Wanda Sykes bringing stand-up comedy tour to Rockford
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Comedian and actress Wanda Sykes will be bringing her 'Please & Thank You' comedy tour to Rockford later this year.
Sykes will appear with guest Keith Robinson at Hard Rock Live, located in the Hard Rock Casino Rockford, on Friday, September 5th.
Entertainment Weekly called Sykes one of the '25 Funniest People in America.' She was nominated for three Primetime Emmys, two for her Netflix special Wanda Sykes: I'm an Entertainer and another for her role as 'Gladys Murphy' in Crank Yankers.
She has appeared in TV shows such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Wanda Sykes Show, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, along with appearances in films such as Evan Almighty, Monster-in-Law, Nutty Professor 2 and more.
Tickets go on sale March 14th at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster or through the Hard Rock Live box office.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Sly Stone, Sly and the Family Stone Frontman, Dead at 82
Sly Stone has died. He was 82 The rocker was known for Sly and the Family Stone hits like "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday People" "While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come," his family said in a statementSly Stone, the leader of the band Sly and the Family Stone, one of the most influential bands in the development of funk, soul, R&B, rock and psychedelic music, has died. He was 82. "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone," his family said in a statement on Monday, June 9. "After a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come." The statement continued, "Sly was a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator, and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk, and rock music. His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world, and his influence remains undeniable. In a testament to his enduring creative spirit, 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 2024." "We extend our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of love and prayers during this difficult time. We wish peace and harmony to all who were touched by Sly's life and his iconic music. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unwavering support," it concluded. Sly and the Family Stone's membership included two of his actual siblings, and they released massive hits like "Dance to the Music,' "Everyday People" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).' However, his drug use and behavior affected the group, which split up for good in the '80s. Sly was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, in 1943. The family soon moved to California, where Sly began singing in the church choir from the age of 4, alongside his siblings. His nickname Sly came about when a classmate misspelled his name, and once he changed his stage surname from Stewart to Stone, his siblings Freddie and Rose, both of whom joined him in Sly and the Family Stone, did the same. Sly began performing in bands in high school, then went on to study music theory at Solano Community College. By the mid '60s, he had left school to work as a DJ for San Francisco's KSOL, which became known as KSOUL because of its focus on the soul genre. He also worked with many emerging acts. By 1966, Sly had his band, Sly and the Stoners, and Freddie had his, Freddie and the Stone Souls. They decided to join forces. 'The band had a concept — white and Black together, male and female both, and women not just singing but playing instruments,' Stone wrote in his 2023 memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). 'That was a big deal back then, and it was a big deal on purpose.' Sly and the Family Stone began performing together in 1967 and released their debut album, A Whole New Thing, that year. "It was like seeing the Black version of The Beatles,' funk legend George Clinton told CBS in 2023 of Sly and the Family Stone. 'He had the sensibility of the street, the church, and then, like, the qualities of a Motown, you know, Smokey Robinson — he was all of that in one person." 'Dance to the Music,' also released in 1967, was their first hit single. They released their album of the same name the next year. Stand, released in 1969, became their biggest success, with hits like 'Everyday People,' "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"/"Everybody Is a Star.' They performed at Woodstock that summer. Cynthia Robinson, who played trumpet, recalled to PEOPLE in 1996 about their performance of 'I Want to Take You Higher.' 