Latest news with #FunkMusic
CBC
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Remembering legendary musician and bandleader Sly Stone
Musician Sly Stone, of the iconic band Sly and the Family Stone, has died at the age of 82. He left an indelible mark on the music industry, helping to usher in funk music's heyday. He is best remembered not only for the masterful ways in which he blended soul, rock and R&B on chart-topping hits like Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), but also for his showmanship onstage. Today on Commotion, former MuchMusic VJ Michael Williams joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about Sly Stone's enormous legacy. He also helps us pay tribute to the late Juliette Powell, who was the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Canada as well as a VJ at MusiquePlus in Montreal and a fixture of Toronto's music scene. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 15:36):
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sly Stone dead at 82: Funk legend during the 60s passes away as cause of death is revealed
The frontman for American funk legends Sly And The Family Stone has died at 82. Sly Stone's family announced the influential musician's death in a statement released Monday. They revealed that he had a prolonged battle with Chronic Obstructed Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which was complicated by other underlying health issues. The artist's family wrote: 'It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone. 'Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. '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 band Sly And The Family Stone is credited as one of the most influential bands in the development of funk, soul, R&B, rock and psychedelic music. The statement continued: '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.' The family continued by revealing that those who are interested in reading about the life of the music legend can do by reading his memoir released last year. The statement read: 'In a testament to his enduring creative spirit, Sly recently completed the screenplay for his life story, a project we are eager to share with the world in due course, which follows a memoir published in 2024. 'We extend our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of love and prayers during this difficult time. We wish peace and harmony to all who were touched by Sly's life and his iconic music. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unwavering support.' His pioneering band was best known for their hits Dance To The Music, Everyday People, and Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). Sly And The Family Stone included two of his actual siblings - Freddie and Rose Stone - as they formed in San Francisco, California in 1966. The artist was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, in 1943 before his entire family moved out west. His nickname Sly came when classmate had misspelled his name. Then when he changed his stage surname from Stewart to Stone, his two siblings who were in his band also followed suit. He had began performing in bands throughout high school before going on to study music at Solano Community College. However, his music career began as he left school to work as a DJ for San Francisco radio station KSOL and worked with many emerging acts. Then in 1966, he and his brother combined their bands. Sly's band was called Sly And The Stoners while Freddie's was named Freddie And The Stone Souls. Of their decision to unite, Sly wrote in his 2023 memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): 'The band had a concept — White and Black together, male and female both, and women not just singing but playing instruments. 'That was a big deal back then, and it was a big deal on purpose.' The band released their debut album - titled A Whole New Thing - in 1967. That same year they performed at he iconic Woodstock. They enjoyed plenty of success until the 1970s when Sly's drug issues began to come to a head. By 1975, his drug problems and interpersonal clashes led to dissolution but he remained with the band and continued to tour with a rotating lineup. However, his drug problems forced his effective retirement in 1987. Sly And The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 but he kept his distance from the rest of the band. Sly was married to model-actress Kathy Silva from 1974 to 1976 and separated after their son Sylvester Jr. was mauled by his dog. He also two daughters: Sylvyette Phunne with Cynthia Robinson in 1976 and Novena Carmel whom he welcomed in 1982.
