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The AE Quote of the Century: Everybody loves The High-Octane Truth. Until they don't. -WG
SPECIAL EDITOR'S NOTE: We're thrilled to announce the debut of Peter's first work of fiction, "St. Michael of Birmingham." Make no mistake, it doesn't resemble anything you've read from him before. In fact, it is quite a dramatic departure. It is mystical. It is sexy. It is funny. It's moving. And it is a flat-out wild ride unlike anything you've experienced. Having said that, it is definitely not for everyone, but then, it is from PMD, so that probably shouldn't come as a surprise! Check it out on Amazon Kindle here. -WG
(Porsche images)
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Well, we knew something was coming, after Porsche resurrected the story of the famous Count Rossi Porsche 917, the only legal road-going 917 in existence that was built 50 years ago. But we didn't know it would be this spectacular. This "one-off" full street version of Porsche's Le Mans-winning 963 prototype commission was created for and named after Roger S. Penske (thus its name, the 963 RSP). It made its public debut on Friday (June 6th) on public roads in and around Le Mans, driving in formation with the original ‘Count Rossi’ 917. At the wheel of the 963 RSP was three-time Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard. The 963 RSP is based on the 963 racing machine, complete with unique Sonderwunsch-led design changes - including unique bodywork and interior - inspired by the Porsche 917 that first took to the road 50 years ago. -PMD
The extreme one-off 963 RSP is the work of a team from Porsche AG, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Porsche Cars North America in partnership with motorsport legend Roger Penske, whose initials form the name of the car. The 963 RSP was influenced by the trailblazing 917 and an audacious drive that took place half a century ago. In April 1975, a 917 (chassis 30) – the most advanced endurance race car at that time – made an extraordinary journey, not on the track, but on public roads. From the factory in Zuffenhausen, it traveled to Paris - at the wheel was its enigmatic owner, who insisted on as few changes as possible to the car, which remains in France, and on the road, to this day. “This really started out as a “what if?” – a passion project by a small team of enthusiasts at Penske and at Porsche who together imagined a version of the 963 that really resembled as closely as possible the spirit and appearance of the Count Rossi 917,” said Porsche Cars North America President and CEO Timo Resch, who conceived of the original idea. “The 917 from the story was every inch a race car – albeit one driven on the road – and we took the same approach with the 963 RSP. It uses beautiful materials of the best quality available, but is still every bit a race car underneath.”
The 963 RSP features significant changes over the car on which it is based. Unlike the competition racecars, which are wrapped in different colors, the 963 RSP is the first of its kind to be painted, a unique challenge due to the nature of the carbon fiber and Kevlar® bodywork, which is ultra-thin in places to save weight. In a nod to the Count Rossi 917, the 963 RSP is finished in Martini Silver and features uniquely altered bodywork and a bespoke tan leather and Alcantara interior inspired by the trim choices made by Count Rossi 50 years ago. A dedicated mechanical and electronic setup was configured for its debut on the streets near Le Mans – including a raised ride height and softened dampers, as well as a reprogrammed control unit to allow for the headlights and taillights to operate closer to those of a road car. These changes, along with modified bodywork to cover the wheel arches, the use of Michelin wet weather compound tires and even the fitment of a horn, meant the car met the necessary criteria to be allowed to drive on the road and wear license plates under special permission from the French authorities and with the enthusiastic support of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
“That was an experience that will stay with me for a lifetime,” said Timo Bernhard, who was at the wheel of the 963 RSP for its first miles on the road. “Driving down a public road with a 917 beside me – it felt unreal. The car behaved perfectly – it felt a little friendlier and more forgiving than the normal 963 – and felt super special and a lot more comfortable, especially as I was not needing all my safety gear.”
“We have enjoyed a terrific relationship with Porsche dating back to 1972. The Porsche 917/30, in particular, was one of the greatest eras in Team Penske history with numerous wins and championships, along with the closed-course speed record set by Mark Donohue in 1975,” said Roger Penske, Chairman of the Penske Corporation. “With such a remarkable partnership continuing to this day, we felt it was time to create the most exciting car we could imagine. Just like the 917, I wanted this car to be authentic to its origin and have as few changes to it as possible. When we got into the project, the differences in the two generations of race cars provided a great challenge. What emerged is a car that has lost none of its edge and is exciting whether on the track or on the road.” The 963 RSP will go on public display at the Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans before it returns to Stuttgart to be shown at the Porsche Museum. In July the car will appear alongside the 917 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Accompanying the 963 RSP are a custom fitted carbon crash helmet with Martini Silver accents to match the car, and a bespoke Snap On toolset with a chest bearing accents in the same color, a plaque commemorating the project and its namesake, and handles wrapped in the same leather used in the interior of the car. The drawers also feature custom foam inserts to carry tools and special equipment necessary to start, service and operate the car. While capable of being driven on the road under special circumstances and in accordance with local requirements (the modifications to the car allowed it to use French ‘W’ or manufacturer license plates for its debut), the 963 RSP is not a homologated addition to the Porsche model lineup and is intended to remain a very special one-off.
