Automatic

Brock Walsh and Mark Goldenberg wrote "Automatic," which the Pointer Sisters recorded for their 1983 album Break Out. According to Ruth Pointer, it was the last song chosen for the album. During a break from recording, the group listened to a stash of tapes in the office of Jim Tract, Richard Perry's right-hand man, and sat up straight when they first heard it. They told Perry they wanted it on the album, and when he asked who would sing the low part, Ruth volunteered on the spot.

Although Break Out largely consisted of dance tracks, Perry had chosen the ballad "I Need You" as the lead single to reinforce the group's presence at R&B radio. "Jump (for My Love)" was intended as the second single, but heavy airplay for "Automatic" from dance clubs and radio stations led to its substitution. Released by Planet on January 13, 1984, it climbed to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 that April.

The record was the group's first Top 40 hit with Ruth Pointer's contralto on lead, and its number two peak on the R&B chart made it their highest charting R&B hit as a trio, held from the top spot for three weeks by Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me." In the United Kingdom it became their all-time biggest hit, spending two weeks at number two behind Duran Duran's "The Reflex." The B-side, "Nightline," featured June Pointer on lead.