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Sly Stone

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Singer, songwriter, producer

With his groundbreaking group Sly and the Family Stone, Sylvester Stewart—or Sly Stone, as he came to be called—pioneered the psychedelic funk sound that would electrify the Woodstock generation of the late 1960s and profoundly influence the direction taken by rhythm and blues and, in the subsequent decades, other black music forms from soul to disco to rap. While Stone’s flamboyant persona, uplifting songs, and ethnically diverse band earned a massive following, political and personal difficulties hampered his career and eventually drove him out of the music scene. During the most intensely productive segment of his career, however, he was, according to pop music critic Dave Marsh, "one of the greatest musical adventurers rock has ever known."

Sylvester Stewart was born in Dallas, Texas, in March of 1944. He began his recording career early—at age four—as a vocalist on the gospel tune "On the Battlefield for My Lord." In the fifties his family moved to the San Francisco area. Stewart and his brother Freddie learned to play various instruments and made music under the name the Stewart Four. Stewart also played and sang with doo-wop groups. In high school he sang with a group called the Viscanes, appearing on their record "Yellow Moon." At age sixteen he made a solo record called "Long Time Away" which gained him some modest fame. As a student at Vallejo Junior College he learned music theory and composition, putting what he learned into practice at weekend performing gigs.

At a show in 1964 Stewart met Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, a disc jockey from San Francisco. Donahue told him about a record label he had formed with another former DJ. Stewart agreed to join the new venture, Autumn Records, and after cutting a few records of his own began to develop his talents as a producer. Working with bands like the Beau Brummels and the Great Society—the latter’s singer, Grace Slick, would later front the psychedelic supergroup Jefferson Airplane—Stewart honed the studio skills he would later put to considerable use with his own group. In 1966, though, he left Autumn Records and became a disc jockey at radio station KSOL in San Francisco. He soon gained notoriety as one of the more eccentric voices on radio, blending sound effects with public service announcements and mixing soul singles with rock and roll records by Bob Dylan and the Beatles. According to Irwin Stambler in the Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, by the time Stewart moved over to Oakland’s station KDIA "he was generally considered the top R & B commentator" in the area.

Formed "Family"
At the same time, he was writing and playing with his own band, the Stoners. The group broke up in 1966, so Stewart and ex-Stoners trumpet player Cynthia Robinson formed a new ensemble. Stewart enlisted brother Freddie as guitarist and his sister Rosie to play piano. With the addition of saxophonist Jetty Martini, bassist Larry Graham and drummer Greg Errico (Martini’s cousin), the Family Stone was born.

Stewart changed his name to Sly Stone, and the band soon attracted the attention of Columbia Records A&R executive David Kapralik. The group signed with Columbia, releasing its debut LP, A Whole New Thing, in 1967 on the Columbia subsidiary Epic Records. The album didn’t fare particularly well—according to Timothy White’s book Rock Stars, it "lacked the fizzy familial feel of their live shows"—but the group’s single "Dance to the Music," released early in 1968, became a solid hit and provided the title for the group’s next album. Charles Shaar Murray asserted in Crosstown Traffic that the song "changed the course of popular music. It was succeeded by a clutch of pop-soul crossover hits which somehow contrived to meld James Brown’s funk with the Beatles’ tuneful optimism, records as universally accessible as anything since early Motown."

In an essay included in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, rock critic Dave Marsh noted that "Dance to the Music" exploded the formal categories of soul and R & B because the vocals and the instruments "fought it out for space, right on the disc." Sly Stone had created a rock band that played in the traditions and spirit of soul music. "Dance to the Music" was the harbinger of hits to come; it reached the Top Ten of both the pop and soul charts, followed by a string of other hits. "Everyday People"—a song from Life! that gave the group its first Number One hit and helped popularize the slogan "different strokes for different folks"—"Stand!" and "I Want to Take You Higher" all increased the visibility of Sly Stone and his band. Stand!, the album containing the latter two singles, appeared in 1969. It also included the influential nonhit "Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey."

Revolutionary Thinking
The band, in its composition as much as its sound, crystallized much of the idealism and revolutionary thinking of the period. As Marsh observed, "Here was a band in which men and women, black and white, had not one fixed role but many fluid ones. The women played, the men sang; the blacks freaked out, the whites got funky; everyone did something unexpected, which was the only thing the listener could expect." A 1987 Rolling Stone piece devoted to "The Top 100" rock albums included Stand!—as well as two subsequent Sly and the Family Stone records. "On Stand! Stone’s talent seems boundless," the magazine declared, calling the album’s best songs "anthems you can dance to, soaring hymns of equality and self-determination set to a sweaty gutbucket beat." According to White, "Stand!… was the album-length masterwork that ‘Everyday People’ had presaged; in one fell stroke it gave black music a new inner complexion while revolutionizing every other rock rhythm section extant."

