Inventive musician merged funk, rock and soul music like no one else and was huge success in the 1960s and 1970s, but had to deal with his own demons
Sly Stoneone of the most influential and innovative musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which broke the barriers of rock, pop, funk and soul, died on Monday, 9. He was 82 years old.
The cause of death was a “Long battle against COPD and other underlying health problems”according to a statement from your family. The text says:
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our dear father, Sly Stone of Sly and The Family Stone. Sly passed away in peace, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend and his family. As we regret his absence, we comfort knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire future generations.”
The family added that Stone “Recently completed the script of its life story, a project that we are looking forward to sharing with the world in due time”.
The story of Sly Stone
At the height of his success, when hits such as “Dance to the Music” and “Everyday People” were at the top of the charts, the extremely inventive singer and musician presented an optimistic and vibrant image, in tune with the time, uniting black and white audiences, animating crowds with electrifying shows. But the unpredictability that was the essence of his genius gave way to a long decline as his personal demons destroyed what he had been.
Born Sylvester Stewart in Texas in 1943, Stone began making music with his brothers as a child: The Stewart Four (Sylvester, his sisters Rose and Vaetta, and his brother Freddie) released their first single, “On the Battlefield for My Lord” in 1952. Known in the music scene of Bay Area. As producer of Autumn Records, he composed hits such as Bobby Freeman’s “C’Mon and Swim”; It also produced “Somebody to Love” by Grace Slick’s prejefferson airplane band, the Great Society.
He was also a DJ on the Radios Ksol and Kdia. Later, he noted that: “On the radio, I discovered a lot of things I don’t like. Like, I don’t think there should be ‘black radio’. Only radio. Everyone participates in everything.”.
The Success of Sly & The Family Stone
The Sly Stone band, called Sly & The Family Stone, graduated throughout 1966 and 1967. It was really a family kind: Sly and his brothers, Rose and Freddie, joined Greg Errico and Jerry Martini, as well as bassist Larry Graham and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson.
Family Stone’s prominent success was 1968 “Dance to the Music”, where their voices and instruments, acute and serious, each took turns under the spotlight. A mestizo band with male and female members, playing rock with soul together was rare at the time – a utopian view of what pop music could be.
Successes such as “Life”, “stand!”, “Everyday People” and “Hot fun in the Summertime” followed: all hymns of solidarity and joy that recognized the pain and frustration of the time and encouraged the public to transcend them. The sweeping performance of “I Want to Take You Higher” by Sly & The Family Stone in Woodstock in 1969 was a triumph of that time, and the band ended the decade with a huge success: “Thank You (FaleTinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”, whose cheerful funk masked the existential horror and the storage sarcasm of their lyrics.
The next album should be called The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly & The Family Stone-an indirect reference to Stone’s habit of missing shows, even after moving from San Francisco to a mansion in Bel Air. He finally launched his masterpiece, There’s Riot Goin ‘On, in late 1971. Recorded with the help of Bobby Womack and an old electronic drums, the album, the album, the album. It was a dark, marked and unstable view – the sour remnants of the 60’s dream.
The Stone family disintegrated in the following years as Sly sink into drug abuse and became even more erratic. He married Kathy Silva on stage in front of a 20,000 -person audience at a show with sold out at Madison Square Garden in 1974, but in a few months the band separated, and the wedding, which generated a son, Sylvester Jr., did not last much more.
Silva, years later, said:
“He beat me, kept me in captivity and wanted me to participate in throes. I didn’t want that world of drugs and weirdness.”
Sly had two more daughters, Sylvette and Novena Carmel.
New attempts and problems
Sly persevered, attempting after another to regain the public. His 1976 album was called Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back (I heard that you had felt my fault; well, I came back), and what followed him three years later, back on the right track.
After the unfinished 1982 Ain’t But the One Way, he never released an album with unprecedented and original material, despite the persistent rumors that he was working on the magic album that would re -raise his career. He collaborated with George Clinton, whom he influenced a lot; Participated as a guest vocalist on bar-kaya records and Earth, Wind and Fire.
Stone, however, has his quota of personal problems. He was arrested for cocaine possession several times in the 1980s and served 14 months in prison at a rehabilitation center from 1989. Among the inclusion of Sly & The Family Stone at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and the tribute to them at the 2006 Grammy Awards (in which Sly appeared for a few minutes with a huge blond and then disappeared), he it disappeared.
Interviewed by Vanity Fair in 2007, he claimed to have “a library” of new material, “one hundred and some songs, or perhaps two hundred”. In 2011, the New York Post reported that he lived in a van in Los Angeles; In the same year, he released I’m Back! Family & Friends, mostly mediocre rewriting of their 60s classics.
The glory of Sly Stone
But the spectrum of his years of glory remained. The excellent Stone records of the 1960s and early 1970s inspired Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to incorporate jazz funk electric instruments and grooves. Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Roots made covers of Sly & The Family Stone songs.
In February, Questlove launched Sly Lives! (Also known as The Burden of Black Genius), a documentary about the career of the musician. In a March interview with Rolling Stone USA, Questlove spoke about the positive mental state in which Stone was.
“He is probably in the best state and condition I’ve ever seen. We talk weekly. I think now he’s in a mental state where he’s ready. He’s definitely excited about the new songs.”
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
