line-up grew to a trio when sister Anita joined them. Their record deal with Atlantic Records produced several unsuccessful singles. The trio grew to a quartet when sister Ruth joined in December 1972. They then signed with Blue Thumb Records, recorded their debut album and, with their new label, began seeing more success, winning a Grammy Award in 1975 for Best Country Vocal Performance for "Fairytale" (1974). Bonnie left the group in 1977 to commence a solo career with modest success.
The group achieved its greatest commercial success in the 1980s as a trio consisting of June, Ruth, and Anita. They won two more Grammys in 1984 for the top 10 hits "Automatic" and "Jump (For My Love)". The group's other U.S. top 10 hits are "Fire" (1979), "He's So Shy" (1980), "Slow Hand" (1981), the remixed version of "I'm So Excited" (1984), and "Neutron Dance" (1985).
June, the youngest sister, struggled with drug addiction for several years, leaving the group in April 2004 prior to her death from cancer in April 2006, at the age of 52.[1] She was replaced by Ruth's daughter Issa Pointer. This trio had a number two hit in Belgium in 2005, covering "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" with Belgian singer Natalia. Between 2009 and 2015, the group consisted of Anita, Ruth, Issa, and Ruth's granddaughter Sadako Pointer. While all four women remained in the group, they most often performed as a trio rotating the lineup as needed. In 2015, Anita was forced to retire due to ill health, leaving Ruth the sole member of the original sibling line-up.
In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 80th most successful dance artists of all-time.[2] In December 2017, Billboard ranked them as the 93rd most successful Hot 100 Artist of all-time[3] and as the 32nd most successful Hot 100 Women Artist of all-time.[4]
History[edit]
Early days[edit]
As children in West Oakland, the Pointer sisters and brothers were encouraged to listen to and sing gospel music by their parents Reverend Elton and Sarah Pointer. However, they were told rock and roll and the blues were "the devil's music", and it was only when they were away from their watchful parents that they could sing these styles. They regularly sang at a local Church of God in Christ congregation in West Oakland, but as the sisters grew older their love of other styles of music began to grow.[5]
The sisters were first cousins of NBA basketball player and head coach Paul Silas, and sisters of Aaron Pointer. Aaron was one of very few major league baseball players who became less famous than his own sisters. The sisters graduated from Oakland Technical High School: Ruth in 1963, Anita in 1965, and Bonnie in 1968.[6][7] After leaving school, oldest sister Ruth was already married with two children Faun (born 1965) and Malik (born 1966),[8] Anita, the second-oldest sister, also was married with a child Jada. Bonnie, the third oldest sister, and June, the youngest, sought a show business career and they formed a duo, 'Pointers Au Pair'. Later, Anita quit her job to join the group. They began touring and performing and provided backing vocals for artists such as Grace Slick, Sylvester, Boz Scaggs, Elvin Bishop and Betty Davis.[5]
It was while supporting Bishop at a nightclub appearance in 1971 that the sisters were signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records. The resulting singles that came from their Atlantic tenure failed to become hits, but the sisters were enjoying their fledgling recording career. One recording has become a Northern Soul classic: "Send Him Back" (Atlantic 45 2893). Concentrated at Wigan Casino around 1973–1974, Northern soul was an underground music scene comprising American 45 rpm records released at the same time as Tamla Motown and imported into the United Kingdom. "Send Him Back" remains a favorite with the worldwide Northern soul audience. Ruth gave in to the temptation to join them, joining the group in December 1972.[5] The quartet signed with Blue Thumb Records and began to record their first album.[9]
In 1976, they were asked to record "Pinball Number Count" for Sesame Street, which was a series of educational cartoons teaching children how to count. It made its debut in 1977 and was a feature on the show for many years. They made their television debut performance at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles on The Helen Reddy Show. In 1974, they joined Reddy on the track "Showbiz" which appeared on her Free and Easy album.
