Sly Stone is dead.
Sylvester Stewart was 82 years old, which is amazing considering his life for the last 50 or so years. Reports say COPD and lung disease were the causes.
But Sly’s drug was legendary, and his decent into a kind of madness was the result.
Sly was a genius whose work influenced dozens of stars, most especially Prince. The greatest hits collection of Sly & the Family Stone is unshakable, whether it’s “I Want to Take You Higher.” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “Family Affair,” “Thank You Falettin Me Be Micelf Again.” We listen to these records now only to marvel at them.
Who can forget Sly turning Doris Day’s cheerful “Que Sera Sera” into his own threatening anthem?
Listen to Sly Stone’s 2011 album here
By the mid 70’s Sly’s life was a mushrooming disaster. Aside from the drugs, he’d lost the rights to his music.The villain of the piece was Jerry Goldstein, the man who also wreaked havoc on the group WAR. Sly spent years fighting Goldstein. It was a ruinous uphill battle. Even after he won, Sly was so destroyed mentally he continued to live in an RV in front of his house in San Francisco. He couldn’t bring himself to go inside.
Late to the game I was lucky to see Sly perform at BB King’s in New York. He was a mess, but he did it. Goldstein was still preying on him. This was after he appeared on the 2006 Grammy Awards, and I met him backstage. We even had a our picture taken together, and a for a short time we were in touch.
I’d by then written a lot about Sly’s financial distress, and he knew it.
You can read some of it below. Let’s hope Sly rests in peace now.
Here’s what I wrote in 2006 after the Grammys:
All I can tell you is I met Sly Stone last night and Kevin Mazur took the picture. There is evidence. He mumbled something and gave me his home number. He is not Everyday People.
Before he went onstage, Sly was walking around for a few minutes backstage dressed as you saw him. No one recognized him. He didn’t come to rehearsals with an evident mohawk. Maybe that’s why he wore a hood.
Anyway, when he appeared on stage, you could see Steven Tyler’s eyes bulge. He didn’t know what to expect. In the holding area, watching on a monitor, Sting said, “You didn’t tell me about this.” His manager replied, “Who knew?” Indeed. Others waiting to go on just shook their heads.
Credit Tyler with trying to make the whole calamity work: he shouted out, “Let’s do it like we did in the old days, Sly.” And Tyler’s singing was outrageously cool. He hit a long falsetto note that should be put in the Smithsonian. Everyone else on stage was simply flummoxed, which accounted for the weird ending of the segment.
Sly walked right off stage and kept walking. He walked right out of the building. He did not stop. He got into a golf cart, and tried to advance. Bless his heart, Joe Perry ran after him to say goodbye and got close, maybe even shook his hand. A publicist told us, “Don’t even say his name.” It had not been an easy evening. I got the picture and the number. Dr. John, nearby, got a chuckle. We were all in the right place, at the wrong time.
Kids, do not do drugs. That’s all I can say.
