“June Pointer, youngest of the Pointer siblings, died of cancer at
UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, today, in the arms of her sisters,
Ruth and Anita and her brothers, Aaron and Fritz, by her side. Although
her sister, Bonnie, was unable to be present, she was with her in
spirit. June was 52.” — The Pointer Sisters Fans.com
I’m a fan of The Pointer Sisters, but my mom is a HUGE fan. It got rough for her in the last couple of years where drugs were involved and she left the group. From MTV.com:
June Pointer, the youngest singer in the Pointer Sisters, whose ’80s hits included “Jump (For My Love),” “He’s So Shy” and “I’m So Excited,” died Tuesday of cancer. She was 52.
June had been hospitalized at University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center in Santa Monica since late February. The type of cancer she suffered from was not disclosed.
The Pointer Sisters, who learned to sing at the Oakland, California, church where their parents were ministers, began as a duo with June and Bonnie but quickly became a quartet with their other sisters, Ruth and Anita. With their gospel background, the girls merged not just R&B and soul, but jazz, scat, be-bop and country, the genre in which they won their first Grammy.
After singing backup for artists including Grace Slick, Taj Mahal and Boz Scaggs, the sisters released their self-titled debut in 1973.
The group scored some R&B hits during the ’70s and began crossing over into pop with hit singles in 1979 and 1980, including a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire.” That success exploded in 1984, after Bonnie had left the group for a solo career, with the aptly titled Break Out. Two of that album’s tracks, “Jump (For My Love)” and “Automatic,” earned Grammys, and several more hit the charts, including the “Beverly Hills Cop” anthem “Neutron Dance.”
Break Out turned the Pointer Sisters into MTV stars, but their chart reign was short-lived, and the years since have seen the group’s successes occurring mostly onstage.
June, who recorded two solo albums, suffered from substance abuse in recent years and left the group in 2004. Shortly after, she was charged with felony cocaine possession and ordered to a rehabilitation facility.
— Corey Moss
