This week, two legendary music groups, The Commodores and The Pointer Sisters, announced their summer tour, "An Evening of Icons." With a combined legacy that spans across decades with more than 100 million albums sold, 20 No. 1 hits, and 10 Top 10 albums, these iconic artists are set to take audiences on a journey through the very best of funk, soul, R&B, and pop with support from special guests, The Spinners. The first tour leg kicks off on July 26 in Oxon Hill, Maryland, before wrapping in Primm, Nevada on November 30. Get tickets at LiveNation.com . We caught up with Ruth Pointer, the last surviving original group member, who told us all about it. Last week, Ruth sat down with LifeMinute editor-in-chief Joann Butler to reminisce about their humble beginnings, honing their formal vocal training in their father's church to their whirlwind worldwide fame, securing a place in pop music history, with countless hits, from Bruce Springsteen's 'Fire' to 'He's So Shy,' 'Slow Hand,' 'Automatic,' 'Neutron Dance,' 'Jump for My Love' and of course the anthem for happiness, 'I'm So Excited.' In 1975, the quartet won their first Grammy Award for a country-western tune, 'Fairytale.' As a result, the sisters became the first black female group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. The 'King' himself, Elvis Presley, recorded their song on his last studio album. In recent years, the group has performed with some of the greatest symphony orchestras in the world, including San Francisco, Jacksonville, Atlanta's Symphony Orchestra, and the renowned Boston Pops. Ruth Pointer continues to perform the music of The Pointer Sisters all over the globe with her daughter and granddaughter. Check out more on thepointersisters.com.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Ruth Poynter, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:04Two legendary music groups, the Commodores and the Poynter Sisters, are on tour this
00:09summer.
00:10An evening of icons with special guests, the Spinners, kicks off July 26th with stops across
00:15the country through November.
00:17I caught up with Ruth Poynter, the last surviving member of the iconic threesome, who's reliving
00:23all those classic songs we know and love with her daughter and granddaughter on stage.
00:28Well, it's the Poynter Sisters and the Spinners and the Commodores.
00:34It should be a lot of fun.
00:35I haven't seen any of those guys in such a long time, and it'll be wonderful to see them.
00:42And just remember the times when those iconic songs were all over the airwaves, you know,
00:50because it was definitely a very, very special moment in music.
00:59They're all fun songs, you know, and I'm so excited because it's just that song that just
01:06describes the group, as far as I'm concerned, and it's kind of like our little anthem, you
01:12know.
01:14When people say it, they kind of automatically think about us, and that was why we wrote
01:18it.
01:19They said, whenever they say that phrase, they're going to go, oh yeah, the Poynter
01:24Sisters, in their mind, even if they don't say it, you know.
01:27But yeah, and I do love performing Neutron Dance.
01:36I love singing happiness because the lyrics are just amazing.
01:48Someone brought to my attention a song that we recorded a few years ago by Stephen Stills
01:53called As I Come of Age, and the song just brought me to tears, you know, because I don't
01:58have my sisters anymore, and that song was like, whew.
02:15I listened to it the minute that the person that was interviewing me mentioned it after
02:21I got off the phone.
02:23I said, let me play this song, because I couldn't remember exactly.
02:26And when I played it, oh my God, all it brought back to me was that magical, instant harmony
02:34that me and my sisters had that was unspeakable and so, no pun intended, automatic.
02:43But it was just something we did without thinking about it.
02:46We each knew which part the other was going to be singing, and we didn't have to think
02:52about it.
02:53When the song came up, we just fell into our spot.
02:56That's exactly what we're known for, and I just know that we did the best that we could
03:02at what we had to offer, and that was a variety of different types of music, which we loved
03:07all of it.
03:09And we never wanted to be pigeonholed into one type of music, which was something that
03:14we definitely went into the business insistent about.
03:19We didn't want to be a predominantly R&B artist, because we never felt completely secure
03:27as far as our abilities went for that, even though we're Black artists.
03:32We didn't come from that kind of background, so we just wanted to be able to sing what
03:38we sang best, which was a touch of country, a touch of pop, a touch of blues, and a touch
03:43of R&B, but none of it specific, because we just didn't feel that way.
