{"id":89717,"date":"2024-06-27T18:05:18","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T22:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/06\/27\/when-the-pointer-sisters-played-grand-ole-opry-50-years-ago-the-staff-thought-they-were-kitchen-help\/"},"modified":"2024-06-27T18:05:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T22:05:18","slug":"when-the-pointer-sisters-played-grand-ole-opry-50-years-ago-the-staff-thought-they-were-kitchen-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/06\/27\/when-the-pointer-sisters-played-grand-ole-opry-50-years-ago-the-staff-thought-they-were-kitchen-help\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Pointer Sisters Played Grand Ole Opry 50 Years Ago, the Staff Thought They Were Kitchen\u00a0Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Pointer Sisters<\/a> have enjoyed their share of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as Billboard<\/em>\u2019s R&B, AC and dance charts over the decades. Fifty years ago this month, the group even found a place for itself in country music \u2014 and won a Grammy Award for it.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Linda<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tLinda Martell Opens Up About Her \u2018Cowboy Carter\u2019 Spotlight \u2014 And Her Bittersweet Time\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tThe then-quartet recorded \u201cFairytale\u201d for its second studio album, That\u2019s a Plenty, <\/em>in 1974. The song was released as a single in June of that year, reaching No. 37 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 13 on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary chart.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnita and Bonnie wrote that song way before we were even recording,\u201d Ruth Pointer, the sole surviving member of the original group, tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cWe were looking for material to put on the [second] album; Anita and Bonnie said, \u2018We got a song. We wrote it awhile ago, but it\u2019s good.’\u201d Bonnie told<\/a> the Youngstown, Ohio Vindicator<\/em> in 1974 that the track \u2014 a breakup song inspired by Anita\u2019s brief affair with a married radio disc jockey in San Francisco \u2014 was no novelty, \u201cPeople think because we\u2019re always trying something different we\u2019re not sincere. Like country music. For us, it\u2019s no joke\u2026Our folks came from Arkansas and we grew up singing country songs. It\u2019s part of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pointers\u2019 own band balked at recording \u201cFairytale,\u201d according to Ruth, so the Pointers and producer David Rubinson went to Quadrophonic Studios in Nashville to cut the track, working with noted session players such as guitarist Bobby Thompson, Weldon Myrick on pedal steel, David Briggs on piano, Norbert Putnam on bass, Ken Buttrey on drums and Buddy Spicher on fiddle; Anita sang lead.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe musicians were wonderful, just wonderful,\u201d Ruth remembers. \u201cThose were authentic country musicians. They really gave us that sound\u2026and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pointers began including \u201cFairytale\u201d in their live shows shortly after That\u2019s a Plenty\u2019<\/em>s release (it is featured on their Live at the Opera House<\/em> album that came out during September 1974). It was originally the B-side of the Pointers\u2019 version of the Vibrations\u2019 \u201cLove in Them There Hills\u201d but was eventually pitched to country stations, which proved receptive to it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLet me tell you something \u2014 they didn\u2019t know we were Black,\u201d Ruth says now. That was proven on Oct. 25, 1974. Four years after Linda Martell<\/a> became the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, the Pointer Sisters became the first Black vocal group to perform at the famed Nashville venue (though without June, who was absent due to exhaustion). \u201cWhen we performed at the Grand Ole Opry people were yelling from the audience, \u2018Oh my God, them gals is Black!’\u201d Ruth says with a laugh. \u201cThey had planned a party for us, and when we showed up they ran out to the car, ran us around the back and put us in the kitchen. I thought they were hiding us to make a surprise entrance. Then (Rubinson) came back, \u2018What are you guys doing back here?\u2019 We told him, \u2018We think they\u2019re keeping us here to come out as a surprise\u2019 and he said, \u2018No. They think you\u2019re the help.\u2019 And we\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, OK\u2026\u2019 (laughs) So that was our experience with the Grand Ole Opry and country and Nashville.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFairytale\u201d won a Grammy Award for best country vocal performance by a duo or group the following year (one of the group\u2019s three Grammy wins), and in 1986, Anita hit No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart via a duet with Earl Thomas Conley on his 1986 single, \u201cToo Many Times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs country becomes more inclusive<\/a>, Ruth \u2014 who currently leads the Pointer Sisters with her daughter, Issa, and granddaughter, Sadako \u2014 says she\u2019s been encouraged by the trend. \u201cI love what\u2019s happening now. I would say it\u2019s about damn time,\u201d she says. \u201cI love Mickey Guyton. I love Beyonc\u00e9, all of it. Hallelujah!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pointer Sisters kick off a run of co-headlining shows with the Commodores on July 11 in Tinley Park, Ill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pointer Sisters have enjoyed their share of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as Billboard\u2019s R&B, AC and dance charts over the decades. Fifty years ago this month, the group even found a place for itself in country music \u2014 and won a Grammy Award for it. Related Linda Martell Opens Up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}