'It was pouring rain. Freddie got shocked. The equipment was crackling. But Sly was like a preacher. He had half a million people in the palm of his hand.' That same summer, the band also performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival, as documented in Questlove's Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul. However, Sly began to struggle amid heavy drug use. During 1970 and 1971, he missed a third of the band's concerts. In 1974, Sly married Kathy Silva during one of the band's performances at Madison Square Garden. They shared son Sylvester Jr., born a few months before the wedding. Silva told PEOPLE in 1996 of their marriage, 'He beat me, held me captive and wanted me to be in ménages à trois. I didn't want that world of drugs and weirdness.' She continued, 'He'd write me a song or promise to change, and I'd try again. We were always fighting, then getting back together.' But in 1976, his dog bit Sylvester Jr., and Silva divorced him. Sly and Cynthia Robinson shared a daughter, Sylvyette Phunne, born in 1976. He welcomed a third child, Novena, in 1982. Sly and the Family Stone released Greatest Hits in 1970 and There's a Riot Goin' On in 1971, considered one of the most influential albums of all time. But tensions were beginning to boil over in the band. Later albums featured more and more of Stone and less of the rest of the band, and in 1975, they broke up. Sly began working on solo music. "Some people actually believed that I could not finish a project," he told PEOPLE in 1980. "I was pissed off at a lot of things. So much got on my nerves.' His solo efforts were not as successful, and drugs continued to derail his career. In 1983, Sly was arrested for cocaine possession in Florida. He went to rehab in 1996, with Sylvester Jr. telling PEOPLE at the time, 'He went in by choice, to concentrate on getting healthier. He's had problems because he hasn't been able to grow up. He's meant no harm to anyone.' In 1993, Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he kept his distance from the rest of the band, only coming on stage at the end of the induction. Sly mostly remained out of the public eye after that. A rare appearance came at the 2006 Grammy Awards, where a tribute to the band was performed — but he left the stage midway through the performance. He appeared on stage with the band at a handful of performances after that. In 2017, he received the Recording Academy's lifetime achievement award. Sly finally got clean in 2019, after his drug use landed him in the hospital four times in a period of a few weeks. The doctor told him drugs would kill him. 'That time, I not only listened to the doctor but believed him,' he told The Guardian in 2023. 'I realized that I needed to clean up. I concentrated on getting strong so that I could get clean. My kids visited me at the hospital. My grandkids visited me. I left with purpose.' In 2023, he released his memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), named after the band's classic 1970 single. In it, he wrote of other people talking about his life: 'They're trying to set the record straight. But a record's not straight, especially when you're not. It's a circle with a spiral inside it. Every time a story is told, it's a test of memory and motive.… It isn't evil, but it isn't good. It's the name of the game, but a shame just the same.' In 2025, Questlove released the documentary Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), which chronicled the musician's rise and fall. Despite his ups and downs, he told The Guardian in 2023, 'I never lived a life I didn't want to live.' In the film, which premiered at Sundance and is now streaming on Hulu, Stone's son and daughters were interviewed, with Carmel demonstrated just how normal things had become for the star since his wild rock star days. She said that when she asked Stone what he wanted to eat for his birthday, all he asked for was a "big pizza with all of the toppings." 'He's also a big fan of Westerns and cars,' she says. 'He's kind of just like, a standard old Black man.' During a recent Q&A screening of the film, producer Joseph Patel explained that he and Questlove opted not to feature Stone on camera in a new interview in the documentary because it didn't 'feel right' given his frail health. "Ahmir's first thing he said was, 'Let's tell this story with a lot of empathy.' That's not empathetic,' Patel said. "We interviewed Sly for [the Oscar-winning documentary] Summer of Soul in 2020. And he had just gotten clean, and he just — he doesn't have the motor function. He can't speak in full sentences. His eyes reveal a precociousness and a lucidity that's there, but his motor function doesn't exist." While the documentary doesn't skip over Stone's decades-long struggle with substance abuse, Questlove said the "most important part" was to present Stone as a person rather than a personality, because "it's rare that Black people get seen as humans." Sly is survived by his children. Read the original article on People
Black America Web
