By Marco della Cava, USA Today | Sly Stone, a onetime San Francisco DJ turned pop and funk music innovator, has died. He was 82.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone,” a statement shared with USA TODAY on June 9 reads. “After a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family.
“While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come.”
After huge chart-topping success in the 1960s and 1970s, Stone had become an enigmatic and largely reclusive figure plagued by homelessness and health issues. He also had endured financial problems amid management disputes, at one point winning a $5 million judgment for unpaid royalties that was later overturned. In one dire period, reports indicated that the Woodstock icon was living in a van in Los Angeles.
But despite such misfortunes, the music created by the Texas-born California transplant and his trendsetting multi-racial, multi-gendered Bay Area band, the Family Stone, had never stopped being a touchstone for generations of musicians.
Among Stone’s oft-covered but never matched hits are “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Stand!” and the infectious and phonetically titled funk anthem, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”
The statement from Stone’s family hailed him as “a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk and rock music,” one whose songs “have left an indelible mark on the world, and his influence remains undeniable.”
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Read more here and about an upcoming biopic on Mr. Stone:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/funk-pioneer-sly-stone-leader-of-sly-and-the-family-stone-dies-at-82/
Contributing: KiMi Robinson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Funk pioneer Sly Stone, leader of Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/06/09/sly-stone-dead-sly-and-the-family-stone-copd/75210078007/