Questlove, Clairo, Earthgang, and More Remember Sly Stone: He ‘Was a Giant'
The music industry is mourning Sly Stone. After news broke that the groundbreaking musician had died at 82 on Monday, stars from Questlove and Chuck D to Clairo and Fatboy Slim shared tributes for the star.
Stone's family announced his death in a statement Monday, writing that his death was due to a 'prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues.' The family wrote that he had passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, friends, and 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,' Stone's family wrote.
More from Rolling Stone
Listen to Sly Stone's Memoir on Audiobook, Which Includes Three Never-Before-Heard Songs
Questlove Honors 'Giant' Sly Stone: 'His Music Will Echo Forever'
Billy Jones, Baby's All Right Owner and Key Player in New York Music Scene, Dead at 45
Questlove, who directed two documentaries and wrote a book about Stone, shared a lengthy tribute Monday evening, describing his impact on the industry as something that 'will echo forever.'
'Sly was a giant — not just for his groundbreaking work with the Family Stone, but for the radical inclusivity and deep human truths he poured into every note,' Questlove wrote. 'His songs weren't just about fighting injustice; they were about transforming the self to transform the world. He dared to be simple in the most complex ways — using childlike joy, wordless cries, and nursery rhyme cadences to express adult truths. His work looked straight at the brightest and darkest parts of life and demanded we do the same.'
Following the news, hip-hop trio EarthGang shared an obituary for Stone, writing 'Rest in peace to a heavy influence in our music, Sly Stone,' on X. Clairo posted via her Instagram story, 'This one really hurts. RIP.' Rapper Wynne also wrote simply, 'RIP the legend Sly Stone.'
Public Enemy's Chuck D celebrated Stone and shared his gratitude for Questlove. 'Rest In Beats SLY Stone ..and we should THANK @questlove of @theroots for keeping his FIRE blazing in this Century. 2 documentaries and book,' Chuck wrote.
Civil rights activist and attorney Ben Crump also shared his appreciation for the music visionary. 'Sly didn't just make music — he redefined what a band could sound like. His art helped form a funk movement and his spirit gave rhythm to revolution,' Crump wrote on X.
Fatboy Slim commented on the Instagram post announcing Stone's passing: 'Goodbye Sly Stone, thankyoufalletinusbeourselvesagain.' Mike Scott of The Waterboys also wrote, 'Thank you for all the inspiration, for breaking ground so others could follow and for being sassiest, funkiest Being on planet earth.'
Stone rose to fame with his band, Sly & the Family Stone, which he formed over the course of 1966 and 1967. The band featured Sly and his siblings Rose and Freddie, along with cousins Greg Errico and Jerry Martini, as well as bassist Larry Graham and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson. They had a breakthrough hit with 1968's 'Dance to the Music,' and the iconic group climbed the charts with many more, including 'Life,' 'Stand!,' 'Everyday People,' and 'Hot Fun in the Summertime.'
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
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Sly Stone's 10 essential tracks, from ‘Dance to the Music' to ‘Family Affair'
Few artists left so large an imprint on music history in so short a burst of activity like Sly Stone, who died Monday at 82. At his creative peak as the mastermind of Sly and the Family Stone, the bandleader tie-dyed soul, funk and psychedelic rock into a pattern that was often imitated, never replicated and channeled by genre-hopping acts in every generation since.
