Sly Stone Lives In A Van, By Choice
LOS ANGELES (CBS SF) - There's a new chapter in the strange and fascinating story of Sylvester Stewart, better known to the world as Sly Stone. The soul and funk legend currently resides in a van in Los Angeles.
According to the New York Post, the singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist lives in a white van in the Crenshaw section of L.A., the neighborhood where the movie "Boyz n the Hood" was filmed. He once lived in a Beverly Hills mansion and as little as four years ago resided in a large house, here in the Napa Valley, reports the Post.
"I like my small camper," Stone says, his voice raspy with age and years of hard living. "I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving."
Stone records music on a laptop computer inside the van. The Post reports Stone is paranoid and thinks the FBI is after him.
With his band Sly and the Family Stone, Stone had a multitude of hits and was directly responsible, along with contemporaries such as Stevie Wonder and James Brown, for shaping the sound of funk and soul music in the 1960s and 1970s. Sly and the Family Stone's singles include the number one hits "Everyday People," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Family Affair."
The original Bay Area band dissolved in 1975 after Stone's increasingly erratic behavior and alleged drug abuse. Over the years, he's become almost as famous for being a recluse as he is for his music. In 2006, he gave a performance at the Grammys - his first in about 19 years - that received mixed reviews.
Stone tells the Post he started having serious money problems in 2009, stemming from a bad management contract he signed in 1989. He has sued the manager with whom he made that deal.
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