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Sly Stone, Family Stone Architect Who Fused Funk, Rock, and Soul, Dead at 82

Sly Stone, the wildly inventive musician and head of Sly & the Family Stone who fused rock, funk and soul, has died at age 82.

At the peak of his success, when hits like “Dance to the Music” and “Everyday People” were high on the charts, the wildly inventive musician and singer presented a glowingly optimistic image in step with the times, bringing together black and white audiences, uplifting crowds with electrifying shows. Sly & the Family Stone’s soaring performance of “I Want to Take You Higher” at Woodstock in 1969 was a triumph of that era, and the band finished the decade with an enormous hit: “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” whose joyful funk masked the existential horror and lacerating sarcasm of its lyrics. He married Kathy Silva on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in 1974, but within months, the band had broken up, and the marriage, which produced a son, Sylvester Jr., didn’t last much longer.

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