Farewell To One Of The Fathers Of Funk – Sly Stone

Leading Member Of Legendary Band ‘Sly & The Family Stone’ Dies At Age 82

A Brief Tribute by Doug Draper

Posted June 11^th, 2025 on Niagara At Large

Sly Stone wowing more than 400,000 at the epic Woodstock Festival in 1969

Somewhere in the Catskills of New York State, in the  hills and valleys around the site where the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival was held, you may still be able to hear the echo of more than 400,000 festival goers chanting the word “HIGHER”  as Sly & The Family Stones’ performed one of its anthems, ‘I Want To Take You Higher’.

For those of you who have ever seen the movie of that epic Woodstock Festival, it was one of the film’s most memorable highlights – Sly Stone up there on that stage, looking like a god for the counterculture as he and his band worked their funky magic.

 Sly Stones, whose big hits included ‘Dance to the Music’, ‘Thank You’, Everybody is a Star’, ‘Sing a Simple Song’, ‘Everyday People’ and ‘Hot Fun in the Summertime’, died this  June 9^th at the age of 82

His music, however, lives on in countless radio plays, in numerous movie soundtracks and in the many homes of fans like me who have never traded away those best-selling Sly & The Family Stone records from the late 1960s and early 1970s before burn out took its toll on the band.

His music also lives on in other performers he inspired from, from George Clinton and the his band Funkadelic to Tower of Power and Chaka Khan & Rufus, to so many  Hip-Hop artists of today.

If you would like a sample of how exciting a Sly & The Family Stone performance could be, check out this late 1960s television appearce by clicking on the screen immediately below. Sly is front and left, playing keyboards –

• Rest In Peace Sly Stone

Footnote – If you are a fan of Sly Stone and want to know more about his life and music, he wrote a very engaging memoir that came out during the past year that received very good reviews. It is available to take out on loan through the Niagara Library system.

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