Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart

Sly Stone
Sly Stone performs with the Family Stone in 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Sylvester Stewart
Born	(1943-03-15) March 15, 1943 (age 74) Denton, Texas, United States
Genres	Funk, rock, soul, psychedelia
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician, producer
Instruments	Vocals, organ, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonica
Years active	1952–present
Labels	Epic Records, Warner Bros., Cleopatra
Associated acts	Joe Piazza and the Continentals, The Viscaynes, Sly and the Family Stone
Website	www.slystonemusic.com

Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart, March 15, 1943, Denton, Texas) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group.

The Stewart family was a deeply religious middle-class household from Denton, Texas. Born March 15, 1943, before the family had moved from Denton, Texas to Vallejo, California in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sylvester was the second of the family's five children.

As part of the doctrines of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), to which the Stewart family belonged, the parents - K.C and Alpha Stewart - encouraged musical expression in the household. Sylvester and his brother Freddie along with their sisters Rose and Vaetta formed "The Stewart Four" as children, performing gospel music in the Church of God in Christ and even recording a single local release 78 rpm single, "On the Battlefield" b/w "Walking in Jesus' Name", in 1952. The eldest sister, Loretta, was the only Stewart child not to pursue a musical career. All of the other Stewart children would later adopt the surname "Stone" and become members of Sly & the Family Stone.

Sylvester was identified as a musical prodigy. By the time he was seven, Sylvester had already become proficient on the keyboards, and by the age of eleven, he had mastered the guitar, bass, and drums as well. While still in high school, Sylvester had settled primarily on the guitar, and joined a number of high school bands. One of these was the Viscaynes, a doo-wop group in which Sylvester and his friend Frank Arellano—who was Filipino—were the only non-white members. The fact that the group was integrated made the Viscaynes "hip" in the eyes of their audiences, and would later inspire Sylvester's idea of the multicultural Family Stone. The Viscaynes released a few local singles, including "Yellow Moon" and "Stop What You Are"; during the same period, Sylvester also recorded a few solo singles under the name Danny Stewart. With his brother, Fred, he formed several short-lived groups, like the Stewart Bros.