Sly And The Family Stone



If there were ever a band that lived up to the cliche of 'defining the times' it was Sly And The Family Stone. For three brief years in the late '60s, Sly Stone's happy-faced vision of integration of Psychedelic Pop and innovative Funk rhythms dominated the American music scene. Born Sylvester Stewart on March 15th, 1944 in Texas, his family relocated to San Francisco in the 1950s. Music came early to Sylvester, who at age four recorded his first song as a Gospel singer with his nuclear family group, The Stewart Four. By 1952, The Stewart Four had recorded a song called "On The Battlefield", with Sylvester singing lead. The family took the record on the road and promoted it as far as Texas. It was during this time period, around the fifth grade, that Sylvester was given his nickname. In a school spelling bee, one of his classmates accidentally inverted the "y" and the "l". Syl became Sly. The kids teased, and the name stuck.

By the time he reached high school in Vallejo, California, Sly was playing Rock 'n' Roll with Joey Piazza And The Continentals. In 1961, he joined a group called The Viscaynes who had a regional hit called "Yellow Moon". Sly's knowledge of music and his charming personality led to disc jockey positions at R&B stations KDIA and KSOL, where his shows were popular enough land him a job as a producer for Autumn Records. Already a multi-instrumentalist, Sly quickly added experience as a producer to his resume after hooking up with another DJ and future Alternative Rock radio pioneer, Tom 'Big Daddy' Donahue. Sly's credits at Donahue's Autumn Records included several early San Francisco Sound tracks: The Beau Brummels' "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just A Little", as well as "Somebody to Love" as performed by The Great Society. Sly's offer to sit in on the latter was turned down and the song did not become a hit until it was reworked a couple of years later by the Jefferson Airplane with Grace Slick on vocals.

After the rejection by The Great Society, Sly decided to change his stage name to Stone and make his own music. After a couple of false starts, Sly recruited trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, sax-player Jerry Martini, his sister, pianist Rosie Stewart, along with his brother, guitarist Freddie Stewart, drummer Greg Errico and most importantly, bassist Larry Graham. Not only did they sound different, they looked it too, as the only band of the era to include Blacks and Whites, males and females. The Family Stone's diverse racial makeup unwrapped the hidden fact that Soul music was often a synthesis created by both Black and White musicians. Perhaps even more radical was the crucial role women played as instrumentalists, rather than just vocal wallpaper to round out the band's sound.

After paying its dues in the suburbs, the band released their first album in 1967. As the title of it says, Sly And The Family Stone were indeed "A Whole New Thing". Their fusion of the head-trip effects of Psychedelic Rock with the pulse of dance music had an audacity that seems commonplace now. Their first great moment was the 1968 single "Dance to the Music", which made its way to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the Spring of 1968. All the while the group's outlandish live performances featured choreographed on-stage movements and fantastic hairdos and costumes which appealed to a Rock audience, despite the grab bag of musical sources. The message of their next single made it #1 for a month. The catch phrase from "Everyday People" - 'different strokes for different folks' was a popular saying throughout the late sixties.

Radio stations mostly stayed clear of the band's next single release "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey". It was the first evidence of Sly's dark humor as the title phrase was endlessly repeated over a gloomy Funk vamp. Their following single, "Hot Fun in the Summertime", while superficially breezier, was an ironic commentary on America's long, hot summer of racial unrest. "Hot Fun" reached #2 on the American charts as almost nobody got the joke. In 1969 the band released their breakthrough album "Stand", and spent the majority of the year touring, turning in a historic performance at Woodstock and galvanizing audiences across the country with their innovative mix of Soul, Funk, R&B, Rock, Psychedelia, and Pop. Sly's image appeal helped to bring Black youth over to Rock, and may have encouraged Black militants to try and make him an agent of their cause. Under their pressure and internal group friction, Sly began to exhibit signs of a bleeding ulcer and sought relief through medication. After developing a reputation for missed and delayed concerts, a comeback with another number one hit, "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)" in 1970 seemed to indicate a return to form.

During this period, Sly was feeling intense pressure from his record company to keep putting out new material, getting muscled by Black nationalist leaders to make his music more radical, receiving death threats, failing to show up for concerts and wrestling with other personal problems. The album "There's a Riot Goin'" on finally came out in 1971, preceded by the wonderful cool Funk of the #1 hit single "Family Affair". The collection seemed to be ravaged by fallout from cocaine during the '60s, from the failure of Black nationalism, from the bloatedness of the counterculture, and from being a superstar. Another selection from the LP, "Runnin' Away" clocked in at #23 in early 1972. Sly became more overindulgent in his vices, making records at less frequent intervals. Unhappy with the situation, bassist Larry Graham quit the group in 1972 to form Graham Central Station and in 1980, he hit the charts again with a beautiful ballad called "One In A Million You", which reached #9 on the Hot 100.

