US EditionSly Stone, Funk-Rock Pioneer Who Led the Family Stone, Dies at 82
- Sly Stone, the lead singer and key figure of Sly and the Family Stone, passed away at 82 in Los Angeles on June 9, 2025, after a lengthy struggle with COPD and other health complications, surrounded by his family.
- Stone led the integrated band from 1966-67 into the early 1980s, shaping American music with hits like 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People' during a brief but profound peak from 1968 to 1971.
- The band reached a pivotal high point in August 1969 when they played before an audience of nearly half a million during early morning rain at Woodstock, an event later captured in the Oscar-winning documentary Woodstock.
- Despite his influence on artists like Prince and George Clinton, Stone’s career spiraled due to drug addiction and the pressures of fame, though he got sober in 2019 and completed a memoir in 2024 followed by a screenplay about his life.
- Stone’s family expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support and affirmed his legacy as a groundbreaking innovator who redefined pop, funk, and rock music, with plans to share his screenplay publicly in the future.
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Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82 - The Philadelphia Sunday Sun
Funk music pioneer Sly Stone from the group Sly and the Family Stone performs on stage during the 41st Montreux Jazz Festival at the Stravinski hall in Montreux, Switzerland, Saturday July 14, 2007. (KEYSTONE/Martial Trezzini) By Hillel Italie associated press FILE – In this Feb. 8, 2006 file photo, Sly Stone from the group Sly and the Family Stone performs at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. A Los Angeles jury has awarded $5 million to funk le…
Sly Stone Created Black Music Without Boundaries
Getty Image/Merle Cooper Every time you turn on the radio, you are hearing Sly Stone. That’s not literal. It’s not just a poetic exaggeration, either. Whether your bag is rock or rap or soul or pop, the artists you love either loved Sly And The Family Stone or loved artists who loved Sly And The Family Stone. That’s because Sly Stone created music without boundaries or regard for the constraints of genre. It was Black music, because Sly was Blac…
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