R&B star Anita Pointer, founder of Grammy Award-winners The Pointer Sisters, dies aged 74

'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 Pointer, a member of Grammy-winning group the Pointer Sisters has died of cancer aged 74. Her publicist Roger Neal said she died surrounded by her family at her Beverly Hills home on Saturday. The Pointer Sisters - whose hits included I'm So Excited and Jump (For My Love) - and at different times including Bonnie, Anita and their siblings June and Ruth - formed in Oakland, California, and found success in the 1970s and 1980s. The group won three Grammy awards, had 13 US top 20 hits between 1973 and 1985, and were honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iwBM_YB1sE The family said in a 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 & Bonnie and 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." Ruth is the only surviving sister. June, the youngest sister, struggled with drug addiction for much of her career, and left the group in 2004, before her death from cancer, age 52.  Bonnie - who left the group in 1977 and pursued a solo career - died age 69 in 2020. Anita's daughter Jada died in 2003, when the singer took over raising her granddaughter, Roxie McKain Pointer. Related links:

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