| Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was born March 15, 1944, in Dallas, TX, and raised primarily in Vallejo, CA, where he sang with his family's gospel group. After singing lead with a doo-wop group while spinning records for Bay Area radio station KSOL at 16, he began studying trumpet, composition, and theory at Vallejo Junior College. In 1964 he cut a series of solo singles that basically went nowhere. In 1966, Stewart formed the group Sly & the Stoners. After issuing their debut single, "I Ain't Got Nobody," on the local Loadstone imprint, the group signed to Epic to release their 1967 debut LP "A Whole New Thing," by now they were known as Sly & The Family Stone. "Dance To The Music" followed in 1968, and generated a Top Ten hit with the title cut. Later that year, Sly & the Family Stone topped both the pop and R&B charts with the two-sided smash "Everyday People" b/w "Sing a Simple Song"; and with the classic "Stand!," A series of successful albums followed the group while Sly became entrenched in the drug scene. As his drug problems and legal battles became public knowledge, his career came to a virtual stand still. By 1979 he was desperate for a hit and any kind of record sales. His final album for the label that had given him his greatest successes was a disco rehashing of his previous hits entitled: "Ten Years Too Soon." Now don't get me wrong, the tracks are fantastic and the label supported it wholeheartedly, it's just that at the time it was not at all in-sync with current club grooves. A promotional-only boxed set of three 12" singles was issued to herald the event. "Dance To The Music" was a minor hit, but "You Can Make It If You Try" and "Stand" fell by the wayside. A move to Warner Bros. later that year had him release "Back On The Right Track" which attracted little interest, as did a subsequent tour with George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars and a 1983 comeback effort, "Ain't But The One Way." After a 1987 single, "Eek-a-Bo-Static," failed to even chart, Stone instead made headlines for a cocaine bust which led to his incarceration. Despite Sly & the Family Stone being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Stone failed to make a substantial comeback in the 1990's and has since become somewhat of a recluse. |
