![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thefleetmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Sly-Stone-Mariage.webp\")
This took place June 5, 1974, so no, it wasn\u2019t televised, but Ebony\/Jet, Right On!, Rock & Soul, Rolling Stone, and Billboard surely covered it. This was reality TV before Reality TV! They were divorced less than two years later, and a year after that, Sly divorced from his band, Sly & The Family Stone. But what happened before that was probably the greatest 7-year run in music history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1941, Sly Stone was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas; however, he was raised in the Bay Area of Northern California. Sly and his family were raised in the church. They even released music at a young age as the Stewart Four, getting their first taste of the music business. In high school, he joined a racially mixed doo-wop group called the Viscaynes. This was just a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thefleetmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Viscaynes-1.jpg\")
After high school, Stone studied music at Vallejo Junior College. He also began writing and producing for a local record label, Autumn Records. He experienced success before he was 20 years old by writing and producing multiple Top 40 Pop hits for R&B singer Bobby Freeman, and several white bands, including the Beau Brummels, the Mojo Men, and The Great Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Radio became another calling for young Sly. After attending Chris Borden\u2019s School of Radio, he was featured on two Bay Area radio stations: San Francisco\u2019s KSOL-FM and later KDIA-AM in Oakland. He played rock, pop, and of course, soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sly now had all the tools for what was about to go down. When it was time to create a band, he went to his family (who else!). Brother Freddie had a band, Freddie & The Stone Souls, as did Sly with Sly & The Stoners. The two joined forces to create Sly & The Family Stone. Drummer Greg Errico came along with
Freddie, and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson from Sly\u2019s band. Bassist Larry Graham was Cynthia\u2019s cousin; keyboardist Rose Stone was Freddie and Sly’s sister. Saxophonist Jerry Martini suggested the two bands consolidate. They all made up Sly & The Family Stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sly & The Family Stone was one of the first nationally known interracial bands and the first interracial\/intersexual band. Their lyrics were not as colorful as Motown\u2019s, but more like Curtis Mayfield\u2019s. They were gritty like the Southern STAX sound with some James Brown and Bay Area rock and pop elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sly & The Family Stone\u2019s first album, A Whole New Thing<\/em>, released in 1967, made little noise. Their second album, Dance to the Music<\/em>, featured their first Top 10 song, which shared the same title as the album. Their third album, Life<\/em>, was released in 1968 and followed the same theme as their previous records. Sly & The Family Stone finally made their breakthrough with 1969\u2019s “Stand!<\/a>,” featuring multiple signature songs and setting them up for the landmark Woodstock festival. Sly & The Family Stone, and definitely Sly, were now on top of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The band was hot, and their record label (Epic Records) quickly released a Greatest Hits album full of past hits and new songs. One of the songs featured is the spaced-out titled \u201cThank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).<\/a>\u201d Innovation not only came in the quirky title, but in the playing style of bassist Larry Graham. Larry was the first to use the slap bass technique that other bassists began to imitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n