Sly Stone, the funk music pioneer and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, has died at the age of 82, his manager, Arlene Hirschkowitz, confirmed to CBS News.
Stone died peacefully after a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, his family said in a statement.
“While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come,” his family’s statement read in part. “Sly was a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator, and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk, and rock music. His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world, and his influence remains undeniable.”
Stone had recently completed a screenplay for his life story, according to his family.
Despite keeping his personal life mostly out of the public eye, Stone became one of the most influential musicians of the late 1960s and 70s with hits like “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime.”
Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
In 2023, the music legend let fans get a rare look into his world by releasing a memoir titled “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” — also the title of one of his greatest hits. The book, co-written with music journalist Ben Greenman, detailed his revolutionary music style and also the addictions which took him out of the spotlight.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the musician and filmmaker who founded the company that published Stone’s memoir, said in an interview with CBS News in 2023 that Stone “knew which buttons to push to not only make his musicians better, but also how we would receive it.”
Thompson also praised Stone for uplifting women and taking them seriously as musicians, which was uncommon in the music business at the time.
“Knowing that we’d never seen a band before in which, you know, the women just aren’t background, singing foils that play the tambourine. Like, Cynthia Robinson could destroy anybody playing trumpet,” Thompson said.
Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, Stone’s family moved to Vallejo, California, when he was young — and music was always with him.
“My father played washboard, guitar, violin, fiddle, harmonica. My mother played keyboards and guitar. Music was as much a part of our home as the walls or the floor,” Stone wrote in his memoir. “The piano was as prominent as the kitchen table.”
He went on to study music composition at a junior college while working as a radio DJ.
Sly and the Family Stone was formed in March 1967, and the band quickly made its way up the charts in the winter of 1968 with “Dance To the Music,” which was later chosen for the Grammy Hall Of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock.” Every composition of the band was penned by Stone.
“It was like seeing the Black version of The Beatles. He had the sensibility of the street, the church, and then, like, the qualities of a Motown, you know, Smokey Robinson — he was all of that in one person,” funk legend and longtime friend George Clinton told “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2023.
Stone is survived by his three children.
