Sly and the Family Stone was an American band originating from San Francisco,California. Active from 1966 to 1983,they were pivotal in the development of funk,soul,R&B,rock,and psychedelic music. Their core line-up was led by singer-songwriter,record producer,and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone,and included Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone,sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone,trumpeter Cynthia Robinson,drummer Greg Errico,saxophonist Jerry Martini,and bassist Larry Graham. The band was the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated,mixed-gender lineup.
Sylvester Stewart,better known by his stage name Sly Stone,is an American musician,songwriter,and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone,playing a critical role in the development of funk with his pioneering fusion of soul,rock,psychedelia and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. AllMusic stated that "James Brown may have invented funk,but Sly Stone perfected it," and credited him with "creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds." Crawdaddy! has called him "the founder of progressive soul".
Graham Central Station was an American funk band named after founder Larry Graham. The name is a pun on New York City's Grand Central Terminal,often colloquially called Grand Central Station.
"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.
Stand! is the fourth album by soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone,released in April 1969. Written and produced by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone,Stand! is considered an artistic high-point of the band's career. Released by Epic Records,just before the group's celebrated performance at the Woodstock festival,it became the band's most commercially successful album to date. It includes several well-known songs,among them hit singles,such as "Sing a Simple Song","I Want to Take You Higher","Stand!",and "Everyday People". The album was reissued in 1990 on compact disc and vinyl,and again in 2007 as a remastered numbered edition digipack CD with bonus tracks and,in the UK,as only a CD with bonus tracks.
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).
A Whole New Thing is the debut album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone,released in 1967 on Epic/CBS Records. The album was released to mixed criticism and failed to make an impact from a commercial standpoint and did not chart. CBS Records executive Clive Davis prevailed upon band leader Sly Stone to create a more commercial album;the result was the album Dance to the Music. Unlike later Sly and the Family Stone albums,A Whole New Thing was recorded live in the studio instead of being overdubbed and featured less of a pop feel than later releases such as Dance to the Music and Stand!. The lead vocals are shared between Sly Stone,Freddie Stone,and Larry Graham;Rose Stone would not join the band until they began work on Dance to the Music.
Dance to the Music is the second studio album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone,released in 1968 on Epic/CBS Records. It contains the Top Ten hit single of the same name,which was influential in the formation and popularization of the musical subgenre of psychedelic soul and helped lay the groundwork for the development of funk music.
Life is the third studio album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone,released in September 1968 on Epic/CBS Records. The album was titled M'Lady in the United Kingdom.
"Dance to the Music" is a 1967 hit single by soul/funk/rock band Sly and the Family Stone for the Epic/CBS Records label. It was the first single by the band to reach the Billboard Pop Singles Top 10,peaking at #8 and the first to popularize the band's sound,which would be emulated throughout the black music industry and dubbed "psychedelic soul". It was later ranked #223 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"Stand!" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly and the Family Stone Issued as a single that year by Epic Records,it reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the Hot Soul Songs charts.
"Sing a Simple Song" is a 1968 song by the soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone,the B-side to their #1 hit "Everyday People". The song's lyrics,sung in turn by Sly Stone,Freddie Stone,Rose Stone,and Larry Graham,with spoken word sections by Cynthia Robinson,offer a simple solution for dealing with the problems and paradoxes of existence:"Sing a simple song!" As with nearly all of Sly and the Family Stone's songs,Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was credited as the sole songwriter.
"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.
"Everybody Is a Star",released in December 1969,is song written by Sylvester Stewart and recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song,released as the B-side to the band's 1970 single "Thank You ",reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970 at a time when chart position for both sides of the single were measured equally and not independently. "Star" was intended to be included on an in-progress album with "Thank You" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime";the LP was never completed,and the three tracks were instead included on the band's 1970 Greatest Hits compilation. The single was the final classic-era Family Stone recording;it would be 23 months until the next release,the single "Family Affair" in late 1971.
"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.
"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 "/ "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. 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.
High on You is the first solo album by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone,released by Epic/CBS Records in 1975. The Family Stone broke up in January 1975 after a disastrous booking at the Radio City Music Hall. At this point,most of the band members parted company with Stone,except for trumpeter Cynthia Robinson,his brother guitarist Freddie Stone,and backup singers Little Sister. With subsequent recordings,Stone returned to using the name of his former band,although they were largely solo recordings.
"If You Want Me to Stay" is a 1973 hit single by Sly and the Family Stone,from their album Fresh.
Graham Central Station is the self-titled debut album by former Sly and the Family Stone bass player Larry Graham's new band,"Graham Central Station".
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.
