The Highs and Lows of Sly and the Family Stone

At 11 years old, Sylvester Stewart had already mastered the guitar, bass, keyboard and drums. As Sly Stone, he and the Family Stone made the big time with one hit after another. Sly also became a big-time drug user, which proved to be his undoing."Dance to the Music" was one of their hit songs. Here, you can watch a clip of the band performing it on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1968. They began the song with a snippet from another one of their hits, "Everyday People."And here, you can listen to "Family Affair," the band's last No. 1 record.Also, check out the trailer for the 2025 Hulu Original documentary "SLY LIVES! aka The Burden of Black Genius." In the chapters, there's a photo of Stone performing on the program "Midnight Special" in October 1973. It's credited to NBC and is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons. You can see a larger version here.The thumbnail shot, which also is in the chapters, is from 1982 and is credited to Mark Sarfati for the East Bay Express. It's available under the license CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. You can access the photo here.Fun fact: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's recent ceremony at Madison Square Garden wasn't the venue's first celebrity wedding. On June 5, 1974, Stone married Kathy Silva, an occasional actress and the mother of Stone's child, at M.S.G. (which is how The New Yorker referred to Madison Square Garden in its follow-up article). Reportedly, the marriage didn't last long.Anyway, back to the thumbnail: The art that frames two sides of the photo was created by Bob Jones. Credit for this episode goes to Song of the Day creator Sheldon Zoldan, who researched, wrote and narrated this short story, one of 35 tributes to music stars who passed away in 2025. Song of the Day used to be a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. Sheldon ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.Send us Fan MailThis is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.