Khaleej Times
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Sly Stone, leader of 1960s funk band, dies at age 82
Sly Stone, the driving force behind Sly and the Family Stone, a multiracial American band whose boiling mix of rock, soul and psychedelia embodied 1960s idealism and helped popularise funk music, has died at the age of 82, his family said on June 10. Stone died after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, a statement from his family said. "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," the statement said. Stone was perhaps best known for his performance in 1969 at the historic Woodstock music festival, the hippie culture's coming-out party. His group was a regular on the U.S. music charts in the late 1960s and 1970s, with hits such as Dance to the Music, I Want to Take You Higher, Family Affair, Everyday People, If You Want Me to Stay, and Hot Fun in the Summertime. But he later fell on hard times and became addicted to illegal substances, never staging a successful comeback. The confident and mercurial Stone played a leading role in introducing funk, an Afro-centric style of music driven by grooves and syncopated rhythms, to a broader audience. James Brown had forged the elements of funk before Stone founded his band in 1966, but Stone's brand of funk drew new listeners. It was celebratory, eclectic, psychedelic and rooted in the counterculture of the late 1960s. "They had the clarity of Motown but the volume of Jimi Hendrix or The Who," Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton, a contemporary of Stone and another pioneering figure in funk, once wrote. When Sly and the Family Stone performed, it felt like the band was "speaking to you personally," Clinton said. Stone made his California-based band, which included his brother Freddie and sister Rose, a symbol of integration. It included Black and white musicians, while women, including the late trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, had prominent roles. That was rare in a music industry often segregated along racial and gender lines. Stone, with his orb-like Afro hairstyle and wardrobe of vests, fringes and skin-tight leather, lived the life of a superstar. At the same time, he allowed bandmates to shine by fostering a collaborative, free-flowing approach that epitomised the 1960s hippie ethic. "I wanted to be able for everyone to get a chance to sweat," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. Disc jockey to singer Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, he moved as a child with his family to Northern California, where his father ran a janitorial business. He took the show business name Sly Stone and worked for a time as a radio disc jockey and a record producer for a small label before forming the band. The band's breakthrough came in 1968, when the title track to their second album, Dance to the Music, cracked the Top 10. A year later, Sly and the Family Stone performed at Woodstock before dawn. Stone woke up a crowd of 400,000 people at the music festival, leading them in call-and-response style singing. Stone's music became less joyous after the idealistic 1960s, reflecting the polarisation of the country after opposition to the Vietnam War and racial tensions triggered unrest on college campuses and in African American neighbourhoods in big US cities. In 1971, Sly and the Family Stone released There's a Riot Goin' On, which became the band's only No. 1 album. Critics said the album's bleak tone and slurred vocals denoted the increasing hold of illegal substances on Stone. But some called the record a masterpiece, a eulogy to the 1960s. In the early 1970s, Stone became erratic and missed shows. Some members left the band. But the singer was still a big enough star in 1974 to attract a crowd of 21,000 for his wedding to actress and model Kathy Silva at Madison Square Garden in New York. Silva filed for divorce less than a year later. Sly and the Family Stone's album releases in the late 1970s and early 1980s flopped, as Stone racked up drug possession arrests. But the music helped shape disco and, years later, hip-hop artists kept the band's legacy alive by frequently sampling its musical hooks. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and Stone was celebrated in an all-star tribute at the Grammy Awards in 2006. He sauntered on stage with a blond Mohawk but bewildered the audience by leaving mid-song. In 2011, after launching what would become a years-long legal battle to claim royalties he said were stolen, Stone was arrested for illegal substance possession. That year, media reported Stone was living in a recreational vehicle parked on a street in South Los Angeles. Stone had a son, Sylvester, with Silva. He had two daughters, Novena Carmel, and Sylvette "Phunne" Stone, whose mother was bandmate Cynthia Robinson.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Share your tributes and memories of Sly Stone
Sly Stone, the American funk legend and lead member of the band Sly and the Family Stone, has died at the age of 82. Founded in 1966, Sly and the Family Stone's hits include three US No 1 singles – Everyday People, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and Family Affair – plus Dance to the Music, I Want to Take You Higher, Hot Fun in the Summertime and more. The 1971 album There's a Riot Goin' On, a moody reflection on civil rights and the corrupted idealism of the postwar era, is widely regarded as one of the greatest of the 20th century. The band split in 1975, though Stone continued to use the name for solo releases. We would like to hear your tributes and memories of Sly Stone – whether you met him, or appreciated his work as a musician. You can share your tributes and memories of Sly Stone using this form. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. This will help us with our reporting This will help us with our reporting
