Before Pointer Sisters’ Tampa show, Ruth Pointer reveals the best gigs she ever saw

The current main vocalists in the Pointer Sisters are all family, but they’re not siblings.

Original sister Ruth Pointer—the last one standing following the 2022 death of Anita Pointer—now shares the stage with her daughter Issa and granddaughter Sadako, and their set will be sandwiched between the current iterations of fellow Motowners including recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Spinners, and the Commodores.

Ahead of this set, Ruth Pointer told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about the best gigs she ever saw. Read her full quote below.

First of all, let’s just say, I had no plan. The first concert I ever saw was James Brown & The Famous Flames opening for Jackie Wilson at The Oakland Auditorium. I was 13 years old, I believe, and my brother, Fritz, took me with his girlfriend at the time, Doris Elliot. Being an artist like that was nowhere in my thoughts for a future. It wasn’t until I was a professional artist myself that I observed special gestures and spirits in artists I admired that moved or affected me in an emotional way. They weren’t always huge concert artists. John Lee Hooker at Keystone Corner in Berkeley, CA. Gladys Knight & The Pips at The Empire Room in The Waldorf Astoria, NY. Ray Charles at The Oakland Auditorium in Oakland, CA. Michael Jackson in Paris, Queen with Freddie Mercury at The Los Angeles Forum, Madonna in New York.

I also can’t forget Midnight Musicals at The Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, CA when I was a teenager. Billy Preston on the Organ, he was 19 years old. The Cogics consisting of both Andre & Sandra Crouch. The Watson Sisters, featuring Betty Watson. The Hawkins, Tramaine & Walter & Edwin. Ike & Tina Turner at The Sportsman No. 2 in Oakland, CA. The Staple Singers. Mavis, my God. These were some of the artists who touched my soul in a special way. There may be more, but these are what come to mind at the moment. When I watched these Artists, they seem to give me permission to lose myself in the musical experience, no matter what my face looked like or how my body was twisting or my hand was flying around. Just feel it and go with the moment. It takes me to an unexplainable place. It makes me smile at myself.—Ruth Pointer, The Pointer Sisters

Tickets to see The Pointer Sisters’ “An Evening of Icons” at the Hard Rock Event Center inside Tampa’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Thursday, Nov. 14 are still available, and start at $125.

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This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2024.