The year 1969 brought more hit songs, most notably "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and the phonetically titled "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again" ("thank you for lettin’ me be myself again"). Greil Marcus described Stone’s peak in his book Mystery Train: "Sly was a winner. It seemed he had not only won the race, he had made up his own rules. Driving the finest cars, sporting the most sensational clothes, making the biggest deals and the best music, he was shaping the style and ambition of black teenagers all over the country." The group’s moment of greatest visibility came in 1969 when they performed at the Woodstock festival, the gigantic concert in New York state that stood as the summit and symbol of the hippie generation. A supplement in Rolling Stone advertising the Woodstock movie noted, "Many of [Stone’s] songs have social consciousness, yet they are able to appeal to both black and white, short-haired and long-haired people of all ages."

Sly and the Family Stone’s rendition of "I Want to Take You Higher" looked for a brief time like the embodiment of a generation’s dreams: black and white musicians bringing an activist throng to its feet with irresistible rock and roll music. Marsh claimed in a 1973 Creem review that Stone "was almost forced into the role of house nigger for the Woodstock Nation"—someone who, as Marsh later claimed, "could make race a safe issue"—but the audience’s thunderous response and its flashing the peace sign at the word "higher," as per Stone’s instructions, suggest that Stone’s message and appeal were hardly apolitical. Murray’s description of the Woodstock performance gives it a ritual cast: "There’s Sly’s happy family in their baddest threads doing that old-time boogaloo while their chief mocks and exorcises generations of racial terror, shoving his huge grinning black mug into young America’s face, going ‘BOOM-lakka-lakkalakka, BOOM-lakka-lakkalakka…’"

Trouble
In 1970, riding on the wave of his hits, Stone began to cancel many of his shows and appear late for others. "According to his agent," reported Rolling Stone, "he canceled 26 of the 80 engagements scheduled for him in 1970." Some blamed the excesses of his lifestyle— Stone’s regalia, onstage and off, was ostentatious to say the least and matched by his alleged fondness for drugs—for what the magazine called "the most erratic performance record since [drug-addicted actress-singer] Judy Garland." Kapralik, who had become the band’s manager, created a split-personality narrative to explain the star’s behavior to journalists and record executives: "OK, that’s Sylvester Stewart, he’s a poet," Kapralik told Rolling Stone. "And then there’s Sly Stone, the street cat, the hustler, the pimp, the conniver, sly as a fox and cold as a stone…. That’s the strutter, the street dude who walks up there with that charisma that holds an audience captive, right? 400,000 at Woodstock and 25,000 at Madison Square. He’s irresponsible, opportunistic and unethical and he pimps our minds if we let him."

Of Stone’s drug habit, Kapralik reasoned that factions in the black political community, especially the revolutionary group the Black Panthers, along with former band members and his family, were in a tug-of-war over the star: "That poor kid was torn apart. And when you are torn apart that means a lot of pain. And one of the clinical ways to ease the pain is cocaine." April of 1970 saw a near-riot at a Washington D.C. concert; also, a rumor that Stone had insulted black DJs brought about a short ban of his records from local soul stations. Meanwhile, to ease record company anxieties about new "product," a Greatest Hits album was released in 1970. This collection appeared in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 seventeen years later, and in 1981 rock critic Robert Christgau ranked it "among the greatest rock and roll LPs of all time." In August of 1970 Sly and the Family Stone appeared at the famed Isle of Wight music festival. As J. Green wrote in the festival issue of the Evening Standard, "Sometimes something emerges which breaks all the rules, shatters the accepted conventions, survives the hype and wins through. Sly and the Family Stone are such a band."

Courageous Honesty
More difficulties, more cancellations, and more accusations surfaced in 1971. Rolling Stone reported that by October Stone had "canceled 12 shows out of 40" and was "late for two shows." In November the band at last released a new album. There’s a Riot Goin’ On was unlikely to banish concerns about Stone and his group, however. "The record was no fun," wrote Marcus. "It was slow, hard to hear, and it didn’t celebrate anything. It was not groovy. In fact, it was distinctly unpleasant, unnerving." Yet, as Marcus and other critics agreed, the record was a groundbreaking statement. "Maybe this is the new urban music," speculated Vince Aletti in Rolling Stone. "Gone is the energy and flash that exploded in Sly’s early music…. There’s no exhilaration left and no immediately clear message. Only an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion." However, Aletti conceded, the album showed Sly’s inner state with courageous honesty, "at the same time holding a mirror up to all of us…. There’s a Riot Goin’ On is one of the most important f—king albums of the year." White, writing in Rock Stars, called the album "a broody, militant, savage indictment of all the decayed determinism of the 1960’s," while Marsh opined that it "might be the only truly epic album of the 70’s." Christgau’s book awarded it an "A+" and assessed, "Despairing, courageous and very hard to take, this is one of those rare albums whose whole actually does exceed the sum of its parts."

