Sylvester Stewart, known by his stage name Sly Stone, has died of COPD and "other underlying health issues" at age 82 in Los Angeles. He was in the company of members of his family.
Sylvester Stewart was born in Denton, Texas, the second of five children born to K.C. and Alpha Stewart, who moved the family to Vallejo, California. He and his brother Freddie and their sisters Loretta and Rose would perform gospel music in church and were known as "the Stewart Four". Unlike the rest, Loretta did not pursue a musical career. Their youngest sister Vaetta, known as "Vet", would later become a backing vocalist. During his teenage years, Sylvester joined a mostly white doo-wop singing group, whose only other non-white member was Filipino. His nickname Sly came about because a classmate misspelled his first name as "Slyvester".
In 1966, Sly and Freddie founded the band Sly and the Family Stone, with Sly on organ, guitar, harmonica and vocals; Freddie on guitar and vocals; Jerry Martini on sax; Cynthia Robinson on trumpet; Larry Graham on bass and vocals; and Gregg Errico on drums. Vaetta Stewart, along with her friends Mary McCreary and Elva Mouton, became a backing vocal group called Little Sister. In 1968, Rose Stewart joined the Family Stone on piano, electric piano and vocals. The four Stewart siblings all used the surname Stone in their respective stage names. The band would eventually go through many lineup changes, with Robinson and the three Stone siblings remaining throughout. Among their hit songs were Dance to the Music, Everyday People, Stand!, Hot Fun in the Summer Time, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again), I Want to Take You Higher, and Family Affair. Sly and the Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1993.
Like many musicians of his time, Sly and his bandmates became users of illegal drugs. Live bookings for the band became less frequent because promoters were worried that one of the members might refuse to play or pass out from drug use. Sly eventually recorded some solo albums and occasionally colaborated with other artists.
Sly Stone was married once and had three children. His son Sylvester Stewart Jr. was born to his girlfriend Kathy Silva, whom he soon afterwards married. His first daughter Sylvyette was born to his bandmate Cynthia Robinson. His second daughter is Novena Carmel.
I must include a small sampling of Sly's music. Here's an animated video of Everyday People.
The lead vocal bounces around between several singers in I Want to Take You Higher, which features Sly on the harmonica.
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