(Cadillac images)
The 2026 OPTIQ-V joins Cadillac’s fifth generation of the V-Series portfolio. Features include: Standard dual motor all-wheel drive; a Cadillac-estimated 519HP and 650 lb-ft (880 NM) of torque in Velocity Max; a Cadillac-estimated 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds in Velocity Max; unique blue and carbon fiber accents inside and out inspired by the V-Series badge. (Velocity Max is a driver-selectable feature that unleashes the vehicle’s full performance capability.) OPTIQ-V includes an 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack that will enable a Cadillac-estimated 275 miles of range. How much? The Cadillac Optiq-V will start at $68,795 with a target on-sale date in the fall, which means it will arrive before the end of the year. Maybe.
The AE Song of the Week
Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrongMy own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can't accept the green one
For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn't like the short hair
For bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
There is a yellow one that won't accept the black one
That won't accept the red one that won't accept the white one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
I am everyday people
"Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone from the album "Stand!" (1968).* Written by Sylvester Stewart. Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind. Listen to the Official Audio track here.
*Sly Stone wrote "Everyday People" about how everyone is essentially the same, regardless of race or background. Sly and the Family Stone was a mash-up of musical styles, with band members of different genders and ethnic backgrounds. This song takes some inspiration from Mother Goose, adding a twist to the traditional nursery rhyme "rub-a-dub-dub." The familiar three men in a tub - the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker - become the butcher, the banker, the drummer, and, in the spirit of the song's message of solidarity among all people, Sly adds: "makes no difference what group I'm in." Billy Preston played organ on this track. "Everyday People" was released late in 1968, months ahead of the Stand! album. In America, it hit #1 in February 1969 and stayed there for four weeks.
Sly & the Family Stone included "Everyday People" in their set at Woodstock, which according to Carlos Santana was the standout performance at the festival.
The following (and fabulous) report is by Brian Murphy, courtesy of The Washington Post, on June 9th. (Peter's thoughts are at the end.):
Sly Stone, whose band Sly and the Family Stone electrified Woodstock audiences and introduced a genre-fusing brand of psychedelic funk with hits such as “Family Affair” and “Everyday People” but then mostly vanished from the music scene for decades in the grip of drug abuse, died June 9 at his home in Granada Hills, California. He was 82.
The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health-related complications, said his manager, Arlene Hirschkowitz.
Mr. Stone’s musical adventurism and ear for the times created an enduring soundtrack of the 1960s and early ’70s. Thejoyful “Hot Fun in the Summertime” in 1969 was a break from the era’s political storms; the boom-laka-laka-laka mojo of “I Want to Take You Higher” that same year uncorked pure energy. The song had the Woodstock throng dancing at 4 a.m. on Aug. 17, 1969, with Mr. Stone jamming on keyboards and roaming the stage in a white jumpsuit with fringe flying and his Afro haloed by the lights.
“I sang, ‘I want to take you higher,’ and they sang back the last word, ‘higher.’ All of them. Damn. We kept it going. I kept it going,” Mr. Stone wrote in his 2023 memoir, co-authored with music journalist Ben Greenman, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” the song title of another Sly and the Family Stone chart-climber in 1970.
This was Mr. Stone in full command of his craft. For years, he had experimented with wrapping strains of soul, rock and gospel’s call-and-response style around a funk downbeat. By the summer of 1969, his sound had come together, breaking into mainstream radio and riding the currents at the end of a wild decade of change and upheaval.
Mr. Stone could be edgy and rebellious in his music, using the n-word in a song warning “Whitey” not to evoke the term. Then he’d amble into a happy place with tracks such as 1968’s slinky “Dance to the Music.” He channeled the Age of Aquarius with songs from 1969’s “Stand!” album such as “You Can Make It If You Try” and the prejudice-bashing “Everyday People.”