Despite the political edge and apparent lethargy and struggle of There’s a Riot Goin’ On, however, it went to Number One on the album chart and yielded three hit singles, "Family Affair," "(You Caught Me) Smilin’," and "Runnin’ Away." It also featured a slowed-down and provocative rendition of "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again," retitled "Thank You for Talkin’ To Me Africa." Furthermore, according to Marsh and Marcus, Aletti’s initial thought was correct: this was the new urban pop sound. A slew of politicized and skeptical if not downright pessimistic soul songs overtook the airwaves in the wake of There’s a Riot Goin’ On.

Faltered in ’70s
Stone’s inconsistencies continued to dominate press reports about him, and his frequent run-ins with police increased in 1972. Since the star "got busted five times in as many months last year," Rolling Stone announced in February of 1973, "we award him a bust of himself." The joke held little appeal for Stone’s handlers; a long time had lapsed without a new album, and Riot raised doubts that the Sly Stone of old would ever take audiences "higher" again. "We’ve been recording, rescheduling, [and] regrouping… on everything we like to do, what we have to do, and things we wish we could do," Stone explained in an interview quoted in Rock Stars.

Stone was accurate when he said "regrouping," as the band went through several personnel changes in the early seventies. Graham left and was replaced by Rusty Allen; Andy Newmark replaced drummer Errico, and Stone recruited sax player Pat Rizzo. In August of 1973, Rolling Stone ran a profile featuring plenty of anecdotes about Stone’s unreliability. "He’s sort of like Mercury," a record company publicist admitted. "You think you’ve got your hands on him, but before you realize it he’s slipped away." Stone reportedly felt that he didn’t owe his fans anything for missed concerts: "I got nothing to pay back," he was quoted as saying in Rolling Stone.

Stone’s fans would have to wait until October for Fresh! The new LP contained "If You Want Me to Stay," which went platinum, and one other hit, "Frisky." Marsh, reviewing the album for Creem, saw it as "Sly coming to terms with himself as rock star." He concluded that "there have been few albums as rich as this one released in 1973, if there have been any," and expected the record would yield hit songs "because Sly, however great the contradictions he feels may be, is a truly great rock singer in the first place." Vernon Gibbs, writing for Crawdaddy!, agreed: "The music is quite worthy of the founder of progressive soul. It gives us plenty of ass-shaking rhythms for the present and reason for optimism about the future…. Make no mistake about it, friends and neighbors, Sly is back and just as freshly chirping as ever."

Musical Output Dwindled
In June of 1974 Stone married his girlfriend, Kathy Silva. The ceremony took place before television cameras at New York City’s Madison Square Garden just before a concert. By the end of the year they were divorced, with Silva seeking custody of the couple’s one-year-old son, Sylvester Bubb Ali Stewart, Jr. That year Sly and the Family Stone released Small Talk, an album that sank without much fanfare. In December, Stone walked out on a Muscular Dystrophy benefit in Washington, D.C. More arrests and conflicts followed, and Stone’s musical output dwindled.

In 1976 the band put out Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back, but the album was generally dismissed by critics as a half-hearted effort. Stambler reported that "for a time after 1976, [Stone] was essentially out of the music business." He signed with Warner Brothers after a couple of unproductive years and in 1979 released Back on the Right Track with many of his original band members. Epic, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to release a record containing several Sly and the Family Stone tracks rerecorded with disco instrumentation. Entitled Ten Years Too Soon, it repulsed many of Stone’s fans and critics, who saw it as the most cynical business move imaginable by a record label. Epic also released Anthology, an updated greatest hits package, in 1981. That same year Stone made an appearance on The Electric Spanking of War Babies, an album by George Clinton’s group Funkadelic.

In 1982 Sly and the Family Stone started a tour, but Stone’s drug problems led him to check into a treatment program in Florida. He released a new album, Ain’t But the One Way, in 1983; Stereo Review’s Joel Vance wrote approvingly that "it’s clear at least that [Stone] very much wants to come back with this comeback album. He’s sure got my vote." Stone made some concert appearances the next year with soul star Bobby Womack. The rest of the decade saw him make news only with new arrests and court appearances. Jet magazine reported the star’s being jailed for parole violation in Florida in June of 1987; in December of 1989 he was reportedly held in Connecticut on a drug charge. These short announcements read like career obituaries, noting casually that "in the 1960’s Stone’s group, Sly and the Family Stone, had several hits, including ‘I Want to Take You Higher.’" Anyone acquainted with the legacy of Stone’s achievements would know how much more there was to the story.

Selected discography
A Whole New Thing, Epic, 1967.
Dance to the Music (includes "Dance to the Music"), Epic, 1968.
Life! (includes "Everyday People"), Epic, 1968.
Stand! (includes "Stand!," "I Want to Take You Higher," and "Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey"), Epic, 1969.
Greatest Hits (includes "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again"), Epic, 1970.
There’s a Riot Goin’ On (includes "Family Affair," "[You Caught Me] Smilin’," "Runnin’ Away," and "Thank You for Talkin’ to Me Africa"), Epic, 1971.
Fresh! (includes "If You Want Me to Stay" and "Frisky"), Epic, 1973.
Small Talk, Epic, 1974.
Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back, Epic, 1976.
Back on the Right Track, Warner Bros., 1979.
Ten Years Too Soon, Epic, 1979.
Anthology, Epic, 1981.
Ain’t But the One Way, Warner Bros., 1983.

