Anita Pointer: The Pointer Sisters singer dies aged 74

Ruth Pointer is the last surviving founding member of the Grammy-winning group

Sister act: June, Bonnie, Anita and Ruth (Getty)

Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters has died aged 74.

Pointer died on Saturday (31 December) surrounded by family at home in Beverly Hills, her publicist Roger Neal said.

The singer was one of four sisters who founded the Grammy-winning pop and R&B group. The Pointer Sisters found success in the Seventies and Eighties.

Their hits include “I’m So Excited”,  “Fire”, “Jump (For My Love)” and 1974’s “Fairytale”. The latter was covered by Elvis Presley in 1975.

Pointer’s family issued a statement, reading: “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 and Bonnie are at peace.

“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.”

Anita’s death follows two years after her sister Bonnie Pointer died aged 69 in 2020. June Pointer died aged 52 in 2006.

In 2003, Anita’s daughter Jada died of cancer with Anita taking over to raise her granddaughter, Roxie McKain Pointer.

Anita was the second-oldest of the four sisters.

June and Bonnie began performing together in 1969. According to an official biography, the duo soon became a trio when Anita quit her job as a secretary to join.

When Ruth, the only founding member still alive, joined, The Pointer Sisters became a quartet.

Anita Pointer singing at Hollywood Museum in 2019 (Shutterstock/Eugene Powers)

The sisters grew up in Oakland, California. Their father was a preacher.

The group – who won three Grammys throughout their career – scored their first hit single with “Yes We Can Can”, which was on their 1973 debut album.

Anita quit the group in 2015 due to unspecified health issues. She recorded her final song with Bonnie, as a tribute to their late sister June.

Following Bonnie’s death in 2020, Anita wrote: “Bonnie was my best friend and we talked every day, we never had a fight in our life, I already miss her and I will see her again one day.

“The Pointer Sisters would never have happened had it not been for Bonnie.”