Rest in Peace Sly Stone
Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart) was one of the true innovators of our music, fusing Soul, Funk and a touch of Rock to create his own sound. He will be remembered for the great energy that he created with his group Sly And The Family Stone in the mid 1960’s. The group featured Larry Graham playing slap bass. They were one of the first multi-racial and multi-gender bands that epitomised the Bay Area at that time. Their first big hit ‘Dance To The Music’ from 1968 is an all time classic, and in fact the first record that I played as a DJ in the late 60’s, a guaranteed floor filler at both Soul events and when playing to a student audience at the grad pad in Cambridge when I was at college in the early 70’s. He had a string of high energy records including ‘Everyday People’, ‘I Want To Take You Higher’ and ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’. They released several albums including ‘Dance To The Music’ and the three million-selling ‘Stand’. Sly and The Family Stone appeared at The Woodstock festival in 1969 which won them over a much broader audience and they featured on the soundtrack album. They followed this up with The Summer Of Soul concert in Harlem and The Isle Of Wight festival consolidating their standing as a leading live band. In 1971 they recorded their best album ‘There’s A Riot Goin On’ reflecting the political situation of the period, which includes the all time classic ‘Family Affair’, but this album had a very different sound, using many overdubs and was one of the first to use a drum machine. After this the band broke up and Sly recorded ‘Fresh’ in 1973, his last great album as his life descended into drug dependency. Sly’s grooves have influenced many generations of artists ever since and his tracks sampled on many hip hop tunes. R.I.P Sly, your musical legacy will live on for many more generations.
