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Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart in Dallas, Texas on March 15, 1944) is a pivotal American musician, producer, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which was pivotal in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Early Career
Sly was the second of five children. After the family moved from Dallas, Texas to Vallejo, California (near San Francisco), he and his brother Freddie and their sisters Rose and Vaetta formed "The Stewart Four" as childen, performing gospel music in the Church of God in Christ and even recording a single in 1952. All of the Stewart children except oldest sister Loretta would later adopt the surname "Stone" and become members of Sly & The Family Stone.
During his teenage years, Sly performed in a number of local bands and worked as a dee-jay for San Francisco radio station KSOL. He later became a record producer for Autumn Records, working with such bands in the San Francisco area as The Beau Brummels and The Mojo Men. Adopting the stage name "Sly Stone," he then formed "The Stoners" in 1966 which included Cynthia Robinson on trumpet. Robinson went on to join Sly & the Family Stone as well, when it was formed in 1967. Freddie Stone (guitar and vocals), Larry Graham (bass guitar and vocals), Greg Errico (drums), Jerry Martini (saxophone) and Rosie Stone (piano and vocals) were also in the original line-up. On backup vocals were Little Sister: Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, and Elva Mouton. Sly himself played guitar, piano, and harmonica, among other instruments, for the band's records and performances. Their debut single as Sly & the Family Stone was "I Ain't Got Nobody", a major regional hit for Loadstone Records.
Sly & the Family Stone's early success
The Loadstone single attracted the attention of Epic Records, who got Sly & The Family Stone to sign to their label. After a mildly recieved debut album, A Whole New Thing (1967), Sly & The Family Stone had their first hit album and single in Dance To The Music (1968) and its title track. Although their third album, Life (also 1968), also suffered from low sales, their fourth album, Stand (1969), became a runaway success, selling over three million copies and spawning a number one hit single, "Everyday People." By the summer of 1969, Sly & The Family Stone were one of the biggest names in music, releasing two more top five singles, "Hot Fun In The Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", before the end of the year, and appearing at Woodstock.
Personal problems and decline
In the fall of 1969, Sly moved from San Fransisco to Los Angeles. Not long after the move, he found himself crushed under stress from a number of angles: record executives wanting more product, the Black Panther party and other Black activist groups who wanted Sly's music to become more militant and reflective of the black power movement (and also the removal of Caucasians Errico and Martini from the band), and also inter-personal conflicts within the band. He developed ulcer problems because of the stress, and began turning to a variety of drugs, primarily cocaine and PCP, for relief.
Sly's drug abuse soon began to affect his career: he became notorious for missing interviews and concerts, his demeanor became erratic and unpredictable, and the band's fifth album, There's a Riot Goin' On (1971), captured all of it on wax. Most of Riot was recorded with overdubbing as opposed to The Family Stone all playing at the same time; in fact, Sly played most of the parts himself and performed more of the lead vocals than ususal.
The band slowly began to erode, and its sales and popularity began to decline as well. Greg Errico withdrew from the group in 1971 and was eventually replaced with Andy Newmark. Larry Graham and Sly were no longer on friendly terms, and Graham was fired in early 1972 and replaced with Rusty Allen. The band's later releases, Fresh (1973) and Small Talk (1974), featured even less of the band and more of Sly. The band's shaky reputation for showing up at concerts caused promoters to avoid booking them, and after a disasterous engagement at the Radio City Music Hall in January 1975, The Family Stone broke apart completely.
Sly recorded two more albums for Epic: High On You (1975) and Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back (1976). High On You was billed as a Sly Stone solo album; Heard You Missed Me was a Sly & The Family Stone album only in name. While Sly continued to collaborate with some of the Family Stone members from time to time, the actual band no longer existed. Sly would play most of the instruments on record either himself, although he maintained a band to support him for live shows. Among his main collaborators during this period were trumpet player Cynthia Robinson and saxaphonist Pat Rizzo from the Family Stone, and background vocalists Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva, who parted company with Sly in 1976 and formed the Brides Of Funkenstein in 1978. Epic dropped him in 1977 and released 10 Years Too Soon, a remix album of his earlier hits converted into disco tunes, in 1979 to complete the contract.
Later period
Sly switched over to Warner Bros. Records and recorded Back On The Right Track (1979), but was still unable to return to the heights of his late-60s/early 70s fame. He toured with George Clinton and Funkadelic during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and also appeard on the 1981 Funkadelic album The Electric Spanking of War Babies. The same year, Clinton and Sly began work on a new Sly Stone album, but recording halted when Clinton and Funkadelic disputed with and left Warners in late-1981. When Sly dissapeared into self-seclusion, producer Stewart Levine completed the album, which was released as Ain't But The One Way in 1983. The album was underwhelming both critically and commercially.
Bobby Womack, who had worked with Sly in the early 1970s, arranged for Sly to enter a drug rehabilitation program in 1984, but Sly was never able to fully overcome his addictions. He made sporadic appearances on other artists' records and released a unsuccessful single called "Eek-a-Bo-Static" in 1987, but was arrested and jailed for cocaine use and possesion by the end of the year.
After his release, Sly went into semi-retirement and became a recluse. His last major public appearance was at the 1993 ceremony where he and The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2003, the other six members of the original Family Stone entered the studio to record a new album. Sly was invited to participate, but decined.
A Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, to be called Sly 2K, is in the works and due for release in 2005. The project will feature contributions from Beck, The Roots, Lenny Kravitz, Maroon 5, and Floetry, among others, and is to include both cover versions of the band's songs and songs which sample the original recordings. One song from the collection, The Roots' "Star," has already been released as a single.
Personal
Sly was married to Kathleen Silva for five months in 1974. They were wed onstage during a Sly & The Family Stone concert at Madison Square Garden, and both appear on the cover of Small Talk with their son, Sylvester Bubba Ali Stewart. He also has a daughter with Family Stone member Cynthia Robinson named Sylevette Phunne Robinson.
Discography
For material prior to 1975, see Sly & The Family Stone. Although the releases after 1975 are credited to "Sly & The Family Stone," the group had disbanded in 1975 and Sly was working as a solo artist with various collaborators.
Albums
- 1975: High On You, Epic (credited only to "Sly Stone")
- 1976: Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back, Epic
- 1979: Back On The Right Track, Warner Bros.
- 1983: Ain't But The One Way, Warner Bros.
Singles
- 1975: "I Get High On You" (US #52, US R&B #3)
- 1975: "That's Lovin' You"
- 1975: "Le Lo Li" (US R&B #75)
- 1975: "Who Do You Love"
- 1976: "Crossword Puzzle"
- 1976: "Greed"
- 1977: "Family Again" (US R&B #85)
- 1976: "Nothing Less Than Happiness"
- 1979: "Remember Who You Are" (US R&B #38)
- 1979 "Sheer Energy"
- 1980: "Same Thing"
- 1980: "Who's To Say"
- 1987: "Eek-a-Bo-Static"
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