Like the ’60s itself, Mr. Stone’s music spanned generations in its influence. The band’s bass-slapping funk groove was embraced by groups such as the Ohio Players and Mr. Stone’s friend George Clinton in his bands Parliament and Funkadelic. Others — from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to Prince to the Black Eyed Peas — carried on Mr. Stone’s eclectic musical mixology. Sly and the Family Stone was “like Noah’s ark,” musician and record producer Don Was wrote in Rolling Stone. “They had Blacks and Whites, men and women. … This was a joyful noise and a joyful vision.”
To Mr. Stone, the band and its eclectic beats came from his own street anthropology. “I wasn’t going on any other program or agenda or philosophy,” Mr. Stone told Vanity Fair in 2007. “It was just what I observed, where I was at.”
He also was disappearing into a fog of drugs just as he reached his peak popularity. Cocaine and PCP, known as angel dust, became his escapes. He started showing up late for gigs or not at all. More than a third of the band’s 80 concerts were canceled in 1970. A riot broke out in Chicago’s Grant Park that July when fans wrongly believed that the band — late as usual — was a no-show.
More and more, Mr. Stone holed up in a rented mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, hosting nonstop parties or riding a solo drug-and-booze bender surrounded by a pit bull named Gun and mobsters doubling as bodyguards.
With the 1971 album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” the band cast off much of its brightness and can’t-we-get-along glow. The music took on darker tones and a muddier sound — the result of Mr. Stone obsessively overdubbing the tracks in a makeshift studio: a Winnebago parked in the mansion’s driveway.
The album’s “Family Affair” was the band’s last chart-topping single, spending three weeks leading the Billboard Hot 100. (In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked the band 43rd among its Greatest Artists of All Time, just behind Van Morrison.)
The core of Sly and the Family Stone — which included some of Mr. Stone’s real family — held together for two more albums. But his unreliability was corrosive. In the end, by many accounts, it was Mr. Stone who effectively broke ranks. He peeled away for a series of independent projects (sometimes still using the band’s name) and collaborations that reviewers found stiff and uninspired.
Mr. Stone made more headlines as a tragicomic spectacle. Seemingly high on something, Mr. Stone left the normally unflappable talk show host Dick Cavett slack-jawed in 1971. “You’re great,” gushed Mr. Stone. He pounded his heart.
“Boom! Right on! Sure thing,” Mr. Stone rambled. “No, for real. For real, Dick. Hey, Dick. Dick. Dick. You’re great.” He grabbed Cavett’s hands to clap them together.
Cavett deadpanned: “Well, you’re not so bad yourself.”
Mr. Stone could be edgy and rebellious in his music, using the n-word in a song warning “Whitey” not to evoke the term. Then he’d amble into a happy place with tracks such as 1968’s slinky “Dance to the Music.” He channeled the Age of Aquarius with songs from 1969’s “Stand!” album such as “You Can Make It If You Try” and the prejudice-bashing “Everyday People.”
Like the ’60s itself, Mr. Stone’s music spanned generations in its influence. The band’s bass-slapping funk groove was embraced by groups such as the Ohio Players and Mr. Stone’s friend George Clinton in his bands Parliament and Funkadelic. Others — from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to Prince to the Black Eyed Peas — carried on Mr. Stone’s eclectic musical mixology. Sly and the Family Stone was “like Noah’s ark,” musician and record producer Don Was wrote in Rolling Stone. “They had Blacks and Whites, men and women. … This was a joyful noise and a joyful vision.”
To Mr. Stone, the band and its eclectic beats came from his own street anthropology. “I wasn’t going on any other program or agenda or philosophy,” Mr. Stone told Vanity Fair in 2007. “It was just what I observed, where I was at.”
He also was disappearing into a fog of drugs just as he reached his peak popularity. Cocaine and PCP, known as angel dust, became his escapes. He started showing up late for gigs or not at all. More than a third of the band’s 80 concerts were canceled in 1970. A riot broke out in Chicago’s Grant Park that July when fans wrongly believed that the band — late as usual — was a no-show.
More and more, Mr. Stone holed up in a rented mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, hosting nonstop parties or riding a solo drug-and-booze bender surrounded by a pit bull named Gun and mobsters doubling as bodyguards.
With the 1971 album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” the band cast off much of its brightness and can’t-we-get-along glow. The music took on darker tones and a muddier sound — the result of Mr. Stone obsessively overdubbing the tracks in a makeshift studio: a Winnebago parked in the mansion’s driveway.
