Anita Pointer, member of Grammy-winning group the Pointer Sisters, dies at 74

Anita Pointer, a member of the Grammy-winning group the Pointer Sisters, famous for hits like "I'm So Excited" and "Jump (For My Love)," died Saturday after a battle with cancer. She was 74.

Her publicist, Roger Neal, confirmed that Pointer was "surrounded by family at the time of her death" in a statement.

Pointer's sister Ruth, brothers Aaron and Fritz, and granddaughter Roxie McKain Pointer also released a joint statement. "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 and at peace," it read. "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. Please respect our privacy during this period of grief and loss. Heaven is a more loving, beautiful place with Anita there."

Ruth is now the last surviving member of the Pointer Sisters, following the deaths of June Pointer in 2006 and Bonnie Pointer in 2020.

Paul Archuleta/Getty Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters has died.

Born Anita Marie Pointer in Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 23, 1948, Pointer grew up singing in her dad Reverend Elton's church with her sisters. She quit her job as a secretary in 1969 to form the Pointer Sisters with siblings June, Bonnie, and Ruth.

Their successes are widely known. Their eponymous 1973 debut album featured "Jada," a song inspired by Pointer's only daughter, Jada Pointer, who died in 2003. The song reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Written by Anita and Bonnie, "Fairytale," off their album That's a Plenty, became the group's first Grammy-winning song after its release in 1974. It helped the Pointer Sisters cross over from the country charts to the pop charts.

After appearing in the 1976 film Car Wash with actor Richard Pryor, they changed their style with the help of record producer Richard Perry, churning out such hits as "Fire," "He's So Shy," and "Slow Hand."

Their 1984 remixed version of "I'm So Excited" reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. In 2013, Pointer and Ruth appeared as guest judges on RuPaul's Drag Race season 5, during which they witnessed competing drag queens Coco Montrese and Jade Jolie lip-sync to "I'm So Excited."

The Pointer Sisters' highest-selling album was 1983's Breakout. The group won a total of three Grammy Awards and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2020, Anita Pointer released a book with her brother Fritz called Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters' Family Story.

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