Sly Stone, a Pioneer and Revolutionary of Funk, Dies at 82

Sly Stone, the driving force behind Sly and the Family Stone, a multiracial American band whose vibrant blend of rock, soul, and psychedelia embodied the idealism of the 1960s and helped popularise funk music, has died at the age of 82, his family announced on Monday. He passed away after a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues he had been suffering from for years.

"Although we mourn his absence, we are comforted knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire future generations," his family expressed emotionally. The singer, like many great artists, was both a person and almost a myth, the latter marked by his achievements in social rights advocacy as well as his various addictions.

Sly Stone was perhaps best known for his 1969 performance at the historic Woodstock music festival, the showcase of hippie culture. His group was a regular on the US music charts in the late '60s and '70s, with hits like "Dance to the Music," "I Want to Take You Higher," "Family Affair," "Everyday People," "If You Want Me to Stay," and "Hot Fun in the Summertime." However, he later fell from grace and became addicted to cocaine, never regaining his former success.

Confident and mercurial, Stone played a crucial role in introducing funk, an Afrocentric musical style based on grooves and syncopated rhythms, to a broader audience. James Brown had forged the elements of funk before Stone formed his band in 1966, but Stone's funk attracted new listeners. It was festive, eclectic, psychedelic, and rooted in the late '60s counterculture.

"They had the clarity of Motown but the volume of Jimi Hendrix or The Who," wrote George Clinton, leader of Parliament-Funkadelic, a contemporary of Stone and another pioneering figure of funk. When Sly and the Family Stone performed, it was as if the band "spoke to you personally," Clinton valued, according to Reuters.

Stone made his Californian band, which included his brother Freddie and sister Rose, a symbol of integration. It featured both white and black musicians, and women, like trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, played prominent roles. This was unusual in a music industry often segregated by race and gender.

With his orbital afro hairstyle and outfits of vests, fringes, and tight leather, Stone lived the life of a superstar. At the same time, he allowed his bandmates to shine by fostering a collaborative and fluid approach that personified the hippie ethos of the 1960s. "I wanted everyone to have the chance to sweat," he declared to Rolling Stone magazine in 1970.

Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, he moved with his family to Northern California as a child, where his father ran a cleaning business. He adopted the stage name Sly Stone and worked for a time as a radio disc jockey and record producer for a small label before forming the band.

The band's success came in 1968 when the title track of their second album, "Dance to the Music," broke into the Top 10. A year later, Sly and the Family Stone released their first album, "Dance to the Music."

A year later, Sly and the Family Stone performed at Woodstock before dawn. Stone roused a crowd of 400,000 at the music festival, leading them in call-and-response chants.

Stone's music became less joyful after the idealistic 1960s, reflecting the country's polarisation after opposition to the Vietnam War and racial tensions sparked riots on college campuses and in African American neighbourhoods in major US cities.

In 1971, Sly and the Family Stone released "There's a Riot Goin' On," which became the band's only number 1 album. Critics said the album's sombre tone and slurred vocals reflected Stone's growing cocaine addiction. But some considered the record a masterpiece, a eulogy for the 1960s.

During that time, in the early '70s, Stone became erratic and missed concerts. Some members left the band. But the singer remained a big enough star in 1974 to draw 21,000 people to his wedding to actress and model Kathy Silva at Madison Square Garden in New York. Silva filed for divorce less than a year later.

Sly and the Family Stone's albums from the late '70s and early '80s failed, and Stone accumulated arrests for drug possession. But his music helped shape disco, and years later, hip-hop artists kept the band's legacy alive by frequently sampling their musical hooks.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and Stone was honoured at a star-studded Grammy gala in 2006. He took the stage with a blonde mohawk but puzzled the audience by leaving mid-song.

In 2011, after beginning what would become a years-long legal battle to reclaim copyrights he claimed were stolen, Stone was arrested for cocaine possession. That year, media reported that Stone was living in a recreational vehicle parked on a street in South Los Angeles.

Stone had a son, Sylvester, with Silva. He had two daughters, Novena Carmel and Sylvette "Phunne" Stone, whose mother was his bandmate Cynthia Robinson. (Reporting by Reuters; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Diane Craft and Rosalba O'Brien)