With others
Woodstock (includes "I Want to Take You Higher"), Cotillion, 1970.
(With Funkadelic) The Electric Spanking of War Babies, Warner Bros., 1981.

Sources
Books
Christgau, Robert, Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies, Ticknor & Fields, 1981.
Marcus, Greil, Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’Roll Music, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1975.
Murray, Charles Shaar, Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution, St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, edited by Jim Miller, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1976.
Stambler, Irwin, Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, revised edition, St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
White, Timothy, Rock Stars, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1984.

Periodicals
Crawdaddy!, September 1968; October 1973.
Creem, September 1973.
Evening Standard, August 22, 1970.
Jet, July 2, 1984; November 11, 1986; June 22, 1987; December 4, 1989.
Rolling Stone, March 19, 1970; April 16, 1970; October 14, 1971; December 23, 1971; February 1, 1973; August 30, 1973; August 27, 1987.
Stereo Review, July 1983.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart

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  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

James Brown may have invented funk, but Sly Stone perfected it; his alchemical fusion of soul, rock, gospel, and psychedelia rejected stylistic boundaries as much as his explosive backing band the Family Stone ignored racial and gender restrictions, creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds. Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was born March 15, 1943, in Denton, TX, and raised primarily in Vallejo, CA, where he sang with his family's gospel group. After singing lead with a doo wop group called the Viscaynes, at 16 he recorded the local hit "Long Time Gone," concurrently spinning records for Bay Area radio station KSOL. After studying trumpet, composition, and theory at Vallejo Junior College, in 1964 Stewart signed to local label Autumn Records, where he cut a series of solo singles in addition to serving as a house producer; there he helmed Bobby Freeman's national chart smash "C'mon and Swim" as well as sessions by the Beau Brummels, the Mojo Men, and the Great Society.

In 1966, Stewart formed the group Sly & the Stoners, while his younger brother Freddie led his own band, Freddie & the Stone Souls; soon the siblings merged the two acts, and with bassist Larry Graham, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and drummer Greg Errico, Sly & the Family Stone were born. After issuing their debut single, "I Ain't Got Nobody," on the local Loadstone imprint, the group signed to Epic to release their 1967 debut LP, A Whole New Thing; Dance to the Music followed in 1968, and generated a Top Ten hit with the title cut. Later that year, Sly & the Family Stone topped both the pop and R&B charts with the two-sided smash "Everyday People" b/w "Sing a Simple Song"; and with the classic Stand!, the band's music became increasingly politicized on standouts like the hit title track and "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey." As the group's chief vocalist, songwriter, and producer, Stone pushed the envelope further with each successive release; and with the 1970 chart-topper "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin," he essentially created the sonic blueprint for the funk and disco that dominated the decade to follow via a percussive groove propelled by Graham's pop-and-slap bassline.

However, as the utopian ideals of the 1960s gave way to the paranoia and corruption of the 1970s, the celebratory sound that once epitomized Sly & the Family Stone gave way to the bleakly unsettling There's a Riot Goin' On, a dark, militant masterpiece that yielded the hits "Family Affair" and "Running Away." Stone's grim world view was due in no small part to his increasing narcotics problem, and he became notorious for arriving late to live gigs or missing shows altogether. Released in 1973, Fresh was Sly & the Family Stone's last truly great album, and after issuing Small Talk the band unraveled, with 1975's High on You credited to Stone alone. As his drug problems and legal battles became public knowledge, efforts like 1976's Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back and 1979's Back on the Right Track attracted little interest, as did a subsequent tour with George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars and a 1983 comeback effort, Ain't But the One Way. After a 1987 single, "Eek-a-Bo-Static," failed to even chart, Stone instead made headlines for a cocaine bust that led to his incarceration. Despite Sly & the Family Stone being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Stone failed to make a substantial comeback in the '90s. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Sly Stone

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Not to be confused with Sly Stallone.
Sly Stone

Sly Stone at the Northsea Jazz festival 2007
Background information
Birth name Sylvester Stewart
Born (1943-03-15) March 15, 1943 (age 69)
Denton, Texas, United States
Genres Funk, rock, soul, R&B
Occupations Singer, songwriter, musician, producer
Instruments Vocals, organ, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonica
Years active 1952–present
Labels Epic Records, Warner Bros., Cleopatra
Associated acts Sly and the Family Stone
Website www.slystonebook.com

Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart, March 15, 1943, Denton, Texas) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[1]

Contents

Biography

Early life

The Stewart family was a deeply religious middle-class household from Denton, Texas. The parents, K.C. and Alpha Stewart, held the family together as Christians, part of the doctrines of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and encouraged musical expression in the household.[2] Born 15 March 1943,[3] Sylvester Stewart was the second of five children raised in Vallejo, in the northern San Francisco Bay Area. After the family moved from Denton, Texas to Vallejo, Sylvester and his brother Freddie and their sisters Rose and Vaetta formed "The Stewart Four" as children, performing gospel music in the Church of God in Christ and even recording a single local release 78 rpm single, "On the Battlefield" b/w "Walking in Jesus' Name", in 1952. The eldest sister, Loretta, was the only Stewart child not to pursue a musical career. All of the other Stewart children would later adopt the surname "Stone" and become members of Sly & the Family Stone.

