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I’m So Excited: The Song That Flopped, Then Came Back and Conquered the World
I’m So Excited: The Song That Flopped, Then Came Back and Conquered the World Most hit songs get one chance. “I’m So Excited” got two — and the second one made history. In September 1982, the Pointer Sisters released a song they’d written themselves — a burst of pure dance-pop joy, all pounding piano and…
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The Pointer Sisters: Three Generations, One Harmony
Ruth Pointer is 78 years old, and she is still singing. Think about what that sentence carries. She is the eldest of four sisters who defied a preacher father, conquered Nashville, taught America to count on “Sesame Street,” and became pop royalty in the 1980s. She has buried her father, her mother, and all three…
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How the Pointer Sisters Set “Fire” to the Charts: The Springsteen Song That Was Meant for Elvis
Some hits are written. This one was redirected by fate — twice. “Fire,” the 1978 smash that carried the Pointer Sisters to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, began as a love letter from Bruce Springsteen to his idol Elvis Presley. The demo was mailed to Graceland. The King died before it arrived. What…
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The Untold Story of the Pointer Sisters: Four Sisters, Three Grammys, and a Lifetime of Reinvention
They sang bebop, country, disco, and synth-pop with equal conviction. They won Grammys in categories no one expected them to win, taught a generation of children to count on “Sesame Street,” and became the first Black group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. And then, one by one, the sisters began to disappear —…