Sylvester Stewart was born on 15 March, 1943 in Denton, Texas USA, to mother Alpha and father K.C. A singer, musician, song writer and record producer, Sly Stone is most famous for his role as the frontman of the late 60’s to early 70’s band Sly and the Family Stone, who brought hard funk into the mainstream.
So just how rich is Sly Stone? It has been estimated that the overall amount of his net worth is over $5 milloion as of early 2016, accumulated during his music career now spanning nearly 50 years.
Sly Stone Net Worth $5 Million
Stone’s family moved to San Francisco in 1950s, where he, along with his three siblings, began singing gospel music at an early age, forming The Stewart Four group in the Church of God In Christ. By the age of eleven, he had already mastered the guitar, bass and drums, settling primarily on the guitar and joining several local bands. After Vallejo High School, Stone went on to study trumpet, music theory and composition at Vallejo Junior College, forming a few short-lived bands with his brother Fred. He also recorded a few solo singles under the name Danny Stewart. In the mid-60s, he worked as a DJ for KDIA and KSOL radio stations, the radio work leading him to become a staff record producer for Autumn Records. His net worth was well established.
In 1966 he formed The Stoners with his brother and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, and later they started his next band, Sly and the Family Stone, which included Jerry Martini, Larry Graham, Greg Errico and later Stone’s sister Rosie. Being comprised of men and women, blacks and whites made the band distinctive and the first fully integrated one in rock music history. With their hit singles such as “Dance to the Music”, “Everyday People”, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “Thank you”, as well as with their appearance at Woodstock in 1969, the band became one of the biggest names in music. However, while the band was at the height of its popularity, Sly was developing a drug addiction, which made him arrive late for concerts, and frequently even miss the show. This certainly affected the whole band, and its popularity began to decline after 1970, and it soon disbanded.
Stone went on as a solo artist, producing several albums while also collaborating with other artists, however, his addiction sapped him of his once prodigious talents. He took a few stabs at comebacks during the 1980s, but was unable to restore his career. After being arrested for cocaine possession in 1983, he entered rehab the following year. His life, however, didn’t improve and soon he was arrested and imprisoned with the same problem. In 1993 he appeared at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony along with the Family Stone, and also at the 2006 Grammy Awards. He made a few short appearances together with his former band during the next three years. In 2010 he made headlines by suing his former manager Jerry Goldstein for using fraudulent practices to convince him to deliver the rights to his songs to Goldstein. The jury ruled in favor of Stone, awarding him $5 million. The following year, Stone released “I’m back! Family and Friends”, his first album since 1982, containing mostly remixes and covers of his old material.
In his less-than-private personal life, in 1974 Sly married model-turned-actress Kathy Silva, however, the couple filed for divorce in 1976 after having a son, Sylvester Jr.. Stone has a daughter Sylvette with his former band-mate, the late Cynthia Robinson who died of cancer in late 2015. Stone’s younger daughter – mother unidentified – Novena Carmel is also a singer.
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