The album’s “Family Affair” was the band’s last chart-topping single, spending three weeks leading the Billboard Hot 100. (In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked the band 43rd among its Greatest Artists of All Time, just behind Van Morrison.)
The core of Sly and the Family Stone — which included some of Mr. Stone’s real family — held together for two more albums. But his unreliability was corrosive. In the end, by many accounts, it was Mr. Stone who effectively broke ranks. He peeled away for a series of independent projects (sometimes still using the band’s name) and collaborations that reviewers found stiff and uninspired.
Mr. Stone made more headlines as a tragicomic spectacle. Seemingly high on something, Mr. Stone left the normally unflappable talk show host Dick Cavett slack-jawed in 1971. “You’re great,” gushed Mr. Stone. He pounded his heart.
“Boom! Right on! Sure thing,” Mr. Stone rambled. “No, for real. For real, Dick. Hey, Dick. Dick. Dick. You’re great.” He grabbed Cavett’s hands to clap them together.
Cavett deadpanned: “Well, you’re not so bad yourself.”
“Well,” said Mr. Stone. “I am kinda bad.” A pause and half-smile. “But I’m not so bad.”
On the “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1974, Mr. Stone repeatedly interrupted a stone-faced Muhammad Ali and tried to hoist the champ’s arm in a Black Power-ish salute. Ali yanked it away. “If you don’t like it,” said a rail-thin and bleary-eyed Mr. Stone, “I’m gonna whoop you.”
Even Mr. Stone’s wedding was a scene. He married a 19-year-old actress, Kathy Silva, at Madison Square Garden before a concert in June 1974 — but backed off plans to release thousands of doves and have a high-wire “angel” sprinkle glitter over the crowd. Before the year was out, the couple was divorced. Mr. Stone’s pit bull had attacked their 1-year-old son, Sylvester Bubb Ali Stewart Jr.
When Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Mr. Stone was on hand. But he snubbed his siblings and other former bandmates — and then largely disappeared from public view for years.
“He’s been in seclusion for so long, he’s like J.D. Salinger,” Greg Zola, a director working on a documentary about Stone and the band, told The Washington Post in 2006, referring to the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye.” (Zola’s “Small Talk About Sly” was released in 2017.)
Mr. Stone surfaced at the 2006 Grammy Awards, which included a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone. He was called onstage by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler: “Hey, Sly, let’s do it like we used to do it!” Mr. Stone, in a silver lame outfit and towering bleach-blond Mohawk, joined “I Want to Take You Higher” on keyboards. Three minutes later, Mr. Stone wandered off the stage in mid-jam.
It was never clear which version of Mr. Stone would show up as he made his way back into music. At a 2008 concert in Santa Rosa, California, he told the audience he needed to go to the bathroom and never returned. But there also were thoughtful and reflective moments.
In a 2009 interview with NPR affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica, California, Mr. Stone was asked about the meaning behind his 1970 hit “If You Want Me to Stay.” It was a message to his band and fans as his drug use deepened, he replied. “If you want me to stay, let me know, otherwise sayonara … friends, audience, everybody,” he said.
A decade after that interview, doctors told Mr. Stone that crack cocaine had left his body near collapse. He said he chose to get sober, but he was too physically battered by then to return to the studio or stage. His health troubles “haven’t stopped me from hearing music,” he told the Guardian, “but they have stopped me from making it.”
On the “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1974, Mr. Stone repeatedly interrupted a stone-faced Muhammad Ali and tried to hoist the champ’s arm in a Black Power-ish salute. Ali yanked it away. “If you don’t like it,” said a rail-thin and bleary-eyed Mr. Stone, “I’m gonna whoop you.”
Even Mr. Stone’s wedding was a scene. He married a 19-year-old actress, Kathy Silva, at Madison Square Garden before a concert in June 1974 — but backed off plans to release thousands of doves and have a high-wire “angel” sprinkle glitter over the crowd. Before the year was out, the couple was divorced. Mr. Stone’s pit bull had attacked their 1-year-old son, Sylvester Bubb Ali Stewart Jr.
When Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Mr. Stone was on hand. But he snubbed his siblings and other former bandmates — and then largely disappeared from public view for years.
“He’s been in seclusion for so long, he’s like J.D. Salinger,” Greg Zola, a director working on a documentary about Stone and the band, told The Washington Post in 2006, referring to the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye.” (Zola’s “Small Talk About Sly” was released in 2017.)