03:51And so I hope that our legacy can be appreciated for the variety that we brought.
03:58Amazing.
03:59Did you guys always know you wanted to do this, or did you just fall into it?
04:02Oh, not at all.
04:03My sisters Bonnie and June were the real two who considered, hmm, maybe we can do something
04:10with this, and started singing around in the San Francisco Bay Area together with different
04:16local people.
04:19That was during the late 60s, when it was like a youth revolution going on, the Vietnam
04:27War and hippies, and it was a lot, lot of changes.
04:32So they were caught right in that and just pulled me and Anita back into it.
04:41I mean, we just knew that we had something, because we always were singing around the
04:52house.
04:53There was always music in our home.
04:54My mom would give us some grocery list to go to the store and get a couple of items,
04:59and we'd make up a song about it, so we wouldn't forget what to get.
05:03Hello, Fred.
05:04Cardamom.
05:05Hello, Fred.
05:06You know, we would just make up stuff.
05:08So singing was just like the air that we breathed.
05:13It was that easy, you know.
05:15From singing in my dad's church, it was just something we just did.
05:20Learning how to sing in a choir, you learn your part, whether it was soprano, alto, tenor,
05:27or bass, or whatever, and you had to be in that lineup of people who sang the same, you
05:37know, as you, but you had to be able to hold on to your own note while the other parts
05:43were being sung as well, which is not easy, because I know that now, but I thought, you
05:51know, that it was something that people could do.
05:55But even with my daughter and my granddaughter, I find that when I'm singing with them, sometimes
06:01they slip into my, you know, my melody, and I go, no, no, no, no, no, you have to hold
06:09on to your part.
06:11You know, they were pretty much born into this, because that's all they know from me.
06:19I mean, I was eight months pregnant with Issa performing at Carnegie Hall, so she really
06:24didn't have much choice.
06:25I had my granddaughter Sadako, my oldest daughter's daughter, and, you know, that's all she's
06:31ever known of me.
06:32And when I gave them the opportunity to step in, they were scared and excited and all of
06:38that, and I told them, I said, look, just get up there and have a good time, you know,
06:43because those songs are fun, and it doesn't take a whole lot of trying to understand what
06:49it means, and is the message right, and am I going to deliver it right, and all that.
06:55Just get up there and sing and dance and have a good time.
07:02What is your proudest moment as an artist?
07:05Wow, that's a tough question, because there have been so many.
07:09What about the first Grammy Award for Best Country Performance?
07:13At the time, we were so young and so new in the industry, we didn't even understand, I
07:21don't think, how much of an impact that was, because we were just caught up in the middle
07:28of what we were doing.
07:29We were on the road, we were recording, we were on the road, we were on the road, and
07:32it's like, oh, you got a Grammy, oh, okay.
07:35No one really had time to sit back and sort of think, ooh, Grammy, country, first females,
07:41really?
07:42Mm-mm.
07:43All of that came much later, those thoughts.
07:51What does music do for people?
07:58Music brings people together.
08:01You have all types of people in your audience, all different colors, all different cultures,
08:06all different political views, you don't even know, and they're all out there together.
08:12That to me is magical.
08:15When I began to travel to other countries where people don't even speak English, we
08:19would get up on stage and sing our songs, and they would react.
08:24And I was like, wow, Asia, Europe, I'm like, you know, they don't even speak English, but
08:30they're dancing and they're singing, and it's amazing, you know?
08:34And I'm just enjoying the things that we've contributed to the industry.
08:40I think about it now, and I just sometimes say to myself, man, look at what you guys
08:48did.
08:49It's just a miracle, you know?
08:52Because when you asked me earlier, did we think we were going to, you know, go in this
08:57direction in our lives, and I didn't.
09:00My sisters may have had other thoughts, but never in my life did I think this was going
09:08to be my life.
09:09You know, a lot of hard knocks, but a lot, a lot of great rewards, and I really don't
09:13have any regrets, you know?
09:16I'm grateful that we were given that gift and that we could share it with the world.
09:23To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV, on iTunes and all
09:27streaming podcast platforms.