feel like I grew up with their music.
http://www.thepointersistersfans.com/june.html <<photo
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html
http://today.reuters.com/news/June Pointer, youngest Pointer Sisters, dies at 52
Family said singer had cancer
Wednesday, April 12, 2006; Posted: 4:53 p.m. EDT (20:53 GMT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- June Pointer, the youngest of the Pointer Sisters -- known for the '70s and '80s hits "I'm So Excited," "Fire" and "Slow Hand" -- has died of cancer, her family said Wednesday. She was 52.
Pointer died Tuesday at Santa Monica University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, the family said in a statement. She had been hospitalized since late February. The type of cancer wasn't disclosed.
She died "in the arms of her sisters, Ruth and Anita and her brothers, Aaron and Fritz, by her side," the statement said. "Although her sister, Bonnie, was unable to be present, she was with her in spirit."
The four sisters grew up singing in the choir of an Oakland church where their parents were ministers. Bonnie and June formed a singing duo and began performing in clubs around the San Francisco Bay area. Anita and Ruth later joined the group, which sang backup for artists such as Taj Mahal, Boz Scaggs and Elvin Bishop.
Their self-titled debut album was released in 1973, and the song "Yes We Can Can" became their first hit. They followed up with "That's A Plenty," which featured an eclectic mix of musical styles ranging from jazz to country and pop. They won a Grammy Award in 1974 for best country vocal performance by a group for the song "Fairytale."
Bonnie Pointer left the group in 1977 for a solo career.
The Pointer Sisters recorded several more albums, including 1984's "Break Out," which won two Grammys for "Automatic" and "Jump (for My Love)." The album's other hit song, "Neutron Dance," was prominently featured in the movie "Beverly Hills Cop."
June recorded two solo albums, and later left the trio.
Anita and Ruth still perform under the group's name. Ruth's daughter, Issa Pointer, is the trio's newest member.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
Singer June Pointer dies of cancer at age 52
Wed Apr 12, 2006 4:20pm ET163
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - June Pointer, youngest of the four Pointer Sisters who went from teenage gospel singers to the top of the pops with such hits of the 1970s and 80s as "Fire," "Slow Hand" and "I'm So Excited," has died of cancer at age 52, a family spokesman said on Wednesday.
Two sisters, Ruth and Anita, and two brothers, Aaron and Fritz, were at her side at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica when she died, the spokesman said.
Her third sister, Bonnie, was unable to be present, the spokesman added. The type of cancer was not disclosed.
The sisters learned to sing in the choir of a church in West Oakland, California, where their parents were ministers. They began as a quartet in the 1970s and become a trio when their sister Bonnie left to pursue a solo career.
"The Pointer Sisters," their first album, was issued in 1973 with what turned out to be their first hit, "Yes We Can Can," a cover of an Allen Toussaint song. Two years later they topped the R&B charts with "How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick on the Side)."
Their second album, "That's A Plenty" in 1974, included a country and western tune "Fairytale," which led to their winning the first of their three Grammys, this one for best country vocal performance by a group.
Thanks to that song, they became the first black female group to sing at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. "Fairytale" was later covered by Elvis Presley.
Bonnie left the group in the late 1970s to follow a solo career and the sisters became a trio making several successful albums, most notably 1984's "Break Out" which won two Grammy awards and contained the hit "Neutron Dance," featured in the film "Beverly Hills Cop."
It was not the first time that a Pointer Sister song made the movies -- in 1976 they appeared with Richard Pryor in the movie "Car Wash" which had their singing "You Gotta Believe" on the soundtrack.
The sisters' cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" was also a major hit for the trio.
In 2004, June Pointer, who made two albums as a solo artist, was charged with cocaine possession and placed in a rehabilitation program.