OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:33 PM – Monday, June 9, 2025
Sly Stone, the visionary frontman of the legendary funk-rock-soul band Sly and the Family Stone, has passed away at the age of 82, his family confirmed.
“After a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family,” 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.”
Sly Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, began his musical journey early in life, forming a gospel group with his brother Freddie and sisters Loretta and Rose.
Though rooted in the spiritual harmonies of gospel—a genre seemingly distant from the funk and psychedelic soundscapes he would later pioneer—Sly and the Family Stone ultimately became celebrated for their innovative fusion of diverse musical styles.
“I don’t want to get in people’s way and I don’t want them to get in my way. I just want to play my songs,” he said. “I would do it for nothing.”
Born in Texas in 1943 as the second of five children, Stone moved with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area at a young age. In the early 1960s, he began working as a disc jockey, spinning a wide range of genres from British rock to soul.
Sly and the Family Stone was formed in 1966, merging the musical efforts of Sly and his brother Freddie’s respective bands. Their sister, Rose, soon joined the lineup, while Loretta chose a different path outside of music. Their younger sister, Vaetta, led her own group, Little Sister, and occasionally performed with Sly and the Family Stone during live shows.
Although Sly initially played guitar, he gave up that role to his brother Freddie upon forming the band, opting instead to focus on keyboards. Widely regarded as a musical prodigy, he had mastered guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums by childhood.
Sly and the Family Stone broke significant ground as the first major American rock band to feature a racially integrated lineup.
Their debut album, “A Whole New Thing,” was released in October 1967 and garnered modest attention. However, the band’s trajectory changed dramatically just a month later with the release of the electrifying single “Dance to the Music,” which catapulted them into mainstream success.
“I knew the music worked, but I didn’t know if people would get it,” Stone told The Guardian outlet in 2023 in an interview. “That’s what happened after the first album — I poured everything into those songs. Music people liked it, but not everyone was a music person. ‘Dance to the Music’ came out as a simpler version, and more people understood that.”
The band—particularly Sly—quickly gained a reputation for electrifying, high-energy live performances. By 1969, following the release of “Stand!” that same year, Sly and the Family Stone had risen to global prominence, with Sly himself becoming a household name.
“Stand!” featured the song “Everyday People,” the group’s first No. 1 single, and “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, according to ABC News.
At the pinnacle of their acclaim, Sly and the Family Stone took the stage at the original Woodstock festival in August 1969. Performing at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, positioned between Janis Joplin and The Who, the band delivered a dynamic, electrifying medley of hits including “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “Music Lover,” and “I Want to Take You Higher.”
Yet, not long after this triumph, the band’s cohesion unraveled amid struggles with substance abuse, internal conflicts, and missed performances. In his memoir, Sly candidly acknowledged his dependence on cocaine and PCP during this turbulent period. Throughout the 1970s, the group released several albums that failed to recapture their earlier critical or commercial success.
In 2006, Sly made a rare live appearance at the Grammy Awards—his first in decades—followed by sporadic performances in the years that ensued. Sly and the Family Stone were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, cementing their enduring legacy in music history.
“They’re the greatest funk band that ever was,” George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic, another funk band at the time, said during the ceremony. “Sly is probably the single greatest writer that I can try to think of.”
According to Stone’s family, a film based on his life is also in development in addition to the most current documentary.
“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,” they said in their statement. “We extend our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of love and prayers during this difficult time,” they added. “We wish peace and harmony to all who were touched by Sly’s life and his iconic music.”
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