Sly released two more albums, "Fresh", which produced the #12 hit "If You Want Me To Stay" in 1973, and "Small Talk", that featured his last Billboard Top 40 hit, "Time For Livin'" in 1974, with mostly different line-ups. After that, the quality of his output diminished. Sly And The Family Stone no longer had the drawing power to be a headlining road show, but singer Bobby Womack felt it necessary to help Sly, honoring his mentor by taking him on tour. Unfortunately, his personal problems would continue to hound him straight through the new millennium. With the exception of his appearance on Funkadelic's "The Electric Spanking of War Babies" (1981), the rest of Sly's career was a series of nightmares, half-hearted releases, and weak marketing schemes like 1979's "Ten Years Too Soon", a pathetic Disco remix album of his 1960s hits. In 1982 he released a mostly ignored album called "Ain't But the One Way", and wasn't heard from again until he appeared on the 1986 soundtrack to the film Soul Man.

On January 12th, 1993, all of the original members of Sly And The Family Stone appeared together to receive an award marking their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. They were inducted along with music legends like Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Doors. After being introduced by P-Funk leader George Clinton, all of the members except Sly walked onto the stage. Larry Graham then led all members in vocal renditions of "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Dance to the Music", after which the six members of The Family Stone made short, thankful speeches. Just when it seemed as though Sly was not going to appear, he stepped onto the stage accompanied by a standing ovation. He made a hasty speech, uttered the words "See you soon," and left the podium.

Rumors of isolation and eccentricity followed Sly's legend over the years. He lived reclusively in Los Angeles, and reports of his mental and physical health were generally not encouraging, though his musical legacy lived on through his classic and influential recordings. On Sunday, May 25th, 1997, Larry Graham reunited with original Sly And The Family Stone members Rose Stone, Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson to perform a greatest hits medley at Sinbad's Soul Music Festival in Aruba. The performance, was shown on HBO later that year.

In June, 2003, The Family Stone re-united to go back to the recording studio. Missing though was Sly, who was still inactive in the music business due to the personal, legal and medical problems which haunted him over the years. Also absent from the line-up was bassist Larry Graham. The seeds of the reunion were planted eighteen months before, after The Family Stone gathered in New York to accept an R&B Foundation Pioneer Award. The original band members that appear on a new sixteen song album are Sly's brother Freddie Stone, sister Rosie Stone, along with drummer Greg Errico, Jerry Martini on saxophone and Cynthia Robinson on trumpet.

Sly Stone made his first major public appearance since his 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Febrary 8th, 2006. Sly And The Family Stone were the subject of a multi-artist tribute during the telecast, for which Stone joined in during the final number, "I Want To Take You Higher". Boasting a huge platinum mohawk, dark sunglasses and a floor-length metallic coat, the 61-year-old Stone took his place at a synthesizer in the middle of the stage, but only occasionally sang into the microphone and left before the song was finished, but not before flashing a brief smile. Not much was heard from Sly until January, 2010 when he filed a $50 million lawsuit against his former manager. The suit claimed that tens of millions of dollars in royalties were kept from the singer who said that he was depending on Social Security to survive. Sly was back in the news again in April of 2011 when he was arrested for possession of cocaine rocks after Los Angeles police pulled over his live-in van for a minor traffic violation.

The 68-year-old Stewart released a new album on Cleopatra Records called "I'm Back! Family & Friends" on August 16th, 2011. It marked his first album in almost thirty years. In late September of that year, the press reported that Sly was suffering from financial problems, having been forced to leave his Beverly Hills mansion and was living out of a camper van. Sly was quoted by the New York Post as saying, "I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving." He reportedly parked his van on a residential street in the rough Los Angeles neighborhood of Crenshaw, where a retired couple provided him with a warm meal and a shower each day. Stone's attorney refuted those reports.

Sly's official website announced on April 19, 2013 that he would be featured on a new Funkadelic single entitled "The Naz", rapping the story of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In July, a division of Sony Music Entertainment trumpeted the release a new anthology collection called "Higher" to celebrate Sly's 70th birthday. The four CD set featured seventy-seven tracks, eighteen of which were previously unreleased, as well as a one hundred page book featuring an illustrated time line of Sly's career.

In late January, 2015, Sly's days of living on the streets appeared to be over after he was awarded $5 million when a Los Angeles Supreme Court jury found that he was cheated out of over a decade's worth of royalties by his former manager Jerry Goldstein and entertainment lawyer Glenn Stone. Sly's lawyers argued that Goldstein and Stone had tricked the musician into becoming an employee and co-owner of a company called Even St. Productions, which they then used to pocket Stone's royalties.

Fans were saddened by the news that Cynthia Robinson had died of cancer at the age of 69 on November 23, 2015. When not playing with the Family Stone, Robinson performed with Larry Graham's Graham Central Station and worked with George Clinton and Prince.

On March 30th, 2018, Sly's official website announced that Network Media Group Inc. and Network Entertainment Inc. had acquired the exclusive rights to produce a feature documentary on the life and enduring legacy of the legendary Pop-Funk-Rock star.

As part of Black History Month in February, 2021, Sony Music's hip-hop and R&B catalog division released a new animated video for Sly And The Family Stone's 1968 classic, "Everyday People". The clip showed a journey through a lively neighborhood with families coming together in a moment of unity.

The news that many fans had eagerly awaited came in mid-March, 2023 when Sly announced that he would share his life story in a new memoir called Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), due out on October 17th of that year. In a press release, Stone said, "For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story. I wasn't ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It's been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too."