Sly and the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone, American rock and funk band that became widely popular in the late 1960s with a string of anthemlike pop singles, stirring socially relevant albums, and memorable live performances. As a performer, songwriter, and social satirist, bandleader Sly Stone stood among the giants of rock. He influenced a diverse cross-section of recording artists, including Prince, George Clinton, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Outkast. In the documentary film Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) (2025), director and producer Questlove (of the Roots) said of Stone, “Sly will invent the alphabet for which most of pop and R&B or Black music will write from for the next 60 years. We’re still writing from his dictionary to this day.”

Musical style and themes

The band’s style combined a range of influences (including rock, funk, jazz, psychedelic rock, standards, and nursery rhymes) with the spirit of a Pentecostal church revival and produced some of the era’s most energizing and compelling songs. “Everyday People” and “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—both of which reached number one on the pop and rhythm-and-blues charts—as well as “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “I Want to Take You Higher” all became classics of popular music.

Based in the San Francisco Bay area, the unpredictable and innovative Family Stone was one of the first acts to feature Black and white and male and female musicians all performing and singing simultaneously. In 2015 the group’s drummer Greg Errico told Rolling Stone, “There were race riots going on at the time. Putting a musical group together with male and female and Black and white, to us, it felt really natural and cool and comfortable, but it made a statement that was definitely threatening to some people.”

The loud colors and individualistic dress of the players reflected and influenced the counterculture of the 1960s. Musically, Sly and the Family Stone laid the foundation for much of the street funk, soul, and disco music of the 1970s.

Formation of Sly and the Family Stone

Raised in a churchgoing family in Vallejo, California, the charismatic Sylvester Stewart learned to perform at an early age. He established himself in the Bay Area music industry by working at Autumn Records producing national pop hits for Bobby Freeman (“C’mon and Swim”) in 1964 and the Beau Brummels (“Laugh Laugh”) in 1965. He was among the area’s top soul music deejays when, adopting his radio name, Sly Stone, he founded the Family Stone in 1967. The group comprised his brother Freddie (guitar) and younger sister Rose (piano), trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, saxophonist Jerry Martini, drummer Errico, and bassist Larry Graham.

Success: Stand!, playing Woodstock, and “Family Affair”

Signed to Epic in 1967, the band scored its first charting single with the raucous “Dance to the Music” in 1968. That smash hit led to a national tour and television appearances. In 1969 Sly captured the moods of the nation with the Stand! album, which showcased an unprecedented combination of joy, optimism, and rage and established Sly Stone as a lightning rod for social commentary. The band’s engaging performance at the Woodstock festival in August 1969 was a high point of the legendary concert and the zenith of Sly’s career.

The 1970 release of Greatest Hits provided the band’s second gold album, but Sly was faltering—delving into drugs and missing concerts. He returned with the single “Family Affair” (number one on the pop and rhythm-and-blues charts) and album There’s a Riot Goin’ On in 1971, which surprised critics with its brooding, introspective tone.

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Band dissolution and later albums

Graham, who had pioneered the funk bass style of “thumping” and “plucking,” left the band in 1972 to form his own successful group, Graham Central Station, and later to pursue a solo singing career. With a new bassist, Rusty Allen, Sly produced his final gold album, Fresh, in 1973, but thereafter recordings and sales dropped sharply.

Sly largely retreated from public view and continued to struggle with substance use, although he occasionally recorded albums and made surprise appearances at events such as the 2006 Grammy Awards and the Coachella music festival in 2010. High on You (1975) is solely credited to Sly. Other albums, released under Sly and the Family Stone, include Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back (1976), Back on the Right Track (1979), and Ain’t but the One Way (1982). Sly collaborated with Bootsy Collins, Jeff Beck, Ann Wilson (of Heart), Johnny Winter, and Ray Manzarek (of the Doors) on I’m Back! Family & Friends (2011), an album that featured original songs and remakes of his classic hits.

Legacy

Interest in Sly Stone resurfaced with the “sampling” of many of his songs (and Graham’s bass lines) by hip-hop producers in the 1990s. Sly and the Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Sly received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2017 and published a memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), in 2023. He died in June 2025 at age 82 after a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues.