Sly Stone, maestro of multifaceted, hitmaking band, dies at 82
JOSH HANER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sly Stone performs at the Coachella Valley Music Festival in Indio, Calif., in April 2010. Stone, the influential, eccentric and preternaturally rhythmic singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer whose run of hits in the late 1960s and early ’70s with his band the Family Stone could be dance anthems, political documents or both, has died. He was 82.
Sly Stone, the influential, eccentric and preternaturally rhythmic singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer whose run of hits in the late 1960s and early ’70s with his band the Family Stone could be dance anthems, political documents or both, died today in Los Angeles. He was 82.
The cause was “a prolonged battle with C.O.P.D.,” or lung disease, “and other underlying health issues,” according to a statement from his representatives today.
“Sly was a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator, and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk, and rock music,” the statement said.
As the colorful maestro and mastermind of a multiracial, mixed-gender band, Stone experimented with the R&B, soul and gospel music he was raised on in the San Francisco area, mixing classic ingredients of Black music with progressive funk and the burgeoning freedoms of psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll.
Although he eventually receded from center stage, his vibrant, intricately arranged songs left their mark on a host of top artists, including George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson, Outkast, Red Hot Chili Peppers and D’Angelo, as well as jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. As critic Joel Selvin said, “There was Black music before Sly Stone, and Black music after Sly Stone.”
His musical legacy was fortified and refreshed in recent years, a push led by musician and music historian Questlove, who directed the Academy Award-winning documentary “Summer of Soul,” from 2021, which included a performance by Sly and the Family Stone during a Harlem cultural festival in 1969. That film was followed in 2023 by a memoir by Stone, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” and last year Questlove released a documentary devoted entirely to him, “Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).”
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From 1968 to 1971, Sly and the Family Stone released a defining string of albums — “A Whole New Thing,” “Dance to the Music,” “Life,” “Stand!” and “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” — that were celebratory but also knowing about the fragile state of the world, complicating the Summer of Love’s themes of unity and sounds of euphoria with a street savvy that presaged the end of the party, even as the band played on.
The group stomped, grooved and shouted its way into the national consciousness with a medley of songs now regarded as classics on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1968. Sly and the Family Stone soon dominated the charts and further established itself as an era-defining act with similarly jarring, joyous appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Woodstock festival in 1969.
The band’s most recognizable songs from that era, which would go on to be sampled frequently, included “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Family Affair,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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