Automatic (Pointer Sisters song)
"Automatic" is a song by the Pointer Sisters, released on the Planet label in January 1984 as the second single from their multi-platinum landmark album Break Out. "Automatic" reached the Top 5 of Billboard's pop chart and became one of the Pointers' signature tunes. Eventually, three other singles from Break Out reached the Top 10 consecutively.
The Pointer Sisters version
According to Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters, "Automatic" was the final song chosen for Breakout: "We were taking a break from recording in the office of Jim Tract, who was Richard Perry's right-hand man, and Jim mentioned that he had a stash of tapes we might want to listen to [while on] a breather...We all sat up straight when we first heard ['Automatic'] and told Richard we wanted to include it on the album. 'Okay', he said 'But who would sing the low part?' 'Are you kidding me?' I said, 'I'll do the low part!'"
Although Break Out largely comprised dance tracks, its lead single was the ballad "I Need You" chosen by producer Richard Perry in hopes of reinforcing the Pointer Sisters presence at R&B radio: the dance track "Jump (for My Love)" was intended as the second single but the heavy airplay afforded "Automatic" as an album cut by both dance clubs and radio stations caused the substitution of "Automatic" for "Jump..." as the second single release from Break Out, although "Jump..." would become the most successful US single off Break Out when it became the album's third single. The first Top 40 hit to feature Ruth Pointer's distinctive contralto on lead, "Automatic" reached #5 on the Hot 100 in Billboard in April 1984, also charting on the magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Dance Club Play rankings, its #2 R&B chart peak making "Automatic" the highest charting R&B hit by the Pointer Sisters as a trio (in their original four-woman format the Pointer Sisters did score an R&B #1 hit with "How Long (Betcha' Got a Chick on the Side)").
