BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Anita Pointer, one of four singing siblings who achieved pop success and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died Saturday at age 74, her publicist said.
The Grammy winner died while surrounded by family members, publicist Roger Neal said in a statement. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
“While we are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita, it takes comfort to know that she is now with her daughter Jada and her sisters June and Bonnie and at peace. She was the one who kept us all close and together for so long,” her sister Ruth, brothers Aaron and Fritz and niece Roxie McKain Pointer said in the statement.
Anita Pointer’s only child, Jada Pointer, died in 2003.
Born daughters of a pastor, Anita, Ruth, Bonnie and June Pointer grew up singing at their father’s church in Oakland, California.
The group’s 1973 self-titled debut album included the hit “Yes We Can Can”. Known for hit songs including “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 US top 20 hits 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 group to perform at the San Francisco Opera, Neal said.
Bonnie Pointer left the group in 1977, signing a solo deal with Motown Records but enjoying modest success. “We were devastated,” Anita Pointer said of the departure in 1990. “We did a show the night he left, but we stopped after that. We thought it wouldn’t work without Bonnie.”
The group, in various lineups, including younger family members, continued to record until 1993.
June Pointer died of cancer at the age of 52 in 2006.
Anita Pointer announced the death of Bonnie Pointer of cardiac arrest at the age of 69 in 2020. “The Pointer Sisters would never have happened if it weren’t for Bonnie,” she said in a statement.
