Pointer Sisters singer Anita Pointer dies at 74: NPR

In this file photo, Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters performs at the Alfred Mann Foundation’s 3rd Annual Innovation and Inspiration Gala on September 9, 2006 in Beverly Hills, California.

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Phil McCarten/AP

In this file photo, Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters performs at the Alfred Mann Foundation’s 3rd Annual Innovation and Inspiration Gala on September 9, 2006 in Beverly Hills, California.

Phil McCarten/AP

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Anita Pointer, one of four singing sisters to achieve pop success and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died Saturday at the age of 74, her publicist announced.

The Grammy winner died while with family members, publicist Roger Neal said in a statement. The cause of death was not immediately revealed.

“While we are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita, we are comforted to know that she is now with her daughter Jada and her sisters June and Bonnie and at peace. She is the one who has kept us all close and together. for so long,” his sister Ruth, bother Aaron and Fritz and his granddaughter Roxie McKain Pointer said in the statement.

Anita Pointer’s only daughter, Jada Pointer, died in 2003.

Anita, Ruth, Bonnie and June Pointer, born daughters of a pastor, grew up singing in their father’s church in Oakland, California.

The band’s 1973 self-titled debut album included the hit “Yes We Can Can”. Known for their hit songs such as “I’m So Excited”, “Slow Hand”, “Neutron Dance” and “Jump (For My Love)”, the singers earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994.

The 1983 album “Break Out” went triple platinum and won two American Music Awards. The group won three Grammy Awards and had 13 top 20 hit songs in the United States between 1973 and 1985, Neal said.

The Pointer Sisters were also the first African-American group to perform on the Grand Ole Opry program and the first contemporary act to perform at the San Francisco Opera, Neal said.

Bonnie Pointer left the group in 1977, signing a solo contract with Motown Records but enjoying only modest success. “We were devastated,” Anita Pointer said of leaving in 1990. “We did a show the night she left, but after that we stopped. We thought it wasn’t going to work without Bonnie. “

The band, in various line-ups including younger family members, continued to record until 1993.

June Pointer died of cancer aged 52 in 2006.

Anita Pointer announced the death of Bonnie Pointer resulting from cardiac arrest at the age of 69 in 2020. “The Pointer Sisters would never have happened without Bonnie,” she said in a statement.