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Sly Stone, a legendary musician who helped propel funk to its elevated heights in the realm of Black music, has died. Hip-Hop artists of various eras have sampled Sly Stone's work over the years, and we've got a playlist highlighting some of those audio classics. As Hip-Hop Wired reported earlier, Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, passed away Monday (June 9) at the age of 82. After establishing his roots in the Bay Area as a musical prodigy, Stone ventured into becoming a front-facing artist with his Sly and The Stones in the 1960s with the late Cynthia Robinson, the trumpeter who was a founding member of Sly and the Family Stone, the band that catapulted Stone into the annals of music history. Alongside fun pioneers such asJames Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, Stone and his band enjoyed a successful run of album releases extending into the late 1970s. Stone's life was captured in the 2023 biography, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), written with Ben Greenman, featuring a foreword from Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson. Thompson also produced the stirring 2025 documentary centered on Stone's life and legacy, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) . Hip-Hop artists such as LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, The Jungle Brothers, Public Enemy, and scores more dug into the crates to grab bits of Stone's music to form the backdrop of their works. Below, we've got a handful of those songs featured in the playlist below. Long live Sly Stone. May he rest powerfully in peace. — Photo: Michael Putland / Getty Sly Stone's Music Formed The Backdrop To Several Hip-Hop Classics was originally published on Samples 'Trip To Your Heart.' Samples 'Dance to the Music.' Samples 'You Can Make It If You Try.' Samples 'Sing A Simple Song.' Samples 'Everyday People.' Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
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Watch Sly and the Family Stone Rip Through ‘I Want to Take You Higher' at Woodstock
Sly and the Family Stone didn't have an easy task in front of them when they stepped onstage at Woodstock. It was 3:30 AM, several hours past their scheduled start time, the grounds were soaked and muddy after a pissing rainstorm earlier in the day, and they were terrified to even touch their equipment because earlier acts in the night, including the Grateful Dead, had been badly electrocuted. But Sly Stone — who died Monday after a long battle with COPD — knew this was a moment to prove himself on the biggest stage possible. 'As I flew in I couldn't see the whole crowd, but you could see enough people dotting the landscape that it was hard to believe that there were even more,' he wrote in his 2023 book Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir. 'Goddamn.' I said to myself. 'Goddamn. What the fuck is this?' So many people, an ocean of them without any land for miles. When something is that big a deal, be sure you're ready.' More from Rolling Stone Sly Stone, Family Stone Architect Who Fused Funk, Rock, and Soul, Dead at 82 Hear Sly and the Family Stone Rock a Small Club in 1967 With Funky 'I Gotta Go Now' Dire Wolves Are Back. One 'Dire Wolf' Never Went Away The band had been gigging practically nonstop since forming in 1966, and their landmark LP Stand! — featuring 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Everyday People' and 'Stand!' — hit just three months earlier. And less than a month before Woodstock, they dropped the single 'Hot Fun in the Summertime.' In other words, this was a band at the absolute peak of their powers. They opened for a high-energy, euphoric rendition of 'M'Lady,' and the set only grew in intensity from there. The Woodstock movie showcased 'I Want To Take You Higher, the climax of their blazing, ten-song performance. 'What we would like to do is sing a song together,' Sly Stone told the crowd. 'And you see what usually happens is you got a group of people that might sing and for some reasons that are not unknown any more, they won't do it. Most of us need to get approval from our neighbours before we can actually let it all hang down. But what is happening here is we're going to try to do a singalong. Now a lot of people don't like to do it. Because they feel that it might be old-fashioned. But you must dig that it is not a fashion in the first place. It is a feeling. And if it was good in the past, it's still good.' He was speaking the language of the nearly 500,000 hippies in attendance, and they all responded by dancing together in the mud. 'The call, the response. It felt like church,' Stone wrote in his memoir. 'By then the film crew was fully in place. The horns went up into the sky. When the show was over, we were wet and cold…By the next day it was clear that Woodstock had been a big deal, and that we had been a major part of that deal. The festival had put a spotlight on lots of groups, but us and Jimi [Hendrix] the most.' Even though the Who directly followed Sly and the Family Stone, he was absolutely right. A huge percentage of Woodstock attendees cite Sly and the Family Stone's set as the best moment of the entire weekend. (By the time Hendrix played on Monday morning, the place had largely emptied out. No matter what people claimed later, not many people witnessed his set live.) But everyone saw Sly and the Family Stone, and millions more followed once the movie hit. It's no secret that Sly Stone faced many sad and difficult times in the years that followed. But he achieved musical immortality that night at Woodstock. It showcases the power of live music better than perhaps any other performance ever captured on film. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
