"Family Affair" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Sly and the Family Stone | ||||
from the album There's a Riot Goin' On | ||||
B-side | "Luv N' Haight" | |||
Released | November 6, 1971 | |||
Recorded | 1971 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:06 | |||
Label | Epic 5-10805 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sly Stone | |||
Producer(s) | Sly Stone | |||
Sly and the Family Stone singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Family Affair" (audio) on YouTube |
"Family Affair" is a 1971 number-one hit single recorded by Sly and the Family Stone for the Epic Records label. Their first new material since the double A-sided single "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"/ "Everybody Is a Star" nearly two years prior, "Family Affair" became the third and final number-one pop single for the band. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song 57th on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [3] The cover version by John Legend, Joss Stone, and Van Hunt, won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Released on November 6, 1971, "Family Affair" was markedly different from the earlier Sly & the Family Stone hits. Engineering consultant Richard Tilles muted most of Sly Stone's guitar parts while emphasizing the electric piano played by Billy Preston and "edit[ing] the rhythm box to sound like a heartbeat," according to David Hepworth. [4]
"Family Affair" was the most successful hit of Sly & the Family Stone's career, peaking at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, while achieving the same on the Billboard R&B Singles chart for five weeks. [5] Billboard ranked it as the No. 79 song for 1972. [6]
Around 2022, a longer version of "Family Affair" emerged which included musical content from the original session that was not heard on the original release. [7] [8] It appears to be what was heard on the Multitrack Playback: Family Affair clip that featured the original members years later listening to their work in a studio. [9]
Chart (1971–1972) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) | 46 |
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [10] | 1 |
New Zealand ( Listener ) [11] | 11 |
UK Singles (OCC) | 15 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] | 1 |
US R&B ( Billboard ) [13] | 1 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [14] | 1 |
Chart (1971) | Rank |
---|---|
Canada Top Singles (RPM) [15] | 16 |
US R&B (Billboard) [16] | 3 |
US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual) [17] | 9 |
Chart (1972) | Rank |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100 [18] | 79 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [19] | 11 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [20] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
"Family Affair" has been heavily covered, with versions by Tyrone Davis, The Brothers Johnson, MFSB, Iggy Pop, Bunny Wailer, Andrew Roachford, and many more. The song's drum machine-created rhythm was duplicated in several early to mid-1970s recordings, in particular The Temptations' "Let Your Hair Down" (1973), and Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (1974).
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers performed a Go-go rendition for the album Go Go Swing Live (1986).
Madonna featured this song as an intro to "Keep It Together" on her Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. Australian singer Stephen Cummings released a version as the second single from his fifth studio album, Good Humour . A rap-infused, danceable cover was released by German Milli Vanilli spinoff band Try 'N' B in 1992. Another retooled cover was done in 1993 by Shabba Ranks featuring Patra and Terri & Monica as a single for the Addams Family Values soundtrack. This version charted on the Billboard pop chart at number 84, number 16 on the R&B chart, and number-six on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. Prince sampled the song on his track "Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This?".
"Family Affair" | |
---|---|
Single by MFSB | |
from the album MFSB | |
Released | 1973 |
Recorded | 1972 |
Genre | |
Length | 2:15 |
Label | Philadelphia International |
Songwriter(s) | Sly Stone |
Producer(s) | Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff |
Official audio | |
"Family Affair" on YouTube |
MFSB recorded an instrumental version of the song as their debut single, from their 1973 debut album MFSB .
Chart (1993) | Peak position |
---|---|
Europe (European Dance Radio) [21] | 8 |
UK Club Chart ( Music Week ) [22] | 32 |
US Billboard Hot 100 | 84 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks ( Billboard ) | 16 |
US Hot Rap Tracks ( Billboard ) | 6 |
US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales ( Billboard ) | 11 |
MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bell, and backed up Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O'Jays, the Stylistics, the Spinners, Wilson Pickett, and Billy Paul.
