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Sephora Savings Event: Top Black-Owned Beauty Brands To Shop Now

Sephora Savings Event: Top Black-Owned Beauty Brands To Shop Now

Forbes09-04-2025

Range Beauty True Intentions Hydrating Foundation
Range Beauty True Intentions Hydrating Foundation
Sephora's annual Savings Event is not only an excellent opportunity to refresh your beauty collection but also a chance to support Black-owned beauty brands. Influential figures like Jackie Aina and Brooke DeVard have been instrumental in highlighting the importance of inclusivity and representation in the beauty industry.
Aina, a prominent beauty influencer, has consistently advocated for diversity and has even launched her own brand, FORVR Mood, available at Sephora. Similarly, DeVard, host of the "Naked Beauty" podcast, has fostered unfiltered conversations about beauty trends and self-care, emphasizing the significance of supporting Black-owned businesses.
Advocacy like theirs, along with the work of organizations like The Black Beauty Club, has sparked a powerful shift—encouraging beauty lovers to support and prioritize Black-owned brands. By continuing to amplify this movement, it pushes the beauty industry toward greater inclusivity and lasting change.
From April 4 to April 14, 2025, Beauty Insider members can enjoy significant discounts: Rouge members receive 20% off, VIB members get 15% off, and Insiders enjoy 10% off sitewide with the code SAVEMORE. Additionally, Sephora Collection products are 30% off.
Here's a curated roundup of fan-favorite products from Black-owned brands that have been trending across social media, organized by category.
Range Beauty True Intentions Hydrating Foundation
This foundation is formulated to suit sensitive and acne-prone skin, offering buildable coverage with a natural finish. It features a lightweight texture and includes ingredients often chosen for their skin-supportive properties, making it a popular option for those looking for both comfort and performance.
Pat McGrath Labs Mothership X Eyeshadow Palette: Moonlit Seduction This palette contains ten highly pigmented shades in a range of finishes, designed to create a variety of eye looks. It is frequently highlighted for its smooth texture, ease of blending, and strong color payoff.
Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Match Stix Matte Contour Skinstick
This long-wearing contour stick is designed to offer buildable coverage and smooth application, making it easier to blend without caking. Its stick format allows for precise placement, and it features undertones that are often noted for enhancing natural-looking definition.
Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Tint
Sephora
Ami Colé Skin-Enhancing Tint
This clean, lightweight tint is formulated to suit melanin-rich skin tones, aiming to even out complexion and add a radiant glow. It provides light-to-medium coverage with a dewy finish, and is often recommended for balanced to dry skin types due to its breathable texture and hydrating formula.
Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder This innovative balm-to-powder formula blurs imperfections and controls oil, providing a natural, skin-like finish. Highly rated for its versatility and effectiveness, it has been praised for giving the skin a blurred, airbrushed effect without feeling heavy.
LYS Beauty Triple Fix Serum Foundation
Sephora
LYS Beauty Triple Fix Serum Foundation This serum-based foundation provides buildable, medium coverage with a natural finish. It includes ingredients such as Ashwagandha, Hyaluronic Acid, Turmeric, and Avocado Oil, which are commonly used for their skin-nourishing benefits. It is often noted for its effectiveness in minimizing the appearance of redness, blemishes, and dark spots across a range of skin types and tones.
Eadem Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum with Niacinamide and Vitamin C Formulated to target dark spots and post-acne marks commonly experienced in skin of color, this serum combines niacinamide and vitamin C to help improve brightness and promote a more even tone. It is frequently recognized for its gentle yet effective performance.
Topicals Faded Serum for Dark Spots & Discoloration This serum is designed to help diminish discoloration, post-blemish marks, scars, and dark spots, supporting a more even skin tone over time. It is commonly noted for its effectiveness across different skin types, with many users reporting improvements in acne-related marks and enhanced overall brightness.
