Funkmessias Sly Stone influenced artists such as Prince and Janet Jackson, but for himself the pressure of success was too great

Inventive and fearless, a pioneer in funk, soul and psychedelica. Arranger, composer, songwriter, a prodigy who could play on his sixth piano and on his eleventh drum and guitar. Sylvester Stewart Alias ​​Sly Stone shaken and enriched the music world in the sixties and seventies. On Monday he died in Los Angeles at the age of 82, he had been out of the picture for several decades because of his drug addiction.

After a childhood in a religious family in Northern California colored by church visit, Sly Stone became foreman of his band Sly & The Stoners, later renamed Sly and The Family Stone. It was one of the first ‘mixed’ pop groups in which men and women played, including his sister Rose on Keyboard and his brother Freddie on guitar.

In 1969 ‘Everyday People’ was their first American number one hit. The song had the typical Sly Stone elements: a heavy groove and transparent arrangement as a foundation for a blanket of singing voices: the harmonies of the Stone family trained in the pews. The both melancholy and exuberant song also meant their entrance to the pop world. Other hits were ‘Dance to the Music’ (1967) and ‘Stand!’ (1968).

Sly Stone came up with the structure of a new song, and let his skilled musicians come to an instrumentation with endless ‘Takes’ (recordings). One of the group members was bass player Larry Graham, who with his original game slackturning a kind of strings, intended to look like a fierce drum blat, added to the sound of the band. The carefully dosed funk – with sharing psychedelics, rock and soul – would also bring the audience live in ruin.

Purple atmosphere suit

In this turbulent American late sixties (Vietnam War, civil rights movement), ‘Hippie’ Sly Stone expressed himself about political and social topics, and was in favor of peaceful solutions. Their performance at Hippie festival Woodstock in 1969 became a turning point in several respects. At half past three in the morning the performance began in which his slogan ‘I want to take you higher’ was indeed realized for a large part of the 100,000-person audience. Sly, in purple atmosphere full of frills, was the funkmessiah.

After Woodstock, the popularity of his band grew so much that the pressure himself became ‘too great’. They performed in increasingly larger stadiums, during increasingly longer tours. The Black Panthers political movement wanted him to speak more radically and donate $ 100,000. But Stone was none Black Nationalisthe was for everyone.

In the meantime he used more drugs. At performances he appeared hours late or not at all and he wore a violin chest full of cocaine.

He wrote the great ‘Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ –  »Thank you for letting me be myself again‘ – And made a music with Friends Ike Turner and Bobby Womack for hours, while his own band members got tired of it.

Even out of setback, Stone was able to take advantage. When drummer Greg Errico resigned, he bought a primitive drum computer. He used him in a stubborn way-by shifting count-which ultimately formed the basis of the timeless beautiful Soulfunk ballade ‘Family Affair’.

Apart

‘There’s a riot goin’ on ‘(1971) became a dark but danceable masterpiece. The album, with lyrics about personal and socially unease, was poorly received. The message would be too negative. The ‘white’ audience largely dropped out. In 1974 the original version of the Family Stone was definitively separated.

In the movie Sly Lives! (Aka the Burden of Black Genius), Made this year by admirer Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson (drummer of The Roots), Funkriend George Clinton says that they spent the largely spent the seventies and eighties on scoring drugs. They were arrested dozens of times.

In the nineties, a whole hip -hop generation would express him: Outkast, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, all sampled his work

The film also documents Stones influence on other musicians. For example, Jazztrompettist Miles Davis was inspired by him for his funky On the corner (1972). Stone inspired the style of funk artists such as George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the producers of Janet Jackson, sampling a few seconds of his ‘Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ for her breakthrough hit ‘Rhythm Nation’, just like later Lenny Kravitz, Snoop Dogg with Dr. Dre, Michael Jackson and Vanilla Ice would do.

In the nineties, a whole hip hop generation would express him: Outkast, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, all sampled his work. Prince has been Stone-Adept since the early eighties. He also chose a ‘diverse’ accompaniment band with men and women; With Stone he shared a love for funny song titles (‘Anotherloverzolenyoead’, 1986) and the great musical dedication to brew cocktails from soul, funk and choir singing by the gospel church.

In the meantime, Sly Stone, despite all the praise, had become a recluse. That made the introduction of his band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame special in 1993. His friend George Clinton announced the ceremony with the words: « Many people want the reunion of The Beatles, I want to see the musicians of Sly and The Family Stone together in a room. » And while the band members said « unfortunately some of us are not there now, » Stone appeared and spoke some sentences with the words: « I see you soon. » That didn’t happen anymore.

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