Sylvester was identified as a musical prodigy from a young age. By the time he was seven Sylvester had already become proficient on the keyboards. By the age of eleven Sylvester had mastered the guitar, bass, and drums as well.[3] While still in high school, Sylvester learned to play a number of instruments, settling primarily on the guitar, and joined a number of high school bands. One of these was The Viscaynes, a doo-wop group in which Sylvester and his Filipino friend, Frank Arelano, were the only non-white members. The fact that the group was integrated made the Viscaynes "hip" in the eyes of their audiences, and would later inspire Sylvester's idea of the multicultural "Family Stone". The Viscaynes released a few local singles, including "Yellow Moon" and "Stop What You Are"; during the same period, Sylvester also recorded a few solo singles under the name Danny Stewart. With his brother, Fred, he formed several short-lived groups, like the Stewart Bros.[4]

The name Sly was a common nickname for Sylvester throughout his years in grade school. A classmate misspelled his name Slyvester and ever since the nickname followed him.[3] In the mid-1960s, Stone worked as a disc jockey for San Francisco, California soul radio station KSOL, where he included white performers such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones into his playlists. During the same period, he worked as a staff record producer for Autumn Records, producing for San Francisco-area bands such as The Beau Brummels, The Mojo Men, Bobby Freeman, and Grace Slick's first band, the Great Society. Adopting the stage name "Sly Stone," he then formed "The Stoners" in 1966 which included Cynthia Robinson on trumpet. With her he started his next band, Sly and the Family Stone. Stone, Robinson, and Fred Stewart were joined by Larry Graham, Greg Errico, and Jerry Martini, all of whom had studied music and worked in numerous amateur groups. Working around the Bay Area in 1967, this multiracial band made a strong impression. On the first recordings Little Sister: Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, and Elva Mouton did backup vocals.[4] In 1968 sister Rosie Stone (piano and vocals) joined the band.

Stone was influential in guiding KSOL-AM into soul music and started calling the station K-SOUL. The second was a popular soul music station (sans the K-SOUL moniker), at 107.7 FM (now known as KSAN). The current KSOL has a different format and is unrelated to the previous two stations.

Sly & the Family Stone's success

Along with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone were pioneers of late 1960s and early '70s funk. Their fusion of R&B rhythms, infectious melodies, and psychedelia created a new pop/soul/rock hybrid the impact of which has proven lasting and widespread. Motown producer Norman Whitfield, for example, patterned the label's forays into harder-driving, socially relevant material (such as The Temptations' "Runaway Child" and "Ball of Confusion") based on their sound. The pioneering precedent of Stone's racial, sexual, and stylistic mix, had a major influence in the 1980s on artists such as Prince and Rick James. Legions of artists from the 1990s forward — including Public Enemy, Fatboy Slim, Beck and LL Cool J's popular "Mama Said Knock You Out" along with many others — mined Stone’s seminal back catalog for hook-laden samples.[4]

After a mildly received debut album, A Whole New Thing (1967), Sly & The Family Stone had their first hit single with "Dance to the Music", which was later included on an album of the same name (1968). Although their third album, Life (also 1968), also suffered from low sales, their fourth album, Stand! (1969), became a runaway success, selling over three million copies and spawning a number one hit single, "Everyday People". By the summer of 1969, Sly & The Family Stone were one of the biggest names in music, releasing three more top five singles, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody Is a Star", before the end of the year, and appearing at Woodstock.

From the moment the group began touring following the success of Dance To The Music, The Family Stone drew praise for their explosive live show, which attracted equal parts black and white fans. When Bob Marley first played in the U.S. in 1973 with his band The Wailers, he opened on tour for Sly and The Family Stone.

Personal problems and decline

With the band's newfound fame and success came numerous problems. Relationships within the band were deteriorating; there was friction in particular between the Stone brothers and Larry Graham.[5] Epic requested more marketable output.[6] The Black Panther Party demanded that Stone make his music more militant and more reflective of the black power movement,[6] replace Greg Errico and Jerry Martini with black instrumentalists, and replace manager David Kapralik.[7]

After moving to the Los Angeles area in fall 1969, Stone and his bandmates became heavy users of illegal drugs, primarily cocaine and PCP.[8] As the members became increasingly focused on drug use and partying (Stone carried a violin case filled with illegal drugs wherever he went),[9] recording slowed significantly. Between summer 1969 and fall 1971, the band released only one single, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody Is a Star", released in December 1969. The former song was one of the first recordings to employ the heavy, funky beats that would be featured in the funk music of the following decade. It showcased bass player Larry Graham's innovative percussive playing technique of bass "slapping". Graham later said that he developed this technique in an earlier band in order to compensate for that band's lack of a drummer.[10]