Mr. Stone surfaced at the 2006 Grammy Awards, which included a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone. He was called onstage by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler: “Hey, Sly, let’s do it like we used to do it!” Mr. Stone, in a silver lame outfit and towering bleach-blond Mohawk, joined “I Want to Take You Higher” on keyboards. Three minutes later, Mr. Stone wandered off the stage in mid-jam.
It was never clear which version of Mr. Stone would show up as he made his way back into music. At a 2008 concert in Santa Rosa, California, he told the audience he needed to go to the bathroom and never returned. But there also were thoughtful and reflective moments.
In a 2009 interview with NPR affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica, California, Mr. Stone was asked about the meaning behind his 1970 hit “If You Want Me to Stay.” It was a message to his band and fans as his drug use deepened, he replied. “If you want me to stay, let me know, otherwise sayonara … friends, audience, everybody,” he said.
A decade after that interview, doctors told Mr. Stone that crack cocaine had left his body near collapse. He said he chose to get sober, but he was too physically battered by then to return to the studio or stage. His health troubles “haven’t stopped me from hearing music,” he told the Guardian, “but they have stopped me from making it.”
Gospel roots
Sylvester Stewart was born in Denton, Texas, on March 15, 1943, and grew up in Vallejo, California, north of Oakland. His father ran a janitorial business and was a deacon at a Pentecostal church; his mother helped groom their five children into a gospel ensemble. Sylvester — the second child — formed the Stewart Four with his brother Fred and sisters Rose and Vaetta. The eldest, Loretta, played piano. As a teenager, he joined a doo-wop group, the Viscaynes, and later studied music at Vallejo Junior College (now Solano Community College.) He started trying out the nickname Sly after a fifth-grade classmate misspelled his first name as “Slyvester.”
In 1964, he signed with Autumn Records and cut several singles. Mr. Stone initially shined more as a producer, teaming up with rhythm-and-blues stylist Bobby Freeman on the 1964 hit “C’mon and Swim.” Mr. Stone then worked on records with bands including Great Society (led by Grace Slick, later of Jefferson Airplane) and the Warlocks, which became the Grateful Dead. Under a new name, Sly Stone, he landed jobs as a disc jockey at AM stations in the Bay Area, perfecting a flat and raspy vocal style that became a hallmark of some of his songs.
At the same time, he was developing the overall Sly panache. His Jaguar XKE was painted candy purple, and he wore clothes to match. His first band, the Stoners, broke up in 1966. His next try included his brother Fred on guitar (sister Rose later joined as pianist) along with other Bay Area musicians. Sly and the Family Stone’s 1967 debut album, “A Whole New Thing,” had modest sales. But Mr. Stone had laid down his marker. The songs sampled from a rich musical buffet and his band had a big-tent identity of race and gender.
He liked to surprise. The band’s 1973 album “Fresh” included a gospel-infused version of “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be),” which had been popularized in the 1950s by actress Doris Day. (Mr. Stone and Day, who met through her music producer son Terry Melcher, became improbable friends.) A 1971 tune, “Spaced Cowboy,” included Mr. Stone yodeling like a member of the von Trapp family featured in the film “The Sound of Music.”
Then it all started to unravel. At times, Mr. Stone appeared just one bad break away from homelessness. A 2009 documentary, “Coming Back for More,” portrayed Mr. Stone living in a camper van and getting by with help from friends and relatives.
Mr. Stone blamed most of his financial woes on his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, alleging that he and others cheated him out of tens of millions of dollars in royalties. In January 2015, a Los Angeles jury awarded the musician $5 million, but the decision was overturned on appeal. The jury had not been told that Mr. Stone had assigned his royalties to a production company in exchange for an ownership stake. The company, however, foundered.
In addition to his son with his former wife, Mr. Stone had daughters Sylvyette Robinson and Novena Carmel with different partners; a brother; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
During Mr. Stone’s interview with Vanity Fair, reporter David Kamp asked about his life during the hermit years. Did he keep up on new TV shows? Read? Did he know of “American Idol?”
“I do regular things a lot,” Mr. Stone said. “But it’s probably more of a Sly Stone life. It’s probably … it’s probably not very normal.”
