Anita Pointer, one of the founding members of the R&B group The Pointer Sisters, passed away Dec. 31 in Los Angeles. She was 74.
“Sad to report my client, Grammy Winner Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters, has passed away after a heroic battle with cancer,” Pointer’s publicist Roger Neal wrote on social media. “Her family was around her at the time of her death. She passed peacefully.”
The Pointer Sisters — Ruth, Anita, Bonnie and June — grew up singing in a church in Oakland, California, where their father was a minister. Bonnie and June first began performing professionally as a duo in 1969. With their older sisters Anita and Ruth joining them, the quartet released their first album in 1973 with “Yes We Can Can” as their first hit.
The group won three total Grammy Awards and had 13 US Top 20 hits between 1973 and 1985. Bonnie Pointer left the group in 1977 for a solo career. Ruth, Anita and June reinvented themselves with 1080s pop hits like “He’s So Shy,” “Jump (For My Love)” and “Neutron Dance.”
Bonnie and Ruth died in 2020 and 2006, respectively; Anita Pointer’s only daughter Jada Pointer passed away in 2003.
“While we are deeply saddened by the loss of Anita, we are comforted in knowing she is now with her daughter, Jada and her sisters June & Bonnie and at peace,” the Pointer family said in a statement. “Heaven is a more loving beautiful place with Anita there.”