b. 11 July 1951, East Oakland, California, USA. One of the four siblings who made up the successful R&B vocal group the Pointer Sisters, Bonnie Pointer was featured on two of the group's major hit singles, "Yes We Can Can" and "How Long", and on five albums between 1973 and 1978. She then signed a solo contract with Motown Records, where she substituted a modern disco style for the 40s-influenced jazz she had recorded with her sisters. "Free Me From My Freedom" was a major black music hit in 1978, followed a year later by a sterling rendition of the Elgins' "Heaven Must Have Sent You". The latter was the linchpin of Bonnie Pointer II, an ambitious set of revivals of classic Motown hits. Pointer's increasingly outspoken attitude towards the label's hierarchy led to her contract being cancelled in 1981. After two years of legal battles, she signed to Private I Records, where she attained a succession of minor hits in the mid-80s.

Listen to Bonnie Pointer at Finetune.

• Heaven Must Have Sent You
• I Can't Help My Self (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)

• Commodores
• Aretha Franklin
• Diana Ross
• Marvin Gaye
• Al Green
• The Temptations
• Gladys Knight & The Pips
• Four Tops
• Michael Jackson
• Stevie Wonder
• Diana Ross & The Supremes
• Smokey Robinson
• Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• Thelma Houston
• Earth, Wind & Fire
• Brenda Holloway
• The Jackson 5
• The Marvelettes
• Mary Wells
• Edwin Starr

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• ElKoK