Soul · Pop · Harmony
Sister harmony, from soul roots to 1980s pop.
The biography
The Pointer Sisters are an American sister group whose career moves from soul and country-influenced music in the 1970s to electronic pop in the 1980s, without losing the close harmony that made them recognisable. The group began as a duo of June and Bonnie Pointer in the late 1960s, with Anita joining and Ruth joining in 1972. Bonnie left in 1977, leaving the trio that carried the group through its biggest pop years.
Their first album, in 1973, brought the breakthrough hit “Yes We Can Can.” The late 1970s and early 1980s brought a run of songs built around Anita Pointer’s lead vocal — “Fire” (1978), “Slow Hand” (1981) and “I’m So Excited” (1982) — each showing a different side of the same voices: sultry, tender and joyful in turn. The album Break Out (1983), with “Automatic” and “Jump (For My Love),” took the group to the top of mid-1980s pop.
What makes the group fit Past Tunes is that harmony. Whether the backing is soul, country or synthesizers, the sisters sing as one voice made of several, and that blend carries the story from song to song.