How to go
Who: The Pointer Sisters
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kuss Auditorium
Tickets: $20 to $55; visit pac.clarkstate.edu or call (937) 328-3874 to order.
SPRINGFIELD — The Pointer Sisters.
Probably not a name you’ve thought about much since the time Bush was in office.
The first Bush.
When he was vice president.
Just to clarify.
But if you think back, it dawns on you just how big they were — like, “We Are the World” big.
They were involved in that.
And admit it — you flat wore out the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack on cassette.
They had “Neutron Dance” on there, which was the soundtrack’s highlight behind Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude,” which itself was just behind Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On,” which was just behind “Axel F,” that bad mamma jamma of an instrumental that yours truly once performed a jump-rope routine to in second grade.
The Pointers will be performing locally at Kuss Auditorium on Saturday to raise money for the Clark State Performing Arts Center’s Circle of Friends.
While they inexplicably stopped having hits in the late ’80s, now that you’re thinking about them again, you suddenly can’t get “I’m So Excited” out of your head.
It’s OK. It happens.
While they were turned into superstars for a short time with the triple-platinum album “Break Out” — the one that spawned “Jump (For My Love),” “I’m So Excited,” “Neutron Dance” and “Automatic,” all in 1984 — the Pointers have had a fascinating history.
There’s really no other word to describe it.
To go from playing the Grand Ole Opry to appearing with Richard Pryor in “Car Wash” is nothing short of fascinating.
These days, the group consists of Ruth and Anita, with Ruth’s granddaughter, Sadako, stepping in for June, the troubled Pointer who struggled with drugs before dying of cancer in 2006 at age 52.
But in the beginning, there were four of ’em — Ruth, Anita, June and Bonnie.
They first hit the charts in 1973 with “Yes We Can Can,” a killer slice of funk-soul that was sampled in the ’80s by N.W.A. and Heavy D, and in the ’90s by De La Soul.
They also sang backing vocals on “God Make Me Funky,” an insane psycho-monster of a funk song from ’75 by The Headhunters minus Herbie Hancock.
That, in turn, was sampled by N.W.A. for “Gangsta Gangsta” in 1988 and by Nas for “Hip Hop is Dead” in 2006.
So far, nobody has yet to sample “Fairytale,” the sisters’ self-penned, Grammy-winning country hit from 1974.
Elvis covered it, though. Can that count?
The success of “Fairytale” led the Pointers to become the first black female group to perform at the Opry, which led someone in the audience to famously declare, “Well, hot damn, them gals is black!”
Bonnie soon left for a solo career at Motown, but she missed out on the true heyday of the Pointer Sisters beginning with a hit version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire” in 1978.
And just in case you’re afraid that kids today don’t know who the Pointer Sisters are, don’t worry — “Automatic” was used in “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.”
Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.
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