00:00Hi, I'm Ruth Poynter, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:04Two legendary music groups, the Commodores and the Poynter Sisters, are on tour this
00:09summer.
00:10An evening of icons with special guests, the Spinners, kicks off July 26th with stops across
00:15the country through November.
00:17I caught up with Ruth Poynter, the last surviving member of the iconic threesome, who's reliving
00:23all those classic songs we know and love with her daughter and granddaughter on stage.
00:28Well, it's the Poynter Sisters and the Spinners and the Commodores.
00:34It should be a lot of fun.
00:35I haven't seen any of those guys in such a long time, and it'll be wonderful to see them.
00:42And just remember the times when those iconic songs were all over the airwaves, you know,
00:50because it was definitely a very, very special moment in music.
00:59They're all fun songs, you know, and I'm so excited because it's just that song that just
01:06describes the group, as far as I'm concerned, and it's kind of like our little anthem, you
01:12know.
01:14When people say it, they kind of automatically think about us, and that was why we wrote
01:18it.
01:19They said, whenever they say that phrase, they're going to go, oh yeah, the Poynter
01:24Sisters, in their mind, even if they don't say it, you know.
01:27But yeah, and I do love performing Neutron Dance.
01:36I love singing happiness because the lyrics are just amazing.
01:48Someone brought to my attention a song that we recorded a few years ago by Stephen Stills
01:53called As I Come of Age, and the song just brought me to tears, you know, because I don't
01:58have my sisters anymore, and that song was like, whew.
02:15I listened to it the minute that the person that was interviewing me mentioned it after
02:21I got off the phone.
02:23I said, let me play this song, because I couldn't remember exactly.
02:26And when I played it, oh my God, all it brought back to me was that magical, instant harmony
02:34that me and my sisters had that was unspeakable and so, no pun intended, automatic.
02:43But it was just something we did without thinking about it.
02:46We each knew which part the other was going to be singing, and we didn't have to think
02:52about it.
02:53When the song came up, we just fell into our spot.
02:56That's exactly what we're known for, and I just know that we did the best that we could
03:02at what we had to offer, and that was a variety of different types of music, which we loved
03:07all of it.
03:09And we never wanted to be pigeonholed into one type of music, which was something that
03:14we definitely went into the business insistent about.
03:19We didn't want to be a predominantly R&B artist, because we never felt completely secure
03:27as far as our abilities went for that, even though we're Black artists.
03:32We didn't come from that kind of background, so we just wanted to be able to sing what
03:38we sang best, which was a touch of country, a touch of pop, a touch of blues, and a touch
03:43of R&B, but none of it specific, because we just didn't feel that way.
03:51And so I hope that our legacy can be appreciated for the variety that we brought.
03:58Amazing.
03:59Did you guys always know you wanted to do this, or did you just fall into it?
04:02Oh, not at all.
04:03My sisters Bonnie and June were the real two who considered, hmm, maybe we can do something
04:10with this, and started singing around in the San Francisco Bay Area together with different
04:16local people.
04:19That was during the late 60s, when it was like a youth revolution going on, the Vietnam
04:27War and hippies, and it was a lot, lot of changes.
04:32So they were caught right in that and just pulled me and Anita back into it.
04:41I mean, we just knew that we had something, because we always were singing around the
04:52house.
04:53There was always music in our home.
04:54My mom would give us some grocery list to go to the store and get a couple of items,
04:59and we'd make up a song about it, so we wouldn't forget what to get.
05:03Hello, Fred.
05:04Cardamom.
05:05Hello, Fred.
05:06You know, we would just make up stuff.
05:08So singing was just like the air that we breathed.
05:13It was that easy, you know.
05:15From singing in my dad's church, it was just something we just did.
05:20Learning how to sing in a choir, you learn your part, whether it was soprano, alto, tenor,
05:27or bass, or whatever, and you had to be in that lineup of people who sang the same, you
05:37know, as you, but you had to be able to hold on to your own note while the other parts
05:43were being sung as well, which is not easy, because I know that now, but I thought, you
05:51know, that it was something that people could do.
05:55But even with my daughter and my granddaughter, I find that when I'm singing with them, sometimes
06:01they slip into my, you know, my melody, and I go, no, no, no, no, no, you have to hold
06:09on to your part.
06:11You know, they were pretty much born into this, because that's all they know from me.
06:19I mean, I was eight months pregnant with Issa performing at Carnegie Hall, so she really
06:24didn't have much choice.
06:25I had my granddaughter Sadako, my oldest daughter's daughter, and, you know, that's all she's
06:31ever known of me.
06:32And when I gave them the opportunity to step in, they were scared and excited and all of
06:38that, and I told them, I said, look, just get up there and have a good time, you know,
06:43because those songs are fun, and it doesn't take a whole lot of trying to understand what
06:49it means, and is the message right, and am I going to deliver it right, and all that.
06:55Just get up there and sing and dance and have a good time.
07:02What is your proudest moment as an artist?
07:05Wow, that's a tough question, because there have been so many.
07:09What about the first Grammy Award for Best Country Performance?
07:13At the time, we were so young and so new in the industry, we didn't even understand, I
07:21don't think, how much of an impact that was, because we were just caught up in the middle
07:28of what we were doing.
07:29We were on the road, we were recording, we were on the road, we were on the road, and
07:32it's like, oh, you got a Grammy, oh, okay.
07:35No one really had time to sit back and sort of think, ooh, Grammy, country, first females,
07:41really?
07:42Mm-mm.
07:43All of that came much later, those thoughts.
07:51What does music do for people?
07:58Music brings people together.
08:01You have all types of people in your audience, all different colors, all different cultures,
08:06all different political views, you don't even know, and they're all out there together.
08:12That to me is magical.
08:15When I began to travel to other countries where people don't even speak English, we
08:19would get up on stage and sing our songs, and they would react.
08:24And I was like, wow, Asia, Europe, I'm like, you know, they don't even speak English, but
08:30they're dancing and they're singing, and it's amazing, you know?
08:34And I'm just enjoying the things that we've contributed to the industry.
08:40I think about it now, and I just sometimes say to myself, man, look at what you guys
08:48did.
08:49It's just a miracle, you know?
08:52Because when you asked me earlier, did we think we were going to, you know, go in this
08:57direction in our lives, and I didn't.
09:00My sisters may have had other thoughts, but never in my life did I think this was going
09:08to be my life.
09:09You know, a lot of hard knocks, but a lot, a lot of great rewards, and I really don't
09:13have any regrets, you know?
09:16I'm grateful that we were given that gift and that we could share it with the world.
09:23To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV, on iTunes and all
09:27streaming podcast platforms.
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