Shani Darden Skin Care Retinol Reform®
Sephora
Shani Darden Skin Care Retinol Reform® This retinol serum is widely recognized for its role in improving skin texture and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Often described as a cult favorite, it is formulated to deliver noticeable results while minimizing the risk of irritation. Users frequently report smoother, clearer, and more radiant skin with consistent use.
Rose Ingleton MD FutureBright Brightening Dark Spot Vitamin C Serum
Developed by dermatologist Dr. Rose Ingleton, this serum is designed to address dark spots and uneven skin tone. It aims to support a brighter, more radiant complexion and is often noted for its gentle, yet effective formulation suitable for a range of skin types.
Cay Skin Isle Lip Balm SPF 30 with Sea Moss and Aloe Stem Cells
This lip balm, created by supermodel Winnie Harlow, is formulated to offer sun protection while delivering hydration and nourishment to the lips. It is often recognized for its lightweight, non-sticky texture and soft, glossy finish.
PATTERN by Tracee Ellis Ross Hydration Shampoo
Sephora
PATTERN by Tracee Ellis Ross Hydration Shampoo
This shampoo is designed to gently cleanse while delivering hydration, particularly for curly and coily hair types. Formulated with ingredients like aloe vera and honey, it is frequently highlighted for its moisturizing benefits. Many users have shared that their hair feels noticeably smooth, similar to the effects of using a conditioner.
BREAD BEAUTY SUPPLY Hair Oil Everyday Gloss
Sephora
BREAD BEAUTY SUPPLY Hair Oil Everyday Gloss
This lightweight hair oil is formulated to enhance shine and nourish strands without leaving a heavy or greasy feel. Suitable for a range of hair types, it's often praised for its pleasant scent and overall effectiveness. Users frequently note its ability to tame frizz and smooth flyaways, making it a staple in many haircare routines.
Sienna Naturals Hydrating H.A.P.I. Shampoo
Sephora
Sienna Naturals Co-founded by Issa Rae Hydrating H.A.P.I. Shampoo
This shampoo is formulated to cleanse and hydrate textured hair while supporting overall scalp health. It is often highlighted for its gentle cleansing properties and ability to enhance moisture retention and curl definition. Users frequently mention improved slip and manageability after use.
Briogeo's Scalp Revival™ Rosemary Pre-Wash Scalp and Hair Oil is a moisturizing treatment designed to soothe and balance a dry, itchy scalp while nourishing the hair. Formulated with a blend of natural oils and vitamins, this pre-wash treatment aims to promote a healthier scalp environment and strengthen hair strands.
Melanin Hair Care Multi-Use Pure Oil Blend
Sephora
Melanin Hair Care Multi-Use Pure Oil Blend
This lightweight, non-greasy oil blend is formulated to soften and hydrate both hair and skin. Its multi-use nature makes it a versatile addition to any routine—commonly used as a sealant, a nourishing scalp treatment, or mixed into deep conditioners for added moisture.
Adowoa Beauty Baomint Moisturizing Curl Defining Gel
This gel is formulated to offer a soft, flexible hold while boosting curl definition and delivering moisture. Free from harsh chemicals, it is suitable for a wide range of curl patterns and is often chosen for its ability to style without stiffness or buildup.
FORVR Mood, I Am Her Eau de Parfum
Sephora
FORVR Mood, founded by beauty influencer Jackie Aina, includes a line of fine fragrances developed to appeal to a range of scent preferences. One of the standout offerings, I Am Her Eau de Parfum, features a blend of raspberry, pear, and red velvet cake accord, creating a sweet and feminine profile. The fragrance is positioned as bold and attention-grabbing, designed to leave a lasting impression.
BROWN GIRL Jane Eau de Parfum
Sephora
BROWN GIRL Jane Eau de Parfum
These fine fragrances are designed to inspire, blending distinctive notes for unforgettable scents. The Discovery Set offers a chance to sample a range, with standouts like 'Casablanca' praised for its warm, spicy, and comforting profile.
World of Chris Collins Harlem Nights Eau de Parfum
Sephora
World of Chris Collins Harlem Nights Eau de Parfum
This luxurious fragrance channels the spirit of Harlem's vibrant nightlife with rich notes of rum, saffron, and vanilla. Known for its bold and captivating scent, it stands out as a refined and distinctive choice.
Support goes beyond skin tone—join the movement and shop Black-owned beauty to champion inclusivity, innovation and excellence in every product.

