NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Sly Stone, the whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and 鈥�70s and beyond with such hits as 鈥淓veryday People,鈥� 鈥淪tand!鈥� and 鈥淔amily Affair,鈥� died Monday at age 82.
Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Stone died in Los Angeles 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 鈥� 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.
Stone鈥檚 group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly鈥檚 brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album 鈥淎 Whole New Thing鈥� and earned the title with their breakthrough single, 鈥淒ance to the Music.鈥� 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. 鈥淓veryday People,鈥� 鈥淚 Wanna Take You Higher鈥� and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 鈥渄ifferent strokes for different folks.鈥� The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: 鈥淪tand!鈥�, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a Riot Goin鈥� On鈥� and 鈥淕reatest Hits.鈥�
Sly鈥檚 influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black-Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after influenced by Sly, and countless rap artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots.
A dream dies, a career burns away
By the early 鈥�70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behavior.
On 鈥淭hank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),鈥� Stone had warned: 鈥淒ying young is hard to take/selling out is harder.鈥� Late in 1971, he released 鈥淭here鈥檚 a Riot Going On,鈥� one of the grimmest, most uncompromising records ever to top the album charts. The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective (鈥淔amily Affair鈥�), fearful (鈥淩unnin鈥� Away鈥�) and despairing: 鈥淭ime, they say, is the answer 鈥� but I don鈥檛 believe it,鈥� Sly sings on 鈥淭ime.鈥� The fast, funky pace of the original 鈥淭hank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)鈥� was slowed, stretched and retitled 鈥淭hank You For Talkin鈥� to Me, Africa.鈥�
By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records with such unmet promises as 鈥淗eard You Missed Me, Well I鈥檓 Back鈥� and 鈥淏ack On the Right Track.鈥� Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and , but Sly released just one album after the early 鈥�80s, 鈥淚鈥檓 Back! Family & Friends,鈥� much of it updated recordings of his old hits.
A born musician, a born uniter
He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became 鈥淪ly鈥� by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name 鈥淪lyvester.鈥�
He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn鈥檛 respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts.
鈥淎 Whole New Thing鈥� came out in 1967, soon followed by the single 鈥淒ance to the Music,鈥� in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a 鈥渂rand new beat.鈥� In December 1968, the group appeared on 鈥淭he Ed Sullivan Show鈥� and performed a medley that included 鈥淒ance to the Music鈥� and 鈥淓veryday People.鈥� Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song 鈥淎re You Ready鈥�:
鈥淒on鈥檛 hate the Black,
don鈥檛 hate the white,
if you get bitten,
just hate the bite.鈥�
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
