Sly Stone, a pioneer in the development of funk music and its fusion with other genres, has died at age 82 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other health issues.
His family says he "passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family... Sly recently completed the screenplay for his life story, a project we are eager to share with the world in due course, which follows a memoir published in 2023."
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, born Sylvester Stewart, fronted the groundbreaking multi-racial band Sly and the Family Stone, but saw his career cut short through his often erratic behavior and excessive drug use.
- Born Sylvester Stewart on March 15th, 1943 in Denton, Texas and raised in Vallejo, in the Bay Area of California.
- Performed gospel music as a child with his siblings Freddie and Rose.
- Recognized early as a musical genius, by age 11 he'd mastered keyboards, guitar, bass and drums.
- By his mid-20s, he was both DJing on radio and working as a house record producer for locally based Autumn Records, where he made national hits with such Bay Area acts as The Beau Brummels, Bobby Freeman and The Mojo Men and recorded Grace Slick's pre-Jefferson Airplane group The Great Society.
- In 1966 he and his brother Freddie joined their bands together to form Sly and the Family Stone, a racially integrated, mixed-gender act.
- The group would score five Top 10 hits and three number-one singles -- "Everyday People" (1968), "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (1969) and "Family Affair" (1971). They also had one number-one album, 1971's There's a Riot Goin' On.
- By the mid-1970s, Stone's drug use and erratic behavior caused members of the band to leave, with their last album, Ain't But the One Way, being released in 1982.
- In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group.
- He took part in a Sly and the Family Stone tribute at the 2006 Grammy Awards, his first live performance since 1987. That led to Stone doing a series of concerts in the late 2000s and early 2010's.
- His memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), was published in October 2023.
- Stone was the subject a new documentary by Grammy and Oscar-winning Summer of Soul director Questlove called Sly Lives: aka the Burden of Black Genius.
- A previously unreleased Sly & the Family Stone concert album, The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967, will be out July 18th. Check out a trailer below courtesy of YouTube..
- Stone is survived by his son Sylvester Jr. and daughters Phunne and Novena.