News24
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News24
Funk-rock pioneer Sly Stone dead at 82
AFP Sly Stone, legendary funk pioneer and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died at 82 after battling chronic health issues. Known for breaking racial barriers, he created genre-defining hits like 'Everyday People' and energised Woodstock. Despite struggles with addiction, Stone's musical legacy influenced icons like Prince, Miles Davis, and OutKast. Funkmaster and iconic music innovator Sly Stone, whose songs drove a civil rights-inflected soul explosion in the 1960s, sparking influential albums but also a slide into drug addiction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 82. Stone was the multi-instrumentalist frontman for Sly and the Family Stone - rock's first racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup. He 'passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend and his extended family,' after a prolonged battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, Stone's 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,' it added. With his vibrant on-stage energy, killer hooks, and lyrics that often decried prejudice, Stone became a superstar. He released pivotal records that straddled musical genres and performed a memorable set at Woodstock. But he retreated to the shadows in the early 1970s, emerging sporadically for unfulfilling concert tours, erratic TV appearances and a flopped 2006 reunion on the Grammy Awards stage. AFP An effervescent hybrid of psychedelic soul, hippie consciousness, bluesy funk and rock built on Black gospel, Stone's music proved to be a melodic powerhouse that attracted millions during a golden age of exploratory pop - until it fell apart in a spiral of drug use. Over five years, his diverse sound left an indelible impact, from the group's debut 1967 hit Dance to the Music and their first of three number-one songs, Everyday People, a year later, to the 1970s rhythm and blues masterpiece If You Want Me To Stay. For many, Sly was a musical genius creating the sound of the future. It was 'like seeing a Black version of the Beatles,' funk legend George Clinton told CBS News of his longtime friend's stage presence. 'He had the sensibility of the street, the church, and then like the qualities of a Motown,' Clinton added. 'He was all of that in one person.' Huge influence The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted the band in 1993, saying: 'Their songs were more than danceable hits - they were a force for positive change.' But Stone struggled to contain the forces and pressures of fame. He slid into addiction, missed concerts, and his musical output, once bankable, became erratic. The music, though, proved extraordinarily influential, laying the groundwork for Prince, Miles Davis, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and OutKast. By 1973, the band imploded. Asked why by talk show host David Letterman a decade later, the elusive star was cryptic: 'I couldn't make all the gigs, is what happened.' Multiple drug-related arrests followed. By 2011, he was homeless and living in a van. In his 2023 memoir, Stone acknowledged he was lost in a deluge of cocaine and PCP but that he finally went clean in 2019. Drugs gave him 'confidence' and energy, he wrote. But he regretted 'the way I let drugs run my life,' he added. 'I thought I could control them, but then, at some point, they were controlling me.' Family affair Sly Stone was born Sylvester Stewart on 15 March 1943 in Denton, Texas. His parents moved the family to San Francisco's suburbs and built ties with the Church of God in Christ. He was a musical prodigy; by age seven, Stone was proficient at keyboards, and by 11, he played guitar, bass and drums. He sang gospel in church with his sisters and joined high school bands. Stone studied music at California's Solano Community College, worked as a disc jockey and became a songwriter and record producer. He played keyboards for Marvin Gaye. By 1966, Sly and the Family Stone had emerged, with brother Freddie on guitar and vocals, sister Rose on keyboards, and Vaetta on background vocals. White musicians Greg Errico on drums and saxophonist Jerry Martini joined them at a time when such integration was rare. Their first album fell flat. But when influential music executive Clive Davis urged Stone to make a more commercial record, the band stormed up the charts in 1968, with Everyday People reaching number one. 'We got to live together,' Stone belted out. It was a period of tumult in America, with civil rights showdowns, Martin Luther King Jr's assassination and anti-war riots. 'I was scared. At the time, it was almost too much all at once,' Stone, who was survived by a son and two daughters, once told an interviewer. In 1969, Stone and his band released the album 'Stand!' It was a commercial triumph, including the summer smash of the same name, which became a touchstone for Black empowerment. That year, they played a frenetic post-midnight set before half a million people at Woodstock. More than a generation later, the 2025 documentary SLY LIVES: AKA, the Burden of Black Genius shed light on one of soul music's groundbreaking figures. 'Sly opened the floodgates for all musicians of colour,' music producer Terry Lewis said in the film, 'to just do whatever they felt like.'
