Sly Stone, who led Sly and the Family Stone, the biracial, mixed-gender psychedelic soul-rock-funk group, has announced his memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). The title arrives on Oct. 17, 2023. Stone, who turned 80 on March 13, led the band to great success, scoring hits like “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People” and “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” Sly and the Family Stone were one of the most celebrated acts at the 1969 Woodstock festival and the documentary film made of the event. The book is written with Ben Greenman, who has also collaborated with Brian Wilson and George Clinton on their memoirs. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who is working on a documentary about Stone, is the founder of the title’s U.S. publishing imprint, AUWA, and has penned the book’s foreword. Pre-order it here.
“For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story, [but] I wasn’t ready,” said Stone said in the announcement. “I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It’s been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too.”
From the March 22 book announcement: One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer and a legend. He created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock. As a songwriter, he penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and ’70s, from “Everyday People” to “Family Affair.” As a performer, he electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop-culture performance.
Yet his life has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of the spotlight as for what put him there in the first place. People know the music, but the man remains a mystery. In Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), his much-anticipated memoir, he’s finally ready to share his story—a story that many thought he’d never have the chance to tell.
Related: The story behind Sly’s “Dance to the Music”
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationLooking forward to the detailed memoir.
A true trailblazer, indeed, during the late 60s and early 70s, who unfortunately became a shooting star.
IMO, Sly & The Family Stone was an engulfing and energetic live band, and whose recordings were generally very well-engineered.
I still enjoy zooming out to that early combo of funk, rock, and r&b they created from that era.
I don’t know if it is considered rare, but I have a vinyl L.P. in my collection, of Sly Stone and Billy Preston, entitled “Organ Transplant” (1970).
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I recall a review of an advance copy of Fresh and the reviewer raving over it. Several months later the same reviewer was less than impressed with the album as it had been remixed.