Pointer died April 11 of cancer at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Her death occurred mere days after being too ill to join her sister Bonnie for a scheduled performance at Palm Springs’ Club Skirts Dinah Shore weekend, according to 247Gay.com.
A statement said that June ‘died in the arms of her sisters Ruth and Anita and her brothers Aaron and Fritz by her side.’ Her sister Bonnie was ‘unable to be present.’
While the Pointers reached the heights of pop stardom in the ’70s and ’80s with songs like ‘Jump,’ ‘Slow Hand,’ ‘Neutron Dance’ and ‘Dare Me,’ June’s life spiraled out of control. She was treated for mental breakdowns several times in the ’70s and struggled with drug and alcohol problems. At one point, her behavior became so unstable that her sisters asked her to depart from the group. She would later say that drugs had been a part of life since she was 13 and that her substances of choice included alcohol and Valium. However, in a 2000 interview with TV’s Entertainment Tonight, she revealed that she had also spent about $20,000 over the years on crack.