"Thank You" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. The single also peaked at #5 on the R&B chart and remained there for five weeks, while also remaining at #1 on the Pop chart for two weeks in the spring of 1970, before selling over a million copies.[11]

Having relocated to Los Angeles with his then girlfriend Deborah King, later Deborah Santana (wife of Carlos Santana from 1973 until filing for divorce in 2007), Stone's behavior became increasingly erratic. Epic was anticipating new material in 1970, but with none forthcoming, finally released Greatest Hits that November. One year later, the band's fifth album, There's a Riot Goin' On, was released. Riot featured a much darker sound as most tracks were recorded with overdubbing as opposed to The Family Stone all playing at the same time as they had done previously. Stone played most of the parts himself and performed more of the lead vocals than usual. This was the first major label album to feature a drum machine. Sly also played the innovative bass part on another group hit, "If You Want Me To Stay".

The band's cohesion slowly began to erode, and its sales and popularity began to decline as well. Errico withdrew from the group in 1971 and was eventually replaced with Andy Newmark. Larry Graham and Stone were no longer on friendly terms, and Graham was fired in early 1972 and replaced with Rustee Allen. The band's later releases, Fresh (1973) and Small Talk (1974), featured even less of the band and more of Stone.

Live bookings for Sly & the Family Stone had steadily dropped since 1970, because promoters were afraid that Stone or one of the band members might miss the gig, refuse to play, or pass out from drug use.[12] These issues were regular occurrences for the band during the 1970s, and had an adverse effect on their ability to demand money for live bookings.[12] At many of these gigs, concertgoers rioted if the band failed to show up, or if Stone walked out before finishing his set. Ken Roberts became the group's promoter, and later their general manager, when no other representatives would work with the band because of their erratic gig attendance record.[13] In January 1975, the band booked itself at Radio City Music Hall. The famed music hall was only one-eighth occupied, and Stone and company had to scrape together money to return home.[14] Following the Radio City engagement, the band was dissolved.[14]

Rose Stone was pulled out of the band by Bubba Banks, who was by then her husband. She began a solo career, recording a Motown-style album under the name Rose Banks in 1976. Freddie Stone joined Larry Graham's group, Graham Central Station, for a time; after collaborating with his brother one last time in 1979 for Back on the Right Track, he retired from the music industry and eventually became the pastor of the Evangelist Temple Fellowship Center in Vallejo, California. Little Sister was also dissolved; Mary McCrary married Leon Russell and released recordings on Russell's Shelter Records label.[15] Andy Newmark became a successful session drummer, playing with Roxy Music, B. B. King, Steve Winwood and others.[16]

Later years

Stone went on to record four more albums as a solo artist (only High on You (1975) was released under just his name; the other three were released under the "Sly & The Family Stone" name). In 1976, Stone assembled a new Family Stone and released Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back. 1979's Back on the Right Track followed, and in 1982 Ain't But the One Way was released, which began as a collaborative album with George Clinton, but was scrapped and later completed by producer Stewart Levine for release. None of these later albums achieved much success.

Stone also collaborated with Funkadelic on The Electric Spanking of War Babies (1981), but was unable to reinvigorate his career. In the early 1980s Sly Stone was also part of a George Clinton/Funkadelic family project with Muruga Booker called "The Soda Jerks," who recorded an album worth of material, all of which has gone unreleased, except for one song, however Muruga has plans of still releasing the project.

Stone managed to do a short tour with Bobby Womack in the summer of 1984, and he continued to make sporadic appearances on compilations and other artists' records. In 1986, Stone was featured on a track from The Time member Jesse Johnson's solo album Shockadelica called "Crazay". The music video featured Stone on keyboards and vocals, and received some airplay on the BET music network.

In 1987, Stone released a single, "Eek-a-Boo Static Automatic", from the Soul Man soundtrack, and the song "I'm the Burglar" from the Burglar (film) soundtrack. He also co-wrote and co-produced "Just Like A Teeter-Totter," which appeared on a Bar-Kays album from 1989. From 1988 to 1989 Sly Stone wrote and produced a collection of unreleased recordings in his home studio in New Jersey, "Coming Back for More" and "Just Like A Teeter-Totter" are a part of that collection of about 20 songs.

In 1990, he gave an energetic vocal performance on the Earth, Wind and Fire song, "Good Time." In 1991, he appeared on a cover of "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" performed by the Japanese band 13CATS, and shared lead vocals with Bobby Womack on "When the Weekend Comes" from Womack's 1993 album I Still Love You. His last major public appearance until 2006 was during the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony where Stone showed up onstage to be entered into the Hall of Fame along with the Family Stone. In 2003, the other six members of the original Family Stone entered the studio to record a new album. Stone was invited to participate, but declined.

