Song:Fire
Album:Hits!
The Pointer Sisters were a quartet when they had success with 70s hits like Yes We Can Can. But they were reduced to a trio when Fire was their first top five hit in 1979. They became more mainstream. After The Pointer Sisters recorded four albums for Blue Thumb Records, Bonnie Pointer left to start a solo career at Motown. She had a big hit with Heaven Must Have Sent You in 1978. June Pointer wanted to take a break and Ruth Pointer was pregnant. After giving birth to her son, Ruth and Anita decided The Pointer Sisters should go in a more contemporary direction. No more thrift shop clothes. They signed with with producer Richard Perry's new label Planet Records and June returned so they are now a trio. The first album for Planet was Energy and Fire was the first single. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and launched The Pointer Sisters to a lot of success in the 80s. Bruce Springsteen wrote Fire at a time when he wasn't able to record because he was embroiled in a lawsuit with his manager. He says he wrote Fire for Elvis Presley but Presley died before Springsteen could send it to him. Springsteen gave Fire to rockabilly singer Robert Gordon who recorded it on his 1978 album Fresh Fish Special. That's where Perry heard it and he gave it to The Pointer Sisters. Though they never had a #1 hit, The Pointer Sisters' top five hits included He's So Shy, Slow Hand, Automatic and Jump. You can get all those hits on this budget comp. Universal owns the Blue Thumb recordings and Sony owns the Planet recordings so you can't get them on the same CD. Perry sold Planet to RCA in 1982 and The Pointer Sisters left RCA in 1985. They recorded for Motown and SBK and last recorded for a major label in 1993. Anita, Ruth and Ruth's granddaughter Sadako still tour as The Pointer Sisters. When Anita has had health issues, Ruth's daughter Issa fills in. Here's The Pointer Sisters performing Fire on The Midnight Special 1979.
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