Sly Stone turned 80 this week

Silvia S. Castello © 🎼
2 min readMar 18, 2023

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à suivre. Sly’s memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is set to be published on September 28th, 2023 via White Rabbit Books.

Sly Stone, The 1979 album “Back on the Right Track”, Sly & The Family Stone

One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer who created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock; penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and 70s, from “Everyday People” to “Family Affair”; and electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop culture performance. Yet he has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of sight as for what put him in the spotlight in the first place. As much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery. In Thank You, his much-anticipated memoir, he’s finally ready to share his story — a story that many thought he’d never have the chance to tell. Written with Ben Greenman, who has written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson among others, Thank You will include a foreword by Questlove. The book was created in collaboration with Sly Stone’s manager Arlene Hirschkowitz.

“For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story,” says Stone. “I wasn’t ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It’s been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too.” (via Hachette UK)

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Silvia S. Castello © 🎼

Autrice/Artiste, UK Royal Reporter. (Journaliste, già correspondant diplomatique près le Saint-Siège). American Notes. Cultural Politics & Ideas