The Pointer Sisters - Automatic 'Live' (2011)

The sibling R&B group the Pointer Sisters touched on country, jazz, gospel, and other sounds during a remarkable 20-year run that yielded seven Top 10 US pop hits.

• The Pointer siblings grew up in Oakland singing in their father’s church. In the late ’60s, Bonnie and June Pointer performed as the vocal duo The Pointers – A Pair. After enlisting their sisters Anita and Ruth, they issued their gold-certified eponymous debut album as the Pointer Sisters in 1973.
• Their 1974 single “Fairytale”—written by Bonnie and Anita—cracked the Top 40 of the Billboard country charts and won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance By a Duo Or Group, making them the first Black act to win in that category.
• Following Bonnie’s departure, the Pointer Sisters released Energy in 1978. Their rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100—their highest pop placement up to that point.
• They returned to the Top 5 in 1980 with “He’s So Shy,” off their 1980 album Special Things.
• Their gold-selling 1981 album Black & White includes “Slow Hand,” a No. 2 pop hit.
• On the strength of the Top 5 singles “Jump (For My Love)” and “Automatic”—as well as the remixed version of “I’m So Excited,” which became a Top 10 hit—the Pointer Sisters earned platinum sales with their 1983 album Break Out.
• After releasing their final album of new material, 1993’s Only Sisters Can Do That, the Pointer Sisters continued to tour as a trio until June departed from the group in 2004. Two years later, she died of lung cancer at 52.
• By 2009, the Pointer Sisters had come to include Anita, Ruth, Issa, and Ruth’s granddaughter Sadako. Anita left the group in 2015 due to health complications. Bonnie died in 2020 at age 69.