Anita Pointer of Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters dead at 74
- The 74-year-old Anita Pointer, the second oldest of four sisters, died of cancer on Saturday according to her publicist
- The Pointer Sisters had a string of hits in the 1980s with songs Neutron Dance, Automatic, Jump (For My Love), and I’m So Excited
Anita Pointer, one of the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters whose string of pop, country and R&B hits in the 1970s and ‘80s included I’m So Excited, Jump (For My Love) and Fire died of cancer on Saturday at age 74, her publicist said.
Pointer was surrounded by family at her Beverly Hills home when she died, publicist Roger Neal said.
Anita was the second oldest of four sisters who started performing as the duo of June and Bonnie in 1969 and soon became a trio when Anita quit her job as a secretary to join the group, according to an official biography.
The Pointer Sisters later became a quartet for a while with Ruth, the only one of the original singing sisters still alive, though Bonnie left the group in the late 1970s and they became a trio once again. The Pointer sisters also have two surviving brothers, Fritz and Aaron.
Anita was preceded in death by her daughter Jada, who died in 2003, when Anita took over raising her granddaughter, Roxie McKain Pointer.