A few home-studio recordings (most likely from the late 1980s) with Stone's voice and keyboards over a drum machine have made their way onto a bootleg. One Stone-penned demo called "Coming Back for More" appears to be autobiographical and includes the verse: "Been so high, I touched the sky and the sky says 'Sly, why you tryin' to get by?' Comin' back for more." His son, Sylvester Jr., told People Magazine in 1997 that his father had composed an album's worth of material, including a tribute to Miles Davis called "Miles and Miles."

On August 15, 2005, Stone drove his younger sister Vet Stone on his motorcycle to Los Angeles' Knitting Factory, where Vet was performing with her Sly & the Family Stone tribute band, the Phunk Phamily Affair. Stone kept his helmet on during the entire performance, and was described by one concertgoer as looking a little like Bootsy Collins. A film crew doing a documentary on Sly & the Family Stone was at the show and apparently captured this rare sighting on film. Stone, according to his web site, is producing and writing material for the group's new album. In addition, Stone renamed the group "Family Stone."

In 2009, the documentary film Coming Back for More detailed his dire financial situation.[17]

Media reports in 2011 described Stone as homeless and living in a camper van in Los Angeles.[18] Stone's attorney refuted these reports.[19]

Mid 2000s tributes

Stone filed suit against Jerry Goldstein, the former manager of Sly and the Family Stone for $50 million in January 2010. The suit claims that Goldstein used fraudulent practices to convince him to deliver the rights to his songs to Goldstein. In the suit, he makes the same claim about the Sly and the Family Stone trademark.[20] Goldstein filed a countersuit for slander following a rant by Stone at the Coachella Festival.[21]

A Sly & the Family Stone tribute took place at the 2006 Grammy Awards on February 8, 2006, at which Stone gave his first live musical performance since 1987. Sly & the original Family Stone lineup (minus Larry Graham) performed briefly during a tribute to the band, for which the headliners included Steven Tyler, John Legend, Van Hunt, and Robert Randolph. Sporting an enormous blonde mohawk, thick sunglasses, a "Sly" beltbuckle and a silver lamé suit, he joined in on "I Want To Take You Higher." Hunched over the keyboards, he wore a cast on his right hand (the result of a recent motorcycle mishap), and a hunched back caused him to look down through most of the performance. His voice, though strong, was barely audible over the production. Stone walked to the front of the stage toward the end of the performance, sang a verse and then with a wave to the audience, sauntered offstage before the song was over.[22] "He went up the ramp [outside the theater], got on a motorcycle and took off," Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the Grammy Awards show told the Chicago Sun-Times. Ehrlich said Stone refused to leave his hotel room until he was given a police escort to the show and then waited in his car until the performance began.

A Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes by Different Folks, was released on July 12, 2005 by Starbucks' Hear Music label, and on February 7, 2006 by Epic Records. The project features both cover versions of the band's songs and songs which sample the original recordings. Among the artists for the set are The Roots ("Star", which samples "Everybody is a Star"), Maroon 5 and Ciara ("Everyday People"), John Legend, Joss Stone & Van Hunt ("Family Affair"), The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am ("Dance to the Music"), and Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Robert Randolph ("I Want to Take You Higher"). Epic Records' version of the tribute album, which included two additional covers ("Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" and "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)") was released in January 2006.[23]

Re-emergence

On Sunday, January 14, 2007 Stone made a short guest appearance at a show of The New Family Stone band he supports at the House of Blues.

On April 1, 2007, Stone appeared with the Family Stone at the Flamingo Las Vegas Showroom, after George Wallace's standup act. [24]

On July 7, 2007 Stone made a short appearance with the Family Stone at the San Jose, CA Summerfest. He sang "Sing a Simple Song" and "If You Want Me to Stay," and walked off stage before the end of "Higher." He wore a baseball cap, dark glasses, a white hooded sweatshirt, baggy pants and gold chains. Stone, who took the stage at about 8:45 p.m., cut the set short, in part, because the promoter was told that the show had to end by 9:00. The band began their set over 90 minutes late reportedly because the stage management was poor and the promoter's band played for 30 minutes longer than scheduled. Stone's 15-minute set came only after his sister, Vet, and the rest of the band performed for 35 minutes. As he exited the stage he told the audience near the front of the stage that he would return. He did return, but only to tell the crowd that the police were shutting down the show. While many blamed Stone for this incident, others believed that the promoter was at fault.

The same scenes were repeated at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 13, 2007 with over half the sold-out venue walking out in disgust even earlier than his stage exit. The same happened again one day later at the Blue Note Records Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Here he left the stage after saying to the audience that "when waking up this morning he realized he was old, and so he needed to take a break now". He did the same again one day later, performing at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Stone in Bournemouth England, July 29, 2007

As the tour progressed, however, Stone seemed to be more confident and animated, often dancing and engaging the audience. He performed "Stand", "I Want To Take You Higher", "Sing A Simple Song", "If You Want Me To Stay", and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", (which at one point morphed into "Thank you For Talkin' To Me Africa", a track rarely performed in public). But the show was marred by sound problems and the vocals were barely audible through much of the show. On October 17, 2008, Sly played with the Family Stone at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA. He played a 22 minute set and ventured offstage, telling the crowd "I gotta go take a piss. I'll be right back." He never returned.[25] On Memorial Day, May 25, 2009, Stone re-emerged once again, granting an hour-long interview with KCRW-FM, a Los Angeles NPR affiliate, to discuss his life and career.

