(CNN) — Sly Stone, the influential however enigmatic funk-rock star whose soulful, socially acutely aware recordings altered the course of common music earlier than he abruptly retreated from the highlight and have become the J.D. Salinger of rock, has died, his household introduced Monday.
He was 82.
“It’s with profound disappointment that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Household Stone,” based on a press release from his household. “After a protracted battle with COPD and different underlying well being points, Sly handed away peacefully, surrounded by his three kids, his closest good friend, and his prolonged household. Whereas we mourn his absence, we take solace in realizing that his extraordinary musical legacy will proceed to resonate and encourage for generations to come back.”
“Sly was a monumental determine, a groundbreaking innovator, and a real pioneer who redefined the panorama of pop, funk, and rock music,” their assertion continued. “His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world, and his affect stays simple. In a testomony to his enduring artistic spirit, Sly not too long ago accomplished the screenplay for his life story, a venture we’re desirous to share with the world sooner or later, which follows a memoir printed in 2024.”
Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, the second of 5 kids his household was affiliated with the Church Of God In Christ (COGIC) and continued their involvement with the denomination following the household’s transfer to Vallejo, California.
He was eight years outdated when he and three of his siblings recorded a gospel single beneath the group title Stewart 4.
“A musical prodigy, he turned often known as Sly in early grade faculty, the results of a good friend misspelling ‘Sylvester.’ He was adept at keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums by age eleven, and went on to carry out in a number of highschool bands,” based on his web site. “Certainly one of these teams, the Viscaynes, boasted an built-in lineup, a indisputable fact that didn’t go unnoticed within the late Nineteen Fifties. The group lower a number of singles, and Sly additionally launched a number of singles as properly throughout that interval, working together with his youthful brother Freddie.”
Whereas a scholar at Vallejo Junior Faculty, he discovered composition and idea in addition to play the trumpet. He turned a well-liked disc jockey at R&B radio station KSOL.
His “eclectic musical tastes” helped to make his present a success because the younger DJ was “an early proponent of together with R&B-flavored white artists” the likes of the Beatles, the Animals, and the Rolling Stones. He later took his DJ abilities to KDIA, a gig he continued proper as much as the beginning of his now legenday band Sly and the Household Stone in 1967.
In line with his website, “Sly and the Household Stone upset the Las Vegas establishment after they have been booked right into a three-month, six-nights-a-week gig on the Pussycat a’ Go Go, an engagement that was attended by everybody from James Brown to Bobby Darin.”
They group would use their Mondays off to fly to Los Angeles to document their debut album, “A Complete New Factor.” It included their first hit single, “Dance to the Music,” which might additionally turn out to be a single on their sophomore album.
Whereas the band loved early success, Stone finally fell on onerous monetary instances and would later be suffering from well being points and even homelessness.
Praised as a musical genuis, he additionally turned recognized for being reclusive.
Earlier than he vanished, Stone was a potent artistic power within the late Nineteen Sixties and early Nineteen Seventies — a singer, songwriter, bandleader and producer. His group’s different hits embrace “Scorching Enjoyable within the Summertime,” “Thank You [Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin],” and “Household Affair.”
Sly and the Household Stone’s efficiency on the Harlem Cultural Competition in 1969 was memorialized within the Oscar-winning documentary “Summer season of Soul,” directed by musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.
Thompson had additionally been engaged on a movie about Stone, who in 2023 printed a memoir.
In it he laid naked a few of his demons together with substance abuse and different darkish durations of his life that didn’t painting Stone in the very best mild.
“And as a part of rock’s first wave of superstars, Sly indulged in nearly each extra till they almost destroyed him,” Selection’s Jem Aswad wrote in her overview of the biography. “Whereas mates like Muhammad Ali, Doris Day and George Clinton make cameos throughout these years, the accounts of the excesses of his too-high years (included in Joel Selvin’s 1997 Sly-less oral historical past of the band and a number of articles and documentaries) are full of accounts of weapons, aggressive bodyguards and much more aggressive assault canine — one in all which, named Gun, Sly himself killed after it badly mauled his son. He calls the canine the very best good friend he ever had.”
Sly and the Household Stone have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 1993.
Within the assertion from his household launched Monday they thanked Stone’s followers “from the underside of our hearts on your unwavering help.”
“We lengthen our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of affection and prayers throughout this troublesome time,” they wrote. “We want peace and concord to all who have been touched by Sly’s life and his iconic music.”
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