Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters' Family Story

I read all the show biz memoirs, even those about artists I'm not particularly into, and thanks to recommendations by several of you on this forum, I am now reading Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters' Family Story. I have to say this is one of the best memoirs I've ever read and that is saying something. I had no idea any of this stuff happened!! Spoiler alert: the girls got their first really momentous gig opening in Vegas for Paul Anka. The Pointers were already exploding in popularity at that time in the early 70's, having put out Yes We Can Can, which got them the dates with Anka. Unfortunately, Paul Anka's fans were not Pointer Sisters' fans. They hated the Pointer Sisters, which was crazy since at all their previous gigs they had gotten rave, ecstatic reviews--they were the "next big thing." To make things worse, June, who had suffered an extremely violent group rape when she was in her teens, had a nervous breakdown before the shows with Anka, and wouldn't speak to anybody nor would she come out of her hotel room. So on top of all the stress, the group had to perform most of the shows without June, they had to rearrange everything, shuffle vocals around, and even change what songs they performed. Ugh. I'll write more as I read more, but man keeping a group together through all this garbage must have been stressful as hell. Even the smaller stuff, like hiring roadies and other personnel was always volatile, especially when you're on a strict schedule with touring, recording dates etc. It is a miracle any group like the Pointers ever stayed together as long as they did.

No description or pre-order information at this time.

To no_place_like_motown: I want to personally thank you for the Rare Earth-label thread that you started a few weeks ago. I had no idea that so many Motown album titles on the Rare Earth label were available on CD. I checked them all out and bought every one that I could find on Amazon. Thanks to you, I was able to find a total of 11 [[not counting the group Rare Earth, whose albums I already have on CD). Not being a hard-rock fan, I was amazed at how many of these albums I actually like -- or, in some cases, I even LOVE! I would have to say that my favorites are Xit – the Native American group who Ralph Terrana raved about in his excellent autobiography, "The Road Through Motown". [[You were so right, Ralph – these guys are fantastic! Their sound is a unique combination of Indian, Motown, and at times, given the heavy use of shakers in two tracks, even 1965-era Phil Spector!) I was especially pleasantly surprised to discover how much I like the group Toe Fat! Those guys can really rock – but in a good way! The group Love Sculpture is a bluesy white group who I also found myself enjoying a lot. Crystal Mansion is a soft rock group which has some decent songs on their album. Other Rare Earth-label CD’s that I bought were by the Pretty Things, Power Of Zeus, and Sunday Funnies. Unfortunately, those groups/titles are out-of-my-league psychedelic rock which I can’t identify with to save me; nevertheless, it’s great to have all of these Motown/Rare Earth-label albums in my CD collection.

Here are the links in case anyone else is interested in making a purchase. If not, it’s still cool to see these album/CD covers for the first time, as I had never seen most of them before. Hope you enjoy!

XIT - "Plight Of The Red Man"
http://www.amazon.com/Plight-Redman-...the+red+man+cd

XIT - "Silent Warrior"
http://www.amazon.com/XIT-Silent-War...ent+warrior+cd

TOE FAT - "Toe Fat"
http://www.amazon.com/Toe-Fat/dp/B00...rds=toe+fat+cd

TOE FAT - "Two"
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Toe-Fat/dp...toe+fat+two+cd

CRYSTAL MANSION - Crystal Mansion [[Golden Classics Edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Classic...tal+mansion+cd

LOVE SCULPTURE - "Blues Helping"
http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Helping-...e+Sculpture+cd

POWER OF ZEUS - "The Gospel According To Zeus"
http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Accordi...wer+of+zeus+cd

R. DEAN TAYLOR - "Essential Collection" [[A collection – NOT a reissued album)
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Coll...+collection+cd

SUNDAY FUNNIES - "Sunday Funnies"
http://www.amazon.com/Sunday-Funnies...day+funnies+cd

PRETTY THINGS - "S.F. Sorrow"
http://www.amazon.com/S-F-Sorrow-Pre...s.f.+sorrow+cd

PRETTY THINGS - "Parachute"
http://www.amazon.com/Parachute-Pret...s+parachute+cd

There ya are! That pretty much covers all of them. As Motown fans, I hope you have as much fun discovering these as I have. - Gary

In 1965 the battle for a hit with "Home Of The Brave" was won by Jody Miller, but the recording by Bonnie & The Treasures was the one that was familiar to me [[much later on I might add) via a Phil Spector Rare Masters LP. When I came to know the Bonnie version I'd never heard of the one by Jodie.

The song was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, arranged by Nick De Caro and produced by Jerry Riopell for Phil Spector's Phi-Dan Records. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd see a clip of Bonnie & The Treasures but the internet is a wonderful thing.

In the clip we have Bonnie [[Charlotte O'Hara but proper name Charlotte Ann Matheny), Sherlie Matthews and Clydie King both later of The Blackberries well known to Motown lovers plus many talents such as songwriting and acting etc.

Charlotte O'Hara was also a songwriter, for example writing [[with others) "We're Here To Entertain You" for the Jackson 5 and "Sitting On The Edge Of My Mind" on Jermaine Jackson's "Come Into My Life" album.

Just love this clip.

This musta been from the early 70s - even before the likes of 'Mandingo' - where Dionne seemed to sing anything for a packet or two of Marlboros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpN2RYaDJOY

So this has got me thinking, over the years both men have been credited for pioneering Soul music over the years. In their box set releases, Ray Charles box set is called "Birth Of Soul' and Sam Cooke's box set is called "The Man Who Invented Soul." The media have given them nick names regarding this.

So who actually invented it or can both claim the title?