Sly Stone is a sad case. The latest reports have the 70 year old Sly Stone as homeless and living in a camper van in Los Angeles. He made brilliant music for 5 years then checked out of the building for the next 40 years.
In his prime nobody could touch Sly Stone...not Marvin Gaye, not Stevie Wonder, not even James Brown. The PCP, cocaine and heroin completely destroyed his abundant musical talents.
Saddest part of all: Sly sold the rights to his entire catalog of music to Michael Jackson for a mere $1 million in 1984. Sly's catalog of music currently generates $3-5 million dollars a year in royalty payments for the estate of the deceased Michael Jackson, while Sly lives in a van by the river.
I used to think Sly would eventually return to the land of the living with a comeback album that would make believers out of everyone. I gave up on Sly's comeback when I saw the horrible corpse-like condition he was in at his 2006 Grammy appearance. It's painful to have to sit around for 30 years waiting for the inevitable announcement of his death from an overdose.
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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt
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