Gospel roots and childhood memories with the Pointer Sisters

Funky song belter Ruth Pointer, the only founding Pointer Sister still alive, bares her soul about growing up hard scrabble with five siblings, dealing with very strict parents who refused to let her wear makeup, jewelry, or attend dances, attending Sunday worship service at the West Oakland Church of God, bringing her first date home, getting pregnant at 19, why she disagrees with the theory that posits women marry their father, and whether the trio has considered cutting a gospel album. Say what? A Superman T-shirt-sporting Ruth, June, and Anita playfully frolic in a bed most likely during the “Priority” album era in 1979. The gifted, harmonically-inclined trio would score yet another pop hit with “He’s So Shy” the following year. Image Credit: Lipstick Alley Forum

Billboard recognizes the melodic, Big Band-inspired Pointer Sisters, reduced to a trio when Bonnie Pointer departed for a fleeting solo career on Motown Records in 1977, as the fourth most successful female group ever after the Supremes, TLC, and Destiny’s Child. The R&B crossover pop phenomenon accumulated 15 Top 40 singles in the ’70s and ’80s and sold a not too shabby 40 million…