Sly Stone Dies at 82

Sly Stone, a groundbreaking musician who crossed the lines separating rock, pop, funk, and soul to produce a string of often celebratory hits in the late 1960s and early '70s — including "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday People"—died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 82. A family statement said the cause was a "prolonged battled with COPD and other underlying health issues," Rolling Stone reports. "While we mourn his absence," his family said, "we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come."

Sylvester Stewart's first single, "On the Battlefield for My Lord," was recorded with his siblings as the Stewart Four in 1952. He moved to California for college, then became a DJ and generally part of the Bay Area music scene, producing records such as "Somebody to Love" for Grace Slick's band the Great Society. "In radio, I found out about a lot of things I don't like," Stone later said. "Like, I think there shoudn't be 'Black radio.' Just radio. Everybody be a part of everything." He had formed the Sly and the Family Stone by 1967, which included two siblings and two cousins. The band hit big with "Dance to the Music" in 1968, in which their voices and instruments alternated.

He experimented with elements of R&B, soul, and gospel, per the New York Times, combining classic Black music with funk the emerging psychedelic rock 'n' roll. At peak fame in 1969, the band played the Woodstock festival, per USA Today, lifting the crowd with "I Want to Take You Higher." The band fell apart as Stone's drug abuse and erratic behavior deepened. He and Kathy Silva married onstage before 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden in 1974; soon after that, the band and marriage were over. Stone repeatedly was arrested for cocaine possession in the 1980s, and he once served 14 months in a rehab center. But his music continued to influence others.

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Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock were inspired to incorporate electric instruments and funk grooves into jazz by his early hits, per Rolling Stone, and Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among those who covered Sly & the Family Stone songs. His influence also was heard in the music of George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson. "There was Black music before Sly Stone," critic Joel Selvin said, "and Black music after Sly Stone." (More obituary stories.)