"Everyday People" is a 1968 song composed by Sly Stone and first recorded by his band, Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It held that position on the Hot 100 for four weeks, from February 9 to March 8, 1969, and is remembered as one of the most popular songs of the 1960s. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song of 1969.
"Stoned Love" is a 1970 hit single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the last Billboard Pop Top Ten hit for the group, peaking at number seven, and their last Billboard number-one R&B hit as well, although the trio continued to score top ten hits in the UK into 1972. In the UK, it was the post-Ross Supremes' biggest hit, reaching number 3 in the singles chart. The single spent six weeks in the UK top ten and five weeks in the US top ten. The BBC ranked "Stoned Love" at number 99 on The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart, which ranks Motown releases solely on their all time UK downloads and streams.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the American group Sly and the Family Stone. It was first released on November 21, 1970, by Epic Records. The album includes all of the singles from the albums Dance to the Music (1968), Life (1968), and Stand! (1969).
"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" is a song originally performed by Motown recording act the Undisputed Truth in 1972, though it became much better known after a Grammy-award winning cover by the Temptations was issued later the same year. This latter version of the song became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
"TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" is a 1974 recording by MFSB featuring vocals by The Three Degrees. It was written by Gamble and Huff as the theme for the American musical television program Soul Train, which specialized in African American musical performers. The single was released on the Philadelphia International Records label. It was the first television theme song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 19 song of 1970.
"Spanish Harlem" is a song recorded by Ben E. King in 1960 for Atco Records. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. "Spanish Harlem" was King's first hit away from The Drifters, peaking at number 15 on Billboard's rhythm and blues and number 10 in pop music chart.
"I Want to Take You Higher" is a song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit "Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music. Like nearly all of Sly & the Family Stone's songs, Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was credited as the sole songwriter.
"Hot Fun in the Summertime" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The single was released just prior to the band's high-profile performance at Woodstock, which greatly expanded their fanbase. The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, kept out of the number 1 spot by "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations. "Hot Fun in the Summertime" also peaked at number 3 on the U.S. Billboard soul singles chart in autumn 1969. It is ranked as the seventh biggest U.S. hit of 1969, and the 65th in Canada.
Cloud Nine is the ninth studio album by American musical group The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1969.
"If You Want Me to Stay" is a 1973 hit single by Sly and the Family Stone, from their album Fresh.
"I've Been Loving You Too Long" (originally "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)") is a soul music ballad written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler. Considered by music critics and writers to be one of Redding's finest performances and a soul classic, it is a slow, emotional piece with Redding's pleading vocals backed by producer Steve Cropper's arpeggiated guitar parts and a horn section.
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", sometimes known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was first recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles; released as a single that November, it became the first song by an African-American girl group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It has since been recorded by many other artists, including King on her 1971 album Tapestry.
"You Send Me" is a song written and originally recorded by American singer Sam Cooke, released as a single in 1957 by Keen Records. Produced by Bumps Blackwell and arranged and conducted by René Hall. The song, Cooke's debut single, was a massive commercial success, becoming a No. 1 hit on both Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart and the Billboard Hot 100.
"Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, that has been a hit for many artists in different genres in the years since. The best-known versions are by the Carpenters in 1971, Luther Vandross in 1983, and Sonic Youth in 1994.
"Under the Boardwalk" is a pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by the Drifters in 1964. It charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 22, 1964. The song has since been covered by many other artists, with versions by Bette Midler, Sam & Dave, Tom Tom Club, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joe Royal, The Beach Boys, Bruce Willis, Bad Boys Blue, John Mellencamp and Lynn Anderson all charting in the United States or overseas. The song ranked number 487 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and number 489 in 2010.
"I'll Be Around" is a song recorded by the American R&B vocal group The Spinners. It was co-written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt and produced by Bell.
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released later that year on November 1 by Epic Records. The recording was dominated by band frontman/songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension.
"And On and On" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson from her second remix album Janet Remixed (1995). As the B-side to "Any Time, Any Place", "And On and On" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number one as a B-side on the Cash Box chart in the summer of 1994.