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Originally Posted by Gavin B.
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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Michael Jackson tried returning Sly Stone's music to him before he died. I think Little Richards music was in that Sony ATV catalogue along with other artists music and Michael returned Little Richards music to him. I am not sure if Sly has reached out to the MJ Estate but there is no doubt in my mind that if Sly really wanted his music all these years Michael would have returned his music since he has done it in the past.
We already know that Sly has had substance abuse issues for years but another big portion of why things turned out badly for Sly is because his record label/manager screwed him over. Here is a link to an article that discusses that Sly was in the workings of suing his manager for tricking him into a contract. Now I do not know how true this is but alot of black artists from his era are now broke, poor and living on the streets because of how their labels treated them.
Funk Legend Sly Stone Homeless and Living in a Van - The Hollywood Reporter