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India Today
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
Sly Stone, groundbreaking musician behind ‘Family Affair,' dies in Los Angeles
Sly Stone, frontman of Sly and the Family Stone and one of the most dominant figures in contemporary music, died on Monday at the age of 82. The trailblazer was celebrated for blending funk, soul, rock, and psychedelia, revolutionizing the sound of the 1960s and '70s with genre-defining songs such as Everyday People, Family Affair, and Stand!.His publicist, Carleen Donovan, confirmed that Stone had died in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family, after a long illness involving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other Diverse Band for a Divided Era Formed in the late 1960s, Sly and the Family Stone was groundbreaking not only musically but also socially — the first major band to feature Black and white men and women together. With energetic horns, infectious grooves, and inclusive messages, their music reflected both the optimism and turmoil of the anthems such as I Want To Take You Higher to introspective ballads like Family Affair, the group spoke for a generation amid cultural upheaval. Their 1969 Woodstock performance remains one of the most enduring images of the his reign being relatively short-lived, Stone's influence was long-lasting. Artists such as Prince, George Clinton, the Jackson 5, and many hip-hop producers cited him as a major inspiration. Even Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock acknowledged his trailblazing published his memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) in 2023, with a foreword by Questlove, who also directed the 2025 documentary Sly Lives! honoring Stone's genius and complicated the 1970s, personal and professional pressures began to take a toll. Stone became increasingly erratic and struggled with drug addiction. Although the band's later records like There's a Riot Goin' On gained critical acclaim, the magic eventually faded. Stone made few appearances in the decades that followed, releasing just one new album after the early ' Sylvester Stewart in Texas and raised in California, Stone was a prodigy from a young age. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ, he was driven by a belief in unity through music. His life was as complex as his sound — full of brilliance, contradictions, and lasting Stone leaves behind three children and a legacy that forever changed the landscape of American music.(With inputs from AP)
UPI
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Sly Stone, of '60s funk band Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
1 of 4 | Sly Stone, frontman of the group Sly and the Family Stone, performs in concert at Olympia Hall in Paris on July 23, 2007. Stone, who had been a recluse since the mid-1980s, died Monday at the age of 82 after a "prolonged battle" with lung disease. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo June 9 (UPI) -- Sly Stone, the legendary Sixties and Seventies funk singer, songwriter and producer of the band, Sly and the Family Stone, died Monday at the age of 82. Stone, whose hits included "Dance to the Music," "Everyday People" and "Thank You," had been fighting a "prolonged battle" with lung disease and other health issues when he died, according to his family. "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone," his family wrote Monday in a statement. "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." Stone was born Sylvester Stewart in Texas in 1943 and released his first single, "On the Battlefield," with his two sisters and brother, in 1952. A friend's misspelling of his name during grade school stuck, and he became known as "Sly." Stone later found success in California as a disc jockey on KSOL and KDIA, where he "found out about a lot of things I don't like. Like, I think there shouldn't be 'Black radio.' Just radio. Everybody be a part of everything," he said. The musician also worked as a record producer for Autumn Records, where he produced San Francisco-area bands. One of his singles, Bobby Freeman's "C'mon and Swim," reached No. 5 on the U.S. pop chart in 1964, while "Somebody to Love" by Grace Slick's band the Great Society, before Jefferson Airplane, was also a hit. Sly and the Family Stone was formed in 1966 after he, his sister Rose, brother Freddie and two cousins joined forces, along with other Black and White musicians, to make up one of the first racially mixed bands. Stone was also among the first musicians to do both vocals and play instruments, as can be heard in the funk-infused 1969 hit "Thank You," where he recounted his life's successes and addictions. Stone later called the band's early morning performance of "I Want to Take You Higher" and the crowd's reaction at 1969 Woodstock "legendary," in his 2023 memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). "The call, the response. It felt like church. The horns went up into the sky. When the show was over, we were wet and cold. I don't remember how I left, maybe the same way I came in, but I wasn't there to see Jimi Hendrix close the festival," Stone wrote. Other hits, including "Family Affair" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime" followed as the music turned darker to acknowledge the turbulent times of the 1960s and '70s, which included the Vietnam War, racial tensions and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. A new documentary produced by Questlove, called Sly Lives! (Aka The Burden of Black Genius), focuses on Stone's music and torment. "I think that's kind of his like, help the medicine go down approach," Questlove told Rolling Stone in March. "He paints a very dark, lyric, paranoia, self-confessional thing almost in every record, but it's so happy-sounding." Sly and the Family Stone broke apart over Stone's drug abuse, including his arrest in 1981 when cocaine and freebasing paraphernalia were found in his car. The singer-songwriter went into seclusion after the band called it quits. By 2011, the funk music icon was homeless and living out of a van in Los Angeles, when he was again arrested for cocaine possession and insisted he "was ok." In 2015, he was awarded $5 million in a lawsuit against a former manager and attorney who were diverting his royalties. Two years later, he received a lifetime achievement award at The Grammys. "Sly was a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk and rock music," his family said. "His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world and his influence remains undeniable." Notable deaths of 2025 Jill Sobule Jill Sobule attends the GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 30, 2023. Sobule, the Jill Sobule attends the GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 30, 2023. Sobule, the singer-songwriter behind "I Kissed a Girl," "Living Color" and "Supermodel," died at the age of 66 on May 2 from a house fire. Photo by Greg Grudt/UPI | License Photo
Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Sly Stone, funk revolutionary and soul icon, dies at 82
WASHINGTON, June 10 — Funk master and innovator Sly Stone, whose music 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. The multi-instrumentalist frontman for Sly and the Family Stone — rock's first racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup — '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, his 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, releasing pivotal records that straddled musical genres and performing a set that enraptured the crowd at Woodstock. But he retreated to the shadows in the early 1970s and his personal struggles ultimately led to the group's disintegration. He emerged sporadically for unfulfilling concert tours, erratic TV appearances and a flopped 2006 reunion on the Grammy Awards stage. 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 the course of just five years, his diverse sound cooperative left an indelible impact on American and world music, from the group's debut hit Dance to the Music in 1967 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.' — AFP
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
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 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).'
France 24
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- France 24
Funk icon Sly Stone, leader of Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
Sly Stone, the driving force behind Sly and the Family Stone, a multiracial American band whose boiling mix of rock, soul and psychedelia embodied 1960s idealism and helped popularize funk music, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Monday. Stone died after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, a statement from his family said. "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 said. Stone was perhaps best known for his performance in 1969 at the historic Woodstock music festival, the hippie culture's coming-out party. His group was a regular on the US music charts in the late 1960s and 1970s, with hits such as "Dance to the Music," "I Want to Take You Higher," "Family Affair," "Everyday People," "If You Want Me to Stay," and "Hot Fun in the Summertime." But he later fell on hard times and became addicted to cocaine, never staging a successful comeback. The confident and mercurial Stone played a leading role in introducing funk, an Afrocentric style of music driven by grooves and syncopated rhythms, to a broader audience. James Brown had forged the elements of funk before Stone founded his band in 1966, but Stone's brand of funk drew new listeners. It was celebratory, eclectic, psychedelic and rooted in the counterculture of the late 1960s. "They had the clarity of Motown but the volume of Jimi Hendrix or The Who," Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton, a contemporary of Stone and another pioneering figure in funk, once wrote. When Sly and the Family Stone performed, it felt like the band was "speaking to you personally," Clinton said. Stone made his California -based band, which included his brother Freddie and sister Rose, a symbol of integration. It included Black and white musicians, while women, including the late trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, had prominent roles. That was rare in a music industry often segregated along racial and gender lines. Stone, with his orb-like Afro hairstyle and wardrobe of vests, fringes and skin-tight leather, lived the life of a superstar. At the same time, he allowed bandmates to shine by fostering a collaborative, free-flowing approach that epitomized the 1960s hippie ethic. "I wanted to be able for everyone to get a chance to sweat," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. Disc Jockey to Singer Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, he moved as a child with his family to Northern California, where his father ran a janitorial business. He took the show business name Sly Stone and worked for a time as a radio disc jockey and a record producer for a small label before forming the band. The band's breakthrough came in 1968, when the title track to their second album, "Dance to the Music," cracked the Top 10. A year later, Sly and the Family Stone performed at Woodstock before dawn. Stone woke up a crowd of 400,000 people at the music festival, leading them in call-and-response style singing. Stone's music became less joyous after the idealistic 1960s, reflecting the polarization of the country after opposition to the Vietnam War and racial tensions triggered unrest on college campuses and in African American neighborhoods in big US cities. In 1971, Sly and the Family Stone released "There's a Riot Goin' On," which became the band's only No. 1 album. Critics said the album's bleak tone and slurred vocals denoted the increasing hold of cocaine on Stone. But some called the record a masterpiece, a eulogy to the 1960s. In the early 1970s, Stone became erratic and missed shows. Some members left the band. But the singer was still a big enough star in 1974 to attract a crowd of 21,000 for his wedding to actress and model Kathy Silva at Madison Square Garden in New York. Silva filed for divorce less than a year later. Sly and the Family Stone's album releases in the late 1970s and early 1980s flopped, as Stone racked up drug possession arrests. But the music helped shape disco and, years later, hip-hop artists kept the band's legacy alive by frequently sampling its musical hooks. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and Stone was celebrated in an all-star tribute at the Grammy Awards in 2006. He sauntered on stage with a blond Mohawk but bewildered the audience by leaving mid-song. In 2011, after launching what would become a years-long legal battle to claim royalties he said were stolen, Stone was arrested for cocaine possession. That year, media reported Stone was living in a recreational vehicle parked on a street in South Los Angeles. Stone had a son, Sylvester, with Silva. He had two daughters, Novena Carmel, and Sylvette "Phunne" Stone, whose mother was bandmate Cynthia Robinson.
