The Pointer Sisters -- Jump (For My Love)

 

As mentioned in the previous Reminiscings of Youth article regarding Earth Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland", this is a ROY twofer because not only of the passing of EWF percussionist Fred White on New Year's Day but also of the passing of Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters on New Year's Eve.

Now, I first heard of The Pointer Sisters back in the 1970s through their television appearances on various talk and/or music shows. Back in those days, I think that they were doing quite a lot of boogie jazz and even some country music. If I'm not mistaken, Anita, Bonnie and June even showed up on "Sesame Street" with some of their golden harmonies.

However, going into the 1980s, I remember that The Pointer Sisters also discovered the novelty and power of the music video, and one song and video that really had them soaring up on the charts was their April 1984 single "Jump (For My Love)". This video was on such heavy rotation on the local shows that I assumed that it would apply for permanent resident's status.

Created by Stephen Mitchell, Marti Sharron and Gary Skardina, listening to that beat again after so long had me swooning over how the pop music of the 1980s were. Also, The Pointer Sisters were already being seen as chart-topping superstars during the decade. Its release just before the Los Angeles Olympics was timely, especially with that title, so excerpts of athletes doing their amazing thing were included in the video. "Jump" jumped to No. 8 on Canada's RPM singles (while hitting No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts) and it got up to No. 3 on America's Billboard.

My condolences to the family, friends and fans for Anita Pointer.

So, what was scoring on Oricon in April 1984? I have Nos. 1, 3 and 5.

1. Checkers -- Namida no Request （涙のリクエスト）

3. Anzen Chitai -- Wine-Red no Kokoro （ワインレッドの心）

5. Akina Nakamori -- Southern Wind （サザンウインド）