Initial success[edit]
The group's first album The Pointer Sisters, featuring the backing of Bay Area stalwarts the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, was released in 1973 and received strong reviews, with the group being lauded for their versatility and originality. Its first single "Yes We Can Can" – an Allen Toussaint-penned song, which had been a minor R&B hit for Lee Dorsey in 1970 - afforded the Pointer Sisters the first chart hit reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, while both "Yes We Can Can" and the follow-up single: the Willie Dixon cover "Wang Dang Doodle" were major R&B hits[5] with respective R&B chart peaks of No. 12 and No. 24.
The Pointer Sisters' second album, the 1974 release That's a Plenty, continued in the jazz and be-bop style of its predecessor but provided one exception that caused a great deal of interest: "Fairytale", written by Anita and Bonnie, was a country song that reached No. 13 on the pop charts, and No. 37 on the country chart. Based on this success, the group was invited to Nashville, Tennessee where they achieved the distinction of becoming the first Black group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1975, the Pointer Sisters won a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, with Anita and Bonnie also receiving nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Country Song as songwriters of "Fairytale".[5] The song was also recorded by Elvis Presley.
Subsequent to the live double album Live at the Opera House—a recording of April 21, 1974 Pointer Sisters concert at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco—the group's third studio album Steppin' was released in 1975. Steppin' produced their Grammy-nominated number one R&B single, "How Long (Betcha' Got a Chick on the Side)", which was sampled by female rap icons Salt-N-Pepa a decade later. The Pointer Sisters also scored another R&B hit from the album with "Going Down Slowly", another Allen Toussaint cover, and in 1976 appeared in the classic film Car Wash with their song from the movie: "You Gotta Believe", making the R&B top 20 in early 1977.
The Pointer Sisters were featured on the 1977 album Saffo Music by Italian R&B singer Lara Saint Paul and produced by Leon Ware, with bass by Chuck Rainey, guitar by Ray Parker Jr. and mixed by Bill Conti. It was released in Italy under LASAPA records.
November 1977 saw the release of the jazz-funk oriented Having a Party which would be the final album release featuring the Pointer Sisters in their original four-woman format. It was only on the title cut that all four members sang; the album's other songs featured Anita, Bonnie, and Ruth, but not June, who had taken a break from the group at this time. Recorded in 1976 the album's release was so delayed as to cause an eighteen-month gap between Having a Party and the precedent Pointer Sisters' album Steppin'—the compilation album The Best of the Pointer Sisters had been issued in July 1976—and without the impetus of a major hit single the Having a Party album itself caused scant commercial interest.
Personal lives[edit]
In November 2000, the sisters lost their mother, Sarah.[23]
In 2003, sister Anita lost her only child Jada to cancer.[24] Jada was the subject of the 1973 song "Jada".
On April 11, 2006, June, who suffered from drug addiction, died of cancer at the age of 52. According to a family statement, she was surrounded by Ruth and Anita as well as brothers Aaron and Fritz. On May 4, 2006, Bonnie appeared on Entertainment Tonight saying the other sisters had not fulfilled June's burial wishes, instead having her cremated because it was cheaper. Bonnie also stated the sisters had not let her ride in the family car at the funeral. Anita and Ruth responded that Bonnie had demanded to rejoin the group and was upset that she had been rejected, and that June had left no instructions for her burial. The sisters seemed estranged from Bonnie until she joined Anita on the Idol Radio Show in 2007.[25]
Bonnie was arrested for allegedly possessing crack cocaine on November 18, 2011, in South Los Angeles, after the car she was riding in was pulled over for a mechanical malfunction.[26] She filed for divorce from Motown Records producer, Jeffrey Bowen, on July 1, 2014.[27] On June 8, 2020, she died at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 69.[28]
Anita died from cancer on December 31, 2022.[29]
Awards[edit]
Grammy Awards[edit]
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The Pointer Sisters have received three awards from ten nominations.[30]