On August 18, 2009, The Guardian reported that a forthcoming documentary, Coming Back for More by Dutch director Willem Alkema, claims Stone is homeless and living off welfare whilst staying in cheap hotels and a campervan. The film alleges that Stone's former manager, Jerry Goldstein, cut off his access to royalty payments following a dispute over a 'debt agreement', forcing Stone to depend on welfare payments.[26] On September 25, 2011, Alkema wrote in the New York Post that Stone was homeless and living in a van in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles, California,[27] although a subsequent report by Roger Friedman of Showbiz411 stated that Stone is not homeless, and lives in the van by choice.[28]

On Labor Day, September 7, 2009, Stone emerged at the 20th annual African Festival of the Arts in Chicago, Ill. He performed a 15 minute set during George Clinton's Performance. He performed his popular hits along with George Clinton's band. He left immediately after his short performance.

On December 6, 2009, Sly signed a new recording contract with the LA based Cleopatra Records and on August 16, 2011, I'm Back! Family & Friends was released, the first Sly Stone album since 1982's Ain't But the One Way. The album features re-recorded versions of Sly & the Family Stone's greatest hits with guest appearances from Jeff Beck, Ray Manzarek, Bootsy Collins, Ann Wilson, Carmine Appice and Johnny Winter, as well as three previously unreleased songs.

Sly's daughter Novena Carmel is a singer/performer and also a booking agent at the Little Temple club in Los Angeles, now known as The Virgil. Sly has appeared at the club in recent years with George Clinton and performed with his daughter's band, Baby Stone.

Discography

Notes

  1. ^ http://rockhall.com/inductees/sly-and-the-family-stone/timeline/
  2. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998). For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History. New York: Quill Publishing. ISBN 0-380-79377-6.
  3. ^ a b c Santiago, Eddie. Sly: The Lives of Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone. Eddie Santiago, 2008. Print.
  4. ^ a b c "Sly & The Family Stone." Rolling Stone. Web.
  5. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 107, 146–152
  6. ^ a b * Kaliss, Jeff (2008). I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone. New York: Hal Leonard/Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-934-2.
  7. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998), p. 89; interview with David Kapralik.
  8. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 94–98
  9. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998), p. 122
  10. ^ Bass Legend Graham Lays Down the Millennial Funk: Larry Graham. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-10-25.
  11. ^ allmusic: Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved on 2008-10-25.
  12. ^ a b Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 141–145
  13. ^ Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 186–189.
  14. ^ a b Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 188–191.
  15. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Leon Russell". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  16. ^ Credits for Andy Newmark. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  17. ^ Michaels, Sean (August 18, 2009). "Sly Stone living on welfare, claims documentary". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/18/sly-stone-living-on-welfare. 
  18. ^ Alkema, Willem; Tucker, Reed (2011-11-29). "Funk legend Sly Stone homeless and living in a van in LA". NY Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_rise_and_fall_of_sly_stone_qijyKoYzmAqer1PA0YogSJ. Retrieved 2012-01-12. 
  19. ^ Sly Stone homeless? Or choosing a camper-van over a house?
  20. ^ The Detroit Free Press, January 30, 2010, page 11A
  21. ^ "Ministry of Gossip". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/09/sly-stone-homeless-sly-and-the-family-stone.html. 
  22. ^ Wilkinson, Peter (February 24, 2006). "Sly's Strange Comeback". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9384446/slys_strange_comeback. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
  23. ^ Bradbury, Andrew Paine (August 18, 2005). "Sly Stone Joins Family". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7567410/sly_stone_joins_family. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
  24. ^ "Archive for April 2, 2007Las Vegas Sun". Lasvegassun.com. 2007-04-02. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/apr/02/566652378.html. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  25. ^ "Music & Nightlife | Sly Stone". Bohemian.com. http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/10.22.08/music-slystone-0843.html. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  26. ^ Michaels, Sean (August 18, 2009). "Sly Stone living on welfare, claims documentary". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/18/sly-stone-living-on-welfare. 
  27. ^ Alkema, Willem; Tucker, Reed (September 25, 2011). "Funk legend Sly Stone now homeless and living out of a van in LA". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_rise_and_fall_of_sly_stone_qijyKoYzmAqer1PA0YogSJ. Retrieved 2011-09-25. 
  28. ^ Friedman, Roger (September 27, 2011). "Exclusive: Sly Stone is NOT Homeless, Article Was Paid For". Showbiz411. http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/09/27/exclusive-sly-stone-is-not-homeless-article-was-paid-for. Retrieved 2011-09-28. 

References

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