Anita Pointer, one in all 4 sibling singers who earned pop success and significant acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died Saturday (Dec. 31) on the age of 74, her publicist introduced.
The Grammy winner handed away whereas she was with relations, publicist Roger Neal mentioned in an announcement. A reason for loss of life was not instantly revealed.
“Whereas we’re deeply saddened by the lack of Anita, we’re comforted in realizing she is now along with her daughter Jada and her sisters June & Bonnie and at peace. She was the one which saved all of us shut and collectively for therefore lengthy,” her sister Ruth, brothers Aaron and Fritz and granddaughter Roxie McKain Pointer mentioned within the assertion.
Anita Pointer’s solely daughter, Jada Pointer, died in 2003.
Anita, Ruth, Bonnie and June Pointer, born the daughters of a minister, grew up singing of their father’s church in Oakland, California.
The group’s 1973 self-titled debut album included the breakout hit, “Sure We Can Can.” Identified for hit songs together with “I’m So Excited,” “Gradual Hand,” “Neutron Dance” and “Bounce (For My Love),” the singers gained a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 1994.
The 1983 album, Break Out, went triple platinum and garnered two American Music Awards. The group received three Grammy Awards and had 13 U.S. high 20 hit songs between 1973 and 1985, Neal mentioned.
The Pointer Sisters additionally was the primary African American group to carry out on the Grand Ole Opry program and the primary up to date act to carry out on the San Francisco Opera Home, Neal mentioned.
Bonnie Pointer left the group in 1977, signing a solo cope with Motown Data however having fun with solely modest success. “We had been devastated,” Anita Pointer mentioned of the departure in 1990. “We did a present the night time she left, however after that, we simply stopped. We thought it wasn’t going to work with out Bonnie.”
The group, in numerous lineups together with youthful relations, continued recording by way of 1993.
June Pointer died of most cancers on the age of 52 in 2006.
Anita Pointer introduced Bonnie Pointer’s loss of life ensuing from cardiac arrest on the age of 69 in 2020. “The Pointer Sisters would by no means have occurred had it not been for Bonnie,” she mentioned in an announcement.