Sly Stone – born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas on March 15, 1943 – was a
child prodigy and had already been performing music for years before taking up a
job in the mid-1960s as a radio DJ in San Francisco, California. This eventually
led to him taking a job as a staff producer in 1966 for the fledgling Autumn
Records and working with artists like the Beau Brummels and Grace Slick’s first
band, the Great Society. Already very familiar with soul, funk and R&B sounds of
the day, Sly Stone’s exposure to rock, pop, and psychedelia sparked an idea in
his mind and he formed a band...