Editor-in-Chief's Note: I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Sly and the Family Stone at an impossibly small venue called the Birmingham Bloomfield Teen Center (in Birmingham, Michigan). How Sly and his group were booked there I will never know, but "Dance to the Music" had been the No. 1 song in the nation for two solid weeks, and even though they started playing two hours late (of course), it remains the most riveting live performance I have ever seen. And believe me, I have seen dozens and dozens of live acts. Sly and his band were at their absolute peak, and the wild, funkified, rhythm and blues and sublime musicianship Sly and the Family were known for were on full display. It remained seared in my memory for all of these decades. Sly's influence remains vivid to this day. Prince, who was one of my all-time favorites, freely acknowledged Sly's influence, and it was easy to see and hear. Even though Sly has remained out of the public eye for decades, his singular contributions to music will continue on infinitely. -PMD
Sylvester Stewart was born in Denton, Texas, on March 15, 1943, and grew up in Vallejo, California, north of Oakland. His father ran a janitorial business and was a deacon at a Pentecostal church; his mother helped groom their five children into a gospel ensemble. Sylvester — the second child — formed the Stewart Four with his brother Fred and sisters Rose and Vaetta. The eldest, Loretta, played piano. As a teenager, he joined a doo-wop group, the Viscaynes, and later studied music at Vallejo Junior College (now Solano Community College.) He started trying out the nickname Sly after a fifth-grade classmate misspelled his first name as “Slyvester.”
In 1964, he signed with Autumn Records and cut several singles. Mr. Stone initially shined more as a producer, teaming up with rhythm-and-blues stylist Bobby Freeman on the 1964 hit “C’mon and Swim.” Mr. Stone then worked on records with bands including Great Society (led by Grace Slick, later of Jefferson Airplane) and the Warlocks, which became the Grateful Dead. Under a new name, Sly Stone, he landed jobs as a disc jockey at AM stations in the Bay Area, perfecting a flat and raspy vocal style that became a hallmark of some of his songs.
At the same time, he was developing the overall Sly panache. His Jaguar XKE was painted candy purple, and he wore clothes to match. His first band, the Stoners, broke up in 1966. His next try included his brother Fred on guitar (sister Rose later joined as pianist) along with other Bay Area musicians. Sly and the Family Stone’s 1967 debut album, “A Whole New Thing,” had modest sales. But Mr. Stone had laid down his marker. The songs sampled from a rich musical buffet and his band had a big-tent identity of race and gender.
He liked to surprise. The band’s 1973 album “Fresh” included a gospel-infused version of “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be),” which had been popularized in the 1950s by actress Doris Day. (Mr. Stone and Day, who met through her music producer son Terry Melcher, became improbable friends.) A 1971 tune, “Spaced Cowboy,” included Mr. Stone yodeling like a member of the von Trapp family featured in the film “The Sound of Music.”
Then it all started to unravel. At times, Mr. Stone appeared just one bad break away from homelessness. A 2009 documentary, “Coming Back for More,” portrayed Mr. Stone living in a camper van and getting by with help from friends and relatives.
Mr. Stone blamed most of his financial woes on his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, alleging that he and others cheated him out of tens of millions of dollars in royalties. In January 2015, a Los Angeles jury awarded the musician $5 million, but the decision was overturned on appeal. The jury had not been told that Mr. Stone had assigned his royalties to a production company in exchange for an ownership stake. The company, however, foundered.
In addition to his son with his former wife, Mr. Stone had daughters Sylvyette Robinson and Novena Carmel with different partners; a brother; two sisters; and four grandchildren.
During Mr. Stone’s interview with Vanity Fair, reporter David Kamp asked about his life during the hermit years. Did he keep up on new TV shows? Read? Did he know of “American Idol?”
“I do regular things a lot,” Mr. Stone said. “But it’s probably more of a Sly Stone life. It’s probably … it’s probably not very normal.”
Editor-in-Chief's Note: I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Sly and the Family Stone at an impossibly small venue called the Birmingham Bloomfield Teen Center (in Birmingham, Michigan). How Sly and his group were booked there I will never know, but "Dance to the Music" had been the No. 1 song in the nation for two solid weeks, and even though they started playing two hours late (of course), it remains the most riveting live performance I have ever seen. And believe me, I have seen dozens and dozens of live acts. Sly and his band were at their absolute peak, and the wild, funkified, rhythm and blues and sublime musicianship Sly and the Family were known for were on full display. It remained seared in my memory for all of these decades. Sly's influence remains vivid to this day. Prince, who was one of my all-time favorites, freely acknowledged Sly's influence, and it was easy to see and hear. Even though Sly has remained out of the public eye for decades, his singular contributions to music will continue on infinitely. -PMD
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG