Music

Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone died Monday (June 9) at age 82, and the music community is grieving the groundbreaking funk pioneer.
Questlove, who directed the new documentary Sly Lives (aka The Burden of Black Genius), shared a touching tribute on Instagram.

“Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, left this earth today, but the changes he sparked while here will echo forever. From the moment his music reached me in the early 1970s, it became a part of my soul. Sly was a giant — not just for his groundbreaking work with the Family Stone, but for the radical inclusivity and deep human truths he poured into every note,” he wrote. “His songs weren’t just about fighting injustice; they were about transforming the self to transform the world. He dared to be simple in the most complex ways — using childlike joy, wordless cries, and nursery rhyme cadences to express adult truths. His work looked straight at the brightest and darkest parts of life and demanded we do the same.”

The Roots drummer also highlighted two lines that “haunt me” as he reflected on his legacy: “We deserve everything we get in this life” from Sly Lives! and “We got to live together” from the group’s 1968 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Everyday People.” “Once idealistic, now I hear it as a command. Sly’s music will likely speak to us even more now than it did then. Thank you, Sly. You will forever live,” Questlove continued.

Public Enemy‘s Chuck D thanked Questlove “for keeping his FIRE blazing in this Century” on X while sharing an illustration of Stone and Questlove. He posted more artwork of the psychedelic soul group while writing, “………and The Family Stone Rest In Beats SLY.”

Trending on Billboard

Legendary record executive Clive Davis, who worked with the group when it signed to CBS Records in 1967, wrote in a statement to Billboard, “Sly was truly one of a kind. I had the very special experience of knowing him when he was at his most creative, his hardest working and his genius flourishing vibrantly. Sly’s artistry influenced so many of our important creative talents. He will be forever missed.”

KISS frontman Paul Stanley remembered seeing Sly and the Family Stone “debut at the Fillmore East in New York City opening for Jimi Hendrix. They were a freight train of bombastic, joyous SouI that would soon climb the charts and change the sound of R&B for so many other artists. Rest In Soul!” he wrote on X.

Holly Robinson Pete also celebrated Stone’s pioneering efforts. “You didn’t just make music—you shifted the culture. As kids in Philly, my brother played Sly, I was Cynthia on my imaginary horn. We lived your music. You gave us the groove & the message. Thank you, genius,” she wrote on X.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posted an in memoriam tribute thread on X, including a clip of Stone’s acceptance speech during a very rare public appearance when he and the group were induced in 1993. The Rock Hall praised Sly and the Family Stone for making “it possible for Black popular music to burst free on its own terms” and “extending the boundaries of pop and R&B with each new song,” while hailing its 1969 Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” the double A-side single with “Everybody Is a Star,” for helping “create the sonic blueprint for the funk and disco genres that followed.”