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I Just Watched Beyoncé Perform a 3-Hour Concert in the Pouring Rain and I Don't Think I'll Ever Be the Same
I Just Watched Beyoncé Perform a 3-Hour Concert in the Pouring Rain and I Don't Think I'll Ever Be the Same

Yahoo

time4 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

I Just Watched Beyoncé Perform a 3-Hour Concert in the Pouring Rain and I Don't Think I'll Ever Be the Same

This week, I had the great pleasure of attending Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour for her fourth performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (technically her 'New York' tour stop). As I prepped to schlep my elder millennial keister across the Hudson via public transit, I…was worried. Would Beyoncé deliver? I had no doubt. Would she and I get soaking wet in the process? The severe rain outside my window made me think it inevitable. My journey to Jerz included a departure from New York's famed (and in-desperate-need-of-a-gut-reno) Penn Station. In case there were any question of 'who run the world,' it became clear by the throngs of denim-clad and cowboy hat-donning fans clamoring to catch the next train that the answer is, indeed, Beyoncé (and girls, obvi). As expected, I arrived to the stadium in the rain along with thousands and thousands of others who now had the good fortune of hiding their chic fringe and denim beneath dollar store ponchos. (I personally wore a fringe crop jacket, a denim button-down and a disco ball cowboy hat. Though the only thing people saw during my long wait to get through security was a man in a giant, rain-soaked trash bag with a disco ball hat on top of his plastic hood.) Original Photo by Philip Mutz Yada yada (or ya-ya ya-ya?), I got my chicken fingers, my soft pretzel and my beer and I made my way—still in my poncho—to my seat, ready to eat in the rain as I awaited my queen. And then, a miracle. Could it be? Yes! My seat was covered by the tier above! I would actually be able to watch the concert without getting any wetter (and I could finally show off my outfit), something that could not be said for the majority of the night's attendees. Original Photo by Philip Mutz When the concert began and I leapt to my feet, I'd love to say all thoughts of rain disappeared. But they did not. Because for the next three hours, I would watch one of the most impressive performances I'd ever seen happen in the cold, pouring rain. Afterwards, I thought to myself, Surely if Beyoncé can do that in the rain, I can get through anything. Beyhive and non-Beyhive, let me tell you: Beyoncé and the Cowboy Carter concert are incredible. It is a spectacle in the best way possible. So full of joy. So full of power. So full of history. In fact, I received a history lesson standing there in MetLife, through her music and through her video interludes that took us through Black artists' massive contributions to the creation of country—and the creation of our country. Queen Bey paid tribute to and followed in the footsteps of those who came before her. And this generational theme was only furthered by the onstage presence of her two daughters, Blue Ivy and Rumi. There was Americana abound. Flags everywhere. Homages to our nation everywhere. Beyoncé even sang the National Anthem at one point (it was hard not to remember how she started a press conference with the song back in 2013). This was paired with clips of 'newscasters' hating on her for trying to 'enter' the country music space (obviously they never did a simple Google search on the history of country music). It was deeply moving and motivating to see this wildly successful Black woman school those who clearly believe in division and 'ownership' of a certain genre of music—or of America and Americana itself. In a time of deep divisions in America, it felt like I was watching Beyoncé take America back—but not just for herself. It felt like she was taking it back for me. She was taking it back for every single person standing in that stadium. It's hard to describe the power she possesses. But it is quite large—and it was clear that she understands the responsibility and the weight of that. And as thought-provoking and history-filled as her concert might be, it was also just so damn fun. There was a level of incredible joy up on that stage. And humor. And whimsy (I mean, the woman's mode of transportation around the stadium was a giant flying horseshoe after all). And this joy was apparent in the music, in the dance, in the spectacle, in the screaming of lyrics by the fans. It also seemed amplified by the pouring rain. The rain—which didn't cause a single slip or a fall or even a stumbled note—was part of what made the performance so special (though rain or not, that concert is impressive). It seemed like the rainstorm simply helped complement the joy and the gratitude and the grace that she exudes. Beyoncé even acknowledged how special the night was in her closing remarks. Do I recommend seeing Cowboy Carter when it comes to a town near you? Absolutely. Will it be even better if you see it in a rainstorm? Well, it wasn't the chicken fingers that changed my life… Want all the latest entertainment news sent right to your inbox? Click here. Beyoncé Just Revealed Her Cowboy Carter Tour Looks (& Was That a Nod to Taylor Swift?!)

