Music legend Sly Stone was once flying high among the stars as the front man of the iconic ’60s and ’70s funk band Sly & The Family Stone. But now the funk star has sadly plummeted back to Earth as he was recently found to be homeless and living in a white camper van in Los Angeles.
According to The New York Post, who found the musician, born Sylvester Stewart, claim Stone’s homelessness is the result of excessive spending, drug use and financial mismanagement. Stone now lives in his white van, marked with the words “Pleasure Way” on the side, and receives assistance from a retired couple and their son who live on a residential street in the Crenshaw neighborhood where Stone typically parks. The couple allows Stone to shower in their home and provides him a meal a day and their son acts as Stone’s assistant and driver as he continues to make music with his laptop computer.
“I like my small camper,” Stone said to the Post. “I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving.”
Stone’s dismal situation comes as a shock, as the extremely reclusive artist previously lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills, and just four years ago, could be found residing in a Napa Valley “compound,” replete with a vineyard in the back and multiple cars in his driveway.
Stone blames his former music manager, Jerry Goldstein, for his financial crisis and is currently suing him for $50