Musician Sly Stone From Funk Band Sly Stone And The Family Stone Passes Away At 82

Music

Jun 12

Sly Stone, the front man for the group Sly and the Family Stone, passed away on June 9th at the age of 82. The musician passed after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments.

Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, on March 15, 1943, he was the second of K.C. and Alpha Stewart's five children. The family soon moved to Vallejo in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. He and his siblings were encouraged to be musical as part of the doctrines of the Church of God in Christ, the denomination of Christianity the family was raised in. Sylvester, his brother Freddie, and their sisters Rose and Loretta performed as “the Stewart Four,” singing gospel music in church. They recorded one 78 rpm single, “On the Battlefield” b/w “Walking in Jesus’ Name” in 1956. He and his siblings would later take up the surname Stone, and they would all pursue musical careers except for Loretta.

Sylvester was a musical prodigy, becoming proficient on keyboards by the age of seven and mastering the guitar, bass, and drums by age 11. He settled primarily on the guitar by high school and joined several bands, including the Viscaynes, which was notable for being an integrated group, inspiring Sylvester's idea of the multicultural Family Stone. Sylvester's nickname, Sly, came from a misspelling of his name as “Slyvester” and it stuck from there. He studied music at Solano Community College.

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Sly worked as a disk jockey for KSOL in the mid-60s, where he would play records by many popular artists, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Stone was also a DJ for KSOL-AM and was influential in guiding the station toward soul music. During this time, he played keyboards for a variety of performers, including Dionne Warwick, The Righteous Brothers, Marvin Gaye, and Chubby Checker. He formed the band, Sly and the Family Stone, in 1966. It was a combination of Sly's band, Sly and the Stoners, and his brother Freddie's band, Freddie and the Stone Souls. They had their first success with their album A Whole New Thing and their hit single “Dance to the Music.” Sly and the Family Stone had success throughout the rest of the 60s and early 70s. The band remained active until 1983, with Sly himself releasing music sporadically. Unfortunately, like many of his contemporaries, his life was marred by drugs and legal issues.

Sly Stone had a tremendous influence on popular music, especially black artists such as The Jackson Five, The Temptations, Prince, and George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic. Roots drummer Questlove released a documentary on the artist in 2025 titled Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) and wrote the foreword for Stone's memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), which was named after one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove's imprint in 2023.

“He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,” Questlove wrote, “He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.”

Sly Stone passed away surrounded by his family. He is survived by his ex-wife, Kathy Silva, and his children Sylvester Jr, Sylvette (Phunne), and Novena Carmel.

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