Hypebeast
an hour ago
- Hypebeast
率先近賞 Nike Air Max 1000 最新配色「Oatmeal」
Nike話題新作Air Max 1000在去年曝光後，一直受到鞋迷們的熱烈關注，而今回 Instagram 帳戶 @jcheyenne_ 就率先揭曉了此鞋型的新配色「Oatmeal」。 全鞋採用先進的 3D 列印技術製作，鞋面具備無縫、無鞋帶且一體成型的特質，捨棄傳統縫線後呈現出流暢的雕塑感線條。而「Oatmeal」配色是以 Oatmeal/White-Total Orange 色調方案組成，在簡約的中性奶油色上，於中底氣墊加入一抹橙色增添亮點，細節處還能看到鞋面複雜的格柵結構、後跟 air 字樣、Mini Swoosh、Made in Germany 字樣等等。 據悉 Nike Air Max 1000「Oatmeal」將在 2025 年夏季正式登場，售價 $210 美元，有興趣的讀者不妨多加留意。 >Better Gift Shop x Nike Air Max DN8 聯名系列正式登場 >Salehe Bembury 率先公開 Tyrese Haliburton 首款簽名戰靴 PUMA Hali 1
News24
2 hours ago
- News24
Funk-rock pioneer Sly Stone dead at 82
AFP Sly Stone, legendary funk pioneer and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died at 82 after battling chronic health issues. Known for breaking racial barriers, he created genre-defining hits like 'Everyday People' and energised Woodstock. Despite struggles with addiction, Stone's musical legacy influenced icons like Prince, Miles Davis, and OutKast. Funkmaster and iconic music innovator Sly Stone, whose songs drove a civil rights-inflected soul explosion in the 1960s, sparking influential albums but also a slide into drug addiction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 82. Stone was the multi-instrumentalist frontman for Sly and the Family Stone - rock's first racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup. He 'passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend and his extended family,' after a prolonged battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, Stone's family said in a statement. '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,' it added. With his vibrant on-stage energy, killer hooks, and lyrics that often decried prejudice, Stone became a superstar. He released pivotal records that straddled musical genres and performed a memorable set at Woodstock. But he retreated to the shadows in the early 1970s, emerging sporadically for unfulfilling concert tours, erratic TV appearances and a flopped 2006 reunion on the Grammy Awards stage. AFP An effervescent hybrid of psychedelic soul, hippie consciousness, bluesy funk and rock built on Black gospel, Stone's music proved to be a melodic powerhouse that attracted millions during a golden age of exploratory pop - until it fell apart in a spiral of drug use. Over five years, his diverse sound left an indelible impact, from the group's debut 1967 hit Dance to the Music and their first of three number-one songs, Everyday People, a year later, to the 1970s rhythm and blues masterpiece If You Want Me To Stay. For many, Sly was a musical genius creating the sound of the future. It was 'like seeing a Black version of the Beatles,' funk legend George Clinton told CBS News of his longtime friend's stage presence. 'He had the sensibility of the street, the church, and then like the qualities of a Motown,' Clinton added. 'He was all of that in one person.' Huge influence The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted the band in 1993, saying: 'Their songs were more than danceable hits - they were a force for positive change.' But Stone struggled to contain the forces and pressures of fame. He slid into addiction, missed concerts, and his musical output, once bankable, became erratic. The music, though, proved extraordinarily influential, laying the groundwork for Prince, Miles Davis, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and OutKast. By 1973, the band imploded. Asked why by talk show host David Letterman a decade later, the elusive star was cryptic: 'I couldn't make all the gigs, is what happened.' Multiple drug-related arrests followed. By 2011, he was homeless and living in a van. In his 2023 memoir, Stone acknowledged he was lost in a deluge of cocaine and PCP but that he finally went clean in 2019. Drugs gave him 'confidence' and energy, he wrote. But he regretted 'the way I let drugs run my life,' he added. 'I thought I could control them, but then, at some point, they were controlling me.' Family affair Sly Stone was born Sylvester Stewart on 15 March 1943 in Denton, Texas. His parents moved the family to San Francisco's suburbs and built ties with the Church of God in Christ. He was a musical prodigy; by age seven, Stone was proficient at keyboards, and by 11, he played guitar, bass and drums. He sang gospel in church with his sisters and joined high school bands. Stone studied music at California's Solano Community College, worked as a disc jockey and became a songwriter and record producer. He played keyboards for Marvin Gaye. By 1966, Sly and the Family Stone had emerged, with brother Freddie on guitar and vocals, sister Rose on keyboards, and Vaetta on background vocals. White musicians Greg Errico on drums and saxophonist Jerry Martini joined them at a time when such integration was rare. Their first album fell flat. But when influential music executive Clive Davis urged Stone to make a more commercial record, the band stormed up the charts in 1968, with Everyday People reaching number one. 'We got to live together,' Stone belted out. It was a period of tumult in America, with civil rights showdowns, Martin Luther King Jr's assassination and anti-war riots. 'I was scared. At the time, it was almost too much all at once,' Stone, who was survived by a son and two daughters, once told an interviewer. In 1969, Stone and his band released the album 'Stand!' It was a commercial triumph, including the summer smash of the same name, which became a touchstone for Black empowerment. That year, they played a frenetic post-midnight set before half a million people at Woodstock. More than a generation later, the 2025 documentary SLY LIVES: AKA, the Burden of Black Genius shed light on one of soul music's groundbreaking figures. 'Sly opened the floodgates for all musicians of colour,' music producer Terry Lewis said in the film, 'to just do whatever they felt like.'
