Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco. Active from 1967 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music. Headed by singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and containing several of his family members and friends, the band was the first major American rock band to have an “integrated, multi-gender” lineup.
Brothers Sly Stone and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone combined their bands (Sly & the Stoners and Freddie & the Stone Souls) in 1967. Sly and Freddie Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Gregg Errico,[2] saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham completed the original lineup; Sly and Freddie’s sister, singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, joined within a year. This collective recorded five Billboard Hot 100 hits which reached the top 10, and four ground-breaking albums, which greatly influenced the sound of American pop music, soul, R&B, funk, and hip hop music. In the preface of his 1998 book For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel Selvin sums up the importance of Sly and the Family Stone’s influence on African American music by stating “there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone”.[3] The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Everyday People is a 1968 song by Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It held that position, on the Hot 100, for four weeks from February 15, 1969, until March 14, 1969,
Thank You is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential funk songs of all time.
Sly Stone: Portrait of a Legend – documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cPuiiKt8rs
Absolutely wonderful to watch these videos. Thanks!
I’m so loving it. Sly brought us good music which will live forever. A legend!
If You Want Me To Stay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbV_e0TJnEM
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Love you forever, Sly Stone!
Family Affair
For the record…Sly Stone was born in Denton Texas. He is a genuine Texan! :)
Interview with Rose Stone and Freddie Stone
http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/904024-interview-with-rose-stone-and-freddie-stone
Wow! The entire family was so musically inclined. They were brought up in the church. The daddy played the violin, kazoo and harp; the mother played piano. The boys played guitar. God given talent!
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Stand
A moment in Black History: Did you know “Stand” was Sly & The Family Stone’s anthem for the students at Kent State?
Yes; and I’m just EVERY DAY PEOPLE….
Alright now!
Sly and nem where the Shinitz. Delivering some of the most prolific music to uplift the social consciousness.
Indeed! Their music was like no other. Sly & The Family Stone forever!
Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey
This needs to go on the Hundley thread. LOL
It’s so fitting for the time.
Freddie Stone
With his groundbreaking group Sly and the Family Stone, Sylvester Stewart—or Sly Stone, as he came to be called—pioneered the psychedelic funk sound that would electrify the Woodstock generation of the late 1960s and profoundly influence the direction taken by rhythm and blues and, in the subsequent decades, other black music forms from soul to disco to rap. While Stone’s flamboyant persona, uplifting songs, and ethnically diverse band earned a massive following, political and personal difficulties hampered his career and eventually drove him out of the music scene. During the most intensely productive segment of his career, however, he was, according to pop music critic Dave Marsh, “one of the greatest musical adventurers rock has ever known.”
http://www.slystonemusic.com/content/biography
Sly and the Family Stone are credited as one of the first racially integrated bands in music history, belting their message of peace, love and social consciousness through a string of hit anthems that fused R&B, soul, funk and rock n roll. On ‘Different Strokes by Different Folks’ a stylistically, culturally and racially disparate group of chart-toppers mirrors that idealistic diversity. Understand this: There was no precedent for Sly & the Family Stone.
Back in 1967, when the interracial, mixed-gender combo burst onto the scene with their debut album, the burgeoning rock & roll subculture was, as always, hungry for fresh kicks and different sounds. But no one was quite prepared for the magical, multi-faceted musical mix Sly and company served up. Their music was an inspired blend of rock, soul, pop, jazz, and an emerging genre soon to be dubbed funk. It packed a powerful, joyous wallop, delivering all the things one hoped to find in music: The thrill of the new, the excitement of the unexpected, a galvanizing groove, and lyrics that actually said something.
Sly’s been sampled by Janet Jackson, Beastie Boys, Kid Rock, Fatboy Slim, Ice Cube and Public Enemy to name just a few! He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1992, and is the recipient of the 2002 R&B Foundation Pioneer Award.
Reblogged this on Big Blue Dot Y'all and commented:
One of my fav bands….love sharing this groove w/my kids
Good music like no other. Nasty filthy FUNK!
LMBAO@ Nasty filthy FUNK!
bwa ha ha ha ha
Rose Stone
Girrrrrrrrrrrrl, BLACK DON’T CRACK!
I “cloud nine” when I want to…
Isn’t she gorgeous! Go Rose!
Rose Stone for those of you who may have forgotten or are too young to remember is in possession of one of the most glorious voices in the history of Black music. On songs like “Everybody is a Star”, “Hot Fun in the Summertime”, and others from the Sly & the Family Stone catalog, it was the voice of Rose Stone that carried the day.
FUNK is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and R&B. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing it from R&B and soul songs, which are centered on chord progressions.
Sing a Simple Song
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah….
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Woman, you make me wanna break out my bell bottoms and wedges.
Loves me some Sly and the Family Stone. I always appreciated how positve their funk music message entered our sphere. Funky, FUN, Fantastic!
I loved loved Sly & The Family Stone! I use to crush on Sly Stone! He was sooo sexy!
..Let me hear you say
Yaaaaa, ya-ya yaa ya
Yaaaaa, ya-ya yaa ya