who was sly stone: a thread by keith!

sly stone, born as sylvester stewart, is considered one of the most influential people in the soul, funk, rock, and psychedelia scene in the 60s and 70s.

ps: this thread mainly focuses on sly himself but if you guys want i can also make a thread on the band sly and the family stone and their success!

sly was born on march 15, 1943 in denton, texas. he was raised in california and from a young age he sang gospel music with his siblings who later became his band mates freddie and rose stone

his eldest sister loretta was the only child of the family to not pursue music and later become a member of sly and the family stone. as a child sly easily picked up instruments and by the age of 11 was able to play keyboard, guitar, bass and drums.

he picked up the nickname sly short for sylvester in highschool after someone had misspelled his name. in the year 1966 sly formed sly and the family stone. This band, unlike the others at the time was they were some of the first racially integrated groups.

the family band soon moved to the los angeles area sometime in 1969.. this is where sly began to develop substance abuse issues. he began to use drugs such as PCP and cocaine.
(pictured below is sly and the family stone sometime in 1969)

as the band began to gain traction in the early 70s and gain immense popularity sly’s mental and physical state began to deteriorate. along with this the bands ability to work together became harder and harder.

after losing two members, errico having left the band and larry graham being fired due to not being on good terms with sly, they were replaced by rustee allen and andy newmark. the bands performance began to drop as sly’s drug use intensified.

many people chose not to book the band in fear sly would miss the gig or pass out from drug use. after the band disbanded sly went on to record things under his name and others under the band name. none reached the same success as previous albums and singles.

sometime in the 80s sly was arrested on drug charges. those who knew sly said he never grew out of his drug use and it led to his downfall and the breaking up of the band. the last time he appeared publicly until 2006 was the 1993 rock and roll hall of fame induction of the band.

due to fraudulent mangers and poor control of his financial situation sly sued his former manager jerry goldstein for $50 million dollars. Sly won the case and was to be awarded $5 million dollars but due to previously assigning royalties-

to a production company he was unable to collect the money.

on september 25 2011 it was confirmed sly is homeless and still currently is. he was or is living out a white camper in los angeles. he does have a source of food and a place to shower.

here is a 2018 article discussing a documentary of sly and the family stone- the first to have sly participe in. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8265895/sly-stone-documentary

to summarize; sly was a huge potential but had his life ruined by drugs and it was a truly sad thing to hear when i was first learning of him. i am incredibly grateful for the music he made and there is no denying he’s left an impact on music forever.