Anita Pointer performs with the Pointer Sisters at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Ill. on Oct. 1, 1983. Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images.

Another member of pioneering Oakland vocal group the Pointer Sisters has passed away. Anita Pointer died on Dec. 31 in Beverly Hills of cancer at 74 years old, her family announced.

Along with Ruth, Bonnie and June, the Pointer Sisters got their start in the ’60s in West Oakland. Their father, a reverend, opposed them pursuing their path and told them rock and roll and blues were the devil’s music. They didn’t listen. Before they found success, the Pointer Sisters sang backup for Janis Joplin, Taj Mahal and Boz Skaggs. They also recorded songs for “Sesame Street” teaching kids to count.

Anita Pointer was born on Jan. 23, 1948, in Oakland, one of six siblings. All of them sang in their dad’s church. She graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1965 and worked as a legal secretary. After seeing Bonnie and June sing publicly in San Francisco, she quit her job to join them.

L to R: June Pointer, Bonnie Pointer, Anita Pointer and Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters in the U.K. on Jan. 16, 1974. Photo by Stroud/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

They had their first hit in 1970. The group won several Grammys, and perhaps most unusually, their first came for best country vocal performance for 1974’s “Fairytale,” which Anita and Bonnie wrote together. According to a statement from the group’s publicist, the Pointer Sisters were the first African American group to perform on the Grand Ole Opera radio show, as well as the first contemporary act to perform at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.

Bonnie Pointer, who passed away in 2020, left the group in 1977 to pursue a solo career. It was Anita Pointer who sang lead on three of the group’s biggest hits, starting with “Yes We Can Can,” from its 1973 self-titled debut album. “Anita also spoke of how excited she was when Elvis recorded ‘Fairytale’ and started singing it in his concerts until his death in 1977,” read a statement on the group’s website.

The Pointer Sisters’ biggest hit was 1982’s “I’m So Excited,” which spent 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Forty years later, the song is still featured in films and in TV commercials.

L to R: June Pointer, Anita Pointer and Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters perform in Chicago on June 27, 1985. Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage.

Other Pointer Sisters hits included “Jump (For My Love),” and “Automatic,” both of which also won Grammys in 1985, as well as “How Long” (Betcha Got A Chick on the Side),” “Fire,” Slow Hand” and more. Anita Pointer pursued music outside of the family band, dueting with country singer Earl Thomas Conley in 1986. The sisters continued to perform, together and individually, into the 2000s.

Pointer was married twice. Her daughter, Jada, from her first marriage, died of cancer in 2003. Her sister June died in 2006. She’s survived by her sister Ruth; her brothers, Aaron and Fritz; and a granddaughter.

Ruth Pointer has kept the family name alive, touring as the Pointer Sisters with her daughter Issa Pointer and granddaughter Sadako Ruth Pointer Johnson.

Pointer’s family released a statement through the group’s publicist: “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. Please respect our privacy during this period of grief and loss. Heaven is a more loving beautiful place with Anita there.”