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82

Chicago Tribune

time42 minutes ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82

Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as 'Everyday People,' 'Stand!' and 'Family Affair,' has died. He was 82 Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Monday that Stone died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Formed in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and well embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The singers screeched, chanted, crooned and hollered. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Sly's time on top was brief, roughly from 1968-1971, but profound. No band better captured the gravity-defying euphoria of the Woodstock era or more bravely addressed the crash which followed. From early songs as rousing as their titles — 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Stand!' — to the sober aftermath of 'Family Affair' and 'Runnin' Away,' Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album 'A Whole New Thing' and earned the title with their breakthrough single, 'Dance to the Music.' It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. 'Everyday People,' 'I Wanna Take You Higher' and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.' The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: 'Stand!', 'There's a Riot Goin' On' and 'Greatest Hits.' For a time, countless performers wanted to look and sound like Sly and the Family Stone. The Jackson Five's breakthrough hit, 'I Want You Back' and the Temptations' 'I Can't Get Next to You' were among the many songs from the late 1960s that mimicked Sly's vocal and instrumental arrangements. Miles Davis' landmark blend of jazz, rock and funk, 'Bitches Brew,' was inspired in part by Sly, while fellow jazz artist Herbie Hancock even named a song after him. 'He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,' Questlove wrote in the foreword to Stone's memoir, 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' named for one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove's imprint in 2023. 'He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.' In 2025, Questlove released the documentary 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).' Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap and hip-hop artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. 'Sly did so many things so well that he turned my head all the way around,' Clinton once wrote. 'He could create polished R&B that sounded like it came from an act that had gigged at clubs for years, and then in the next breath he could be as psychedelic as the heaviest rock band.' By the early '70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behavior. A promised album, 'The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly and the Family Stone' ('The most optimistic of all,' Rolling Stone reported) never appeared. He became notorious for being late to concerts or not showing up at all, often leaving 'other band members waiting backstage for hours wondering whether he was going to show up or not,' according to Stone biographer Joel Selvin. Around the country, separatism and paranoia were setting in. As a turn of the calendar, and as a state of mind, the '60s were over. 'The possibility of possibility was leaking out,' Stone later explained in his memoir. On 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' Stone had warned: 'Dying young is hard to take/selling out is harder.' Late in 1971, he released 'There's a Riot Going On,' one of the grimmest, most uncompromising records ever to top the album charts. The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective ('Family Affair'), fearful ('Runnin' Away') and despairing: 'Time, they say, is the answer — but I don't believe it,' Sly sings on 'Time.' The fast, funky pace of the original 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' was slowed, stretched and retitled 'Thank You For Talkin' to Me, Africa.' The running time of the title track was 0:00. 'It is Muzak with its finger on the trigger,' critic Greil Marcus called the album. 'Riot' highlighted an extraordinary run of blunt, hard-hitting records by Black artists, from the Stevie Wonder single 'Superstition' to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album, to which 'Riot' was an unofficial response. But Stone seemed to back away from the nightmare he had related. He was reluctant to perform material from 'Riot' in concert and softened the mood on the acclaimed 1973 album 'Fresh,' which did feature a cover of 'Que Sera Sera,' the wistful Doris Day song reworked into a rueful testament to fate's upper hand. By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records with such unmet promises as 'Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back' and 'Back On the Right Track.' Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honored in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early '80s, 'I'm Back! Family & Friends,' much of it updated recordings of his old hits. He would allege he had hundreds of unreleased songs and did collaborate on occasion with Clinton, who would recall how Stone 'could just be sitting there doing nothing and then open his eyes and shock you with a lyric so brilliant that it was obvious no one had ever thought of it before.' Sly Stone had three children, including a daughter with Cynthia Robinson, and was married once — briefly and very publicly. In 1974, he and actor Kathy Silva wed on stage at Madison Square Garden, an event that inspired an 11,000-word story in The New Yorker. Sly and Silva soon divorced. He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became 'Sly' by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name 'Slyvester.' He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn't respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts. Through his radio connections, he produced some of the top San Francisco bands, including the Great Society, Grace Slick's group before she joined the Jefferson Airplane. Along with an early mentor and champion, San Francisco deejay Tom 'Big Daddy' Donahue, he worked on rhythm and blues hits (Bobby Freeman's 'C'mon and Swim') and the Beau Brummels' Beatle-esque 'Laugh, Laugh.' Meanwhile, he was putting together his own group, recruiting family members and local musicians and settling on the name Sly and the Family Stone. 'A Whole New Thing' came out in 1967, soon followed by the single 'Dance to the Music,' in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a 'brand new beat.' In December 1968, the group appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and performed a medley that included 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People.' Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song 'Are You Ready': 'Don't hate the Black, don't hate the white, if you get bitten, just hate the bite.'

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82

NEW YORK (AP) — Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as 'Everyday People,' 'Stand!' and 'Family Affair,' has died. He was 82 Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Monday that Stone died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Formed in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and well embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The singers screeched, chanted, crooned and hollered. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Sly's time on top was brief, roughly from 1968-1971, but profound. No band better captured the gravity-defying euphoria of the Woodstock era or more bravely addressed the crash which followed. From early songs as rousing as their titles — 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Stand!' — to the sober aftermath of 'Family Affair' and 'Runnin' Away,' Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album 'A Whole New Thing' and earned the title with their breakthrough single, 'Dance to the Music.' It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. 'Everyday People,' 'I Wanna Take You Higher' and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.' The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: 'Stand!', 'There's a Riot Goin' On' and 'Greatest Hits.' For a time, countless performers wanted to look and sound like Sly and the Family Stone. The Jackson Five's breakthrough hit, 'I Want You Back' and the Temptations' 'I Can't Get Next to You' were among the many songs from the late 1960s that mimicked Sly's vocal and instrumental arrangements. Miles Davis' landmark blend of jazz, rock and funk, 'Bitches Brew,' was inspired in part by Sly, while fellow jazz artist Herbie Hancock even named a song after him. 'He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,' Questlove wrote in the foreword to Stone's memoir, 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' named for one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove's imprint in 2023. 'He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.' In 2025, Questlove released the documentary 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).' Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap and hip-hop artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. 'Sly did so many things so well that he turned my head all the way around,' Clinton once wrote. 'He could create polished R&B that sounded like it came from an act that had gigged at clubs for years, and then in the next breath he could be as psychedelic as the heaviest rock band.' A dream dies, a career burns away By the early '70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behavior. A promised album, 'The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly and the Family Stone' ('The most optimistic of all,' Rolling Stone reported) never appeared. He became notorious for being late to concerts or not showing up at all, often leaving 'other band members waiting backstage for hours wondering whether he was going to show up or not,' according to Stone biographer Joel Selvin. Around the country, separatism and paranoia were setting in. As a turn of the calendar, and as a state of mind, the '60s were over. 'The possibility of possibility was leaking out,' Stone later explained in his memoir. On 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' Stone had warned: 'Dying young is hard to take/selling out is harder.' Late in 1971, he released 'There's a Riot Going On,' one of the grimmest, most uncompromising records ever to top the album charts. The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective ('Family Affair'), fearful ('Runnin' Away') and despairing: 'Time, they say, is the answer — but I don't believe it,' Sly sings on 'Time.' The fast, funky pace of the original 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' was slowed, stretched and retitled 'Thank You For Talkin' to Me, Africa.' The running time of the title track was 0:00. 'It is Muzak with its finger on the trigger,' critic Greil Marcus called the album. 'Riot' highlighted an extraordinary run of blunt, hard-hitting records by Black artists, from the Stevie Wonder single 'Superstition' to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album, to which 'Riot' was an unofficial response. But Stone seemed to back away from the nightmare he had related. He was reluctant to perform material from 'Riot' in concert and softened the mood on the acclaimed 1973 album 'Fresh,' which did feature a cover of 'Que Sera Sera,' the wistful Doris Day song reworked into a rueful testament to fate's upper hand. By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records with such unmet promises as 'Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back' and 'Back On the Right Track.' Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honored in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early '80s, 'I'm Back! Family & Friends,' much of it updated recordings of his old hits. He would allege he had hundreds of unreleased songs and did collaborate on occasion with Clinton, who would recall how Stone 'could just be sitting there doing nothing and then open his eyes and shock you with a lyric so brilliant that it was obvious no one had ever thought of it before.' Sly Stone had three children, including a daughter with Cynthia Robinson, and was married once — briefly and very publicly. In 1974, he and actor Kathy Silva wed on stage at Madison Square Garden, an event that inspired an 11,000-word story in The New Yorker. Sly and Silva soon divorced. A born musician, a born uniter He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became 'Sly' by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name 'Slyvester.' He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn't respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts. Through his radio connections, he produced some of the top San Francisco bands, including the Great Society, Grace Slick's group before she joined the Jefferson Airplane. Along with an early mentor and champion, San Francisco deejay Tom 'Big Daddy' Donahue, he worked on rhythm and blues hits (Bobby Freeman's 'C'mon and Swim') and the Beau Brummels' Beatle-esque 'Laugh, Laugh.' Meanwhile, he was putting together his own group, recruiting family members and local musicians and settling on the name Sly and the Family Stone. 'A Whole New Thing' came out in 1967, soon followed by the single 'Dance to the Music,' in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a 'brand new beat.' In December 1968, the group appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and performed a medley that included 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People.' Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song 'Are You Ready': "Don't hate the Black, don't hate the white, if you get bitten, just hate the bite.'

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