Anita Pointer

(AP) – Anita Pointer, one of four sibling singers who earned pop success and critical acclaim as The Pointer Sisters, died Saturday at the age of 74.

'She fought a very heroic battle with cancer.'

The group’s second album, That’s a Plenty, gave them their first Grammy-winning song, “Fairytale,” which became a huge crossover country hit. However, she was unable to participate due to her health issues, so Ruth performed solo, dressed as a cupcake. She was the one that kept all of us close and together for so long.”

Family hail singer as 'the one that kept all of us close and together for so long'

and the Pointer Sisters in 1985. [Katrina Leskanich, of Katrina and the Waves, recalled](https://twitter.com/KatrinasWeb/status/1609537750683860993) being on a tour with Wham! The Pointer Sisters group was initially two sisters, June and Bonnie, who performed as a duo in the late 1960s. Bonnie left in 1978 and the group almost disbanded. “Her love of our family will live on in each of us. She was surrounded by family at her Beverly Hills home in California when she died on New Year’s Eve, her publicist, Roger Neal, said.

Anita Pointer, one of the founding members of the Pointer Sisters, died on Dec. 31 at age 74. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita," her family said ...

The song later won the group its first Grammy Award for best country performance by a duo or group in 1975. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. In 1994, Anita and her sisters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 1998, the Pointer Sisters were inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. Her love of our family will live on in each of us. 3 on the R&B albums chart. Please respect our privacy during this period of grief and loss.

A spokesman said the cause of death was cancer and that the three-time Grammy winner was surrounded by loved ones. Advertisement. “While we are deeply saddened ...

The sisters began as backup singers and initially garnered attention for their 1940s-style outfits before they broke into the big time and became staples of the airwaves in the 1970s and 1980s, churning out hits across genres from country to R&B to rock. She and her sisters sharpened their talent in the church choir before Bonnie and June formed a duet that became a trio when Anita joined it. “She was the one that kept all of us close and together for so long.

She was the lead vocalist on all three of the Pointer Sisters' Top 40 hits in the group's early years, and she helped define its pop sound in the 1980s.

[died](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/arts/music/june-pointer-singer-with-the-pointer-sisters-dies-at-52.html) in 2006, and Bonnie [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/arts/music/bonnie-pointer-dead.html) in 2020. “They’re not going to get a corset in their face.” In 1968, she saw Bonnie and June sing to a crowd in San Francisco. She attended a racially segregated school, was forced to sit in the balcony of the movie theater and once picked cotton for money. Anita sang lead on all three of the group’s Top 40 hits in its original incarnation, including the breakout hit, “Yes We Can Can,” from its debut album, “The Pointer Sisters” (1973). “This reminds me that everybody don’t love you and that you have to prove them wrong,” Ms. The group started with four Pointer Sisters — Anita, Ruth, Bonnie and June — and became a trio when Bonnie left to pursue a solo career in 1977. [“Too Many Times.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-PFlFl3WqQ) The two performed the song at an improbable venue for [Mr. She graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1965 and was hired as a legal secretary. The Pointer Sisters charted a new course when Bonnie left the group. The Pointer women performed wearing secondhand clothes that could have been worn to church in the 1940s — and they sometimes even sourced their wardrobe from their mother's church friends. In “Slow Hand,” a love song with a soft-focus

Anita Pointer, a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Pointer Sisters, has died at age 74. The Oakland-born singer died on New Year's Eve.

[biography on the group’s website](https://thepointersisters.com/group-bio-short.html). She was a collector of African American art and memorabilia. The last photo of Bonnie (who died in 2020), Anita and Ruth was taken at the exhibit. “She was the one that kept all of us close and together for so long. Her love of our family will live on in each of us. Ruth joined the already established trio in 1972.