The Pointer Sisters

Few musical acts displayed the shape-shifting versatility of the Pointer Sisters, whose transformations exceeded even those of David Bowie. Long before the sibling ensemble notched four straight Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles in the mid-1980s, they supplied backing vocals for Grace Slick and Boz Scaggs, made appearances on Sesame Street and at the Grand Ole Opry, earned a country Grammy, and turned up in the film Car Wash. Across their early-1970s Blue Thumb recordings and their subsequent commercial peak on Planet and RCA, the Pointers traversed boogie-woogie, bebop, blues, country, funk, disco, soft rock, electro-pop, hard rock, and additional subgenres with seemingly instinctive ease. They interpreted songs by Willie Dixon, had their own material taken up by Elvis Presley, and placed 15 singles inside the Hot 100 Top 40 while maintaining consistent visibility on the R&B, dance-club, and adult-contemporary surveys.

Ruth, Anita, Bonnie, and June Pointer were raised in Oakland, California, by a mother and a reverend father who promoted gospel singing while prohibiting blues and rock & roll. Exposure to secular styles occurred during visits and overnight stays at friends’ houses, where the sisters could hear contemporary recordings and watch programs such as American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show. Public performances remained confined to church settings until Bonnie and June formed a duo that later incorporated Anita; the trio subsequently contributed background vocals to recordings by Grace Slick, Boz Scaggs, and Sylvester. While singing with Walter Bishop, they attracted the attention of Atlantic Records, which issued the Pointer Sisters’ debut singles—“Don’t Try to Take the Fifth” in 1971, reminiscent of Honey Cone, and “Destination No More Heartaches” the following year. Neither track charted, yet the group’s promise was unmistakable.

By late 1972 Ruth had completed the quartet. The Pointers departed Atlantic for Blue Thumb and delivered five stylistically varied albums: The Pointer Sisters (1973), That’s a Plenty (1974), Live at the Opera House (1974), Steppin’ (1975), and Having a Party (1977). Standout singles from this period included the anthemic “Yes We Can Can,” written by Allen Toussaint; “How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side),” a Toussaint-inflected composition by Bonnie and Anita with David Rubinson; and “Going Down Slowly,” a gritty reworking of Toussaint’s “Going Down.” The biggest success, however, was “Fairytale,” a country excursion penned by Bonnie and Anita that reached number 13 on the Hot 100. The performance earned the Pointers an invitation to the Grand Ole Opry—the first African-American vocal group to receive one—and secured the 1974 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Elvis Presley later recorded the song. The same year Having a Party appeared, Sesame Street broadcast its classic animated “Pinball Number Count” segment, which used vocals the Pointers had tracked years earlier.

Between the release of Having a Party and the close of 1977, June and Bonnie exited, the latter launching a solo career. Ruth and Anita signed with producer Richard Perry’s Elektra-affiliated Planet imprint, and June rejoined in time to cut Energy (1978). The album contained a reading of Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everybody Is a Star” and the Toussaint-penned “Happiness,” the group’s first single to register on the disco chart, yet its dominant orientation was rock, featuring interpretations of Steely Dan, Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac, and the Doobie Brothers, plus the second released version—after Robert Gordon—of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire,” a composition originally slated for Elvis Presley. The Pointers propelled “Fire” to number two on the Hot 100. Their remaining years with Perry and Planet proved highly lucrative, peaking with the 1983 multi-platinum album Break Out, driven by four state-of-the-art dance-pop singles: “Automatic,” “Jump (For My Love),” a remix of the 1982 track “I’m So Excited,” and “Neutron Dance,” each of which entered the Hot 100’s upper tier. Two further Grammys followed.

Throughout the latter half of the 1980s and the early 1990s the Pointer Sisters issued five additional albums on RCA, Motown, and SBK. Contact (1985), buoyed by the crossover success “Dare Me,” marked the group’s final platinum-certified project. Although Only Sisters Can Do That in 1993 ended their studio output, they maintained occasional live appearances. Issa, Ruth’s daughter, contributed backing vocals to that last album and assumed full membership after June stepped away for health reasons. June succumbed to lung cancer in 2006. The Pointer Sisters nevertheless sustained performances through the remainder of the decade. Anita Pointer died at her Los Angeles home on December 31, 2022, at the age of 74.