Sly Stone has died. The music legend born Sylvester Stewart passed away Monday, June 9, at the age of 82, according to a statement from his family. As frontman of the iconic Sly & The Family Stone, Sly stands as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century; a titan of rock, soul, funk and pop that reshaped the sound of American music, all while redirecting the style and spirit of Black artistry.
Raised in the Bay Area city of Vallejo, Calif. Sylvester Stewart was a child prodigy and self-taught musician who became widely known as a deejay for San Francisco radio station KDIA in the mid-1960s, before he formed Sly & The Family Stone with musicians like his brother, guitarist Freddie Stone, bassist Larry Graham, trumpet player Cynthia Robinson, and drummer Gregg Errico. Along with backing vocal group Little Sister, Sly & The Family Stone would release their debut album A Whole New Thing in 1967 before breaking through later that year with “Dance To the Music,” a hit single that landed on an album of the same name in 1968.
But the band would soon be catapulted to the top of the music industry after the release of their fourth album Stand! In 1969. With hits like “Sing A Simple Song,” “Everyday People” and the title track, Sly & The Family Stone were at the forefront of funk and psychedelia. One of popular music’s first racially-integrated acts, as well as the rare band with male and female members, Sly & The Family Stone performed later that year at the iconic Woodstock Festival and scored two more major hits with “Hot Fun In the Summertime” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin.)” In the early 1970s, Sly’s drug use worsened as he recorded new music. Mostly recorded on his own in Los Angeles, Sly & The Family Stone’s 1971 album, There’s A Riot Goin’ On, proved to be a landmark in funk music, and the band scored another hit with the innovative “Family Affair,” one of the first hit singles to utilize a beat machine.
Over the next few years, The Family Stone would deteriorate in a haze of acrimony and drug use, as Sly continued to spearhead albums like Fresh and Small Talk before he finally embarked on an official solo career with 1975’s High On You. Sly resumed recording under the Sly & The Family Stone moniker, but officially disbanded the group name after the George Clinton-assisted Ain’t But the One Way in 1982.
Sly Stone would spend his later years largely out of the spotlight and earning the reputation of a musical recluse, emerging only occasionally for events like Sly & The Family Stone’s 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the decades since his debut, Sly Stone’s music has influenced generations of artists: from Parliament-Funkadelic and the Jackson 5 to Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His songs have been extensively sampled by artists like LL Cool J (“Mama Said Knock You Out”), Janet Jackson (“Rhythm Nation”), 2Pac (“Temptations”), Jungle Brothers (“Because I Got It Like That”) and Arrested Development (“People Everyday.”)
Sly Stone’s psychedelic funk inspired a shift in 1960s Black music as artists moved away from the more buttoned-down, dapper presentation that was standard earlier in the decade. After Stand!, more popular Black artists embraced the loose, hippie style that Sly & The Family Stone embodied; and producers began to channel the funky, freewheeling music the band produced. Motown artists like the Temptations and the Supremes began recording more expansive songs like “Ball Of Confusion” and “Love Child” after the success of Sly & The Family Stone; and The Corporation produced Jackson 5 hits that were heavily influenced by the sound of Sly & The Family Stone.
Stone’s singular approach as a producer and songwriter forged a template for Stevie Wonder, Prince, D’Angelo and countless other artists. Bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone were indebted to the melding of funk and rock that Sly & The Family Stone pioneered. The Chili Peppers covered the Sly & The Family Stone hit “If You Want Me To Stay”; Fishbone released a cover of “Everybody Is A Star.”
Questlove, who directed the documentary Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius), released earlier this year, recognized the impact of Stone with a post on social media.
“Sly’s music will likely speak to us even more now than it did then,” he wrote on Instagram. “Thank you, Sly. You will forever live.
Thankyoufaliftingushigher Sly.”
DJ Premier posted on IG: “I thank you for bringing us diversity, funk, soul, rock and a unique band which is why I’m cut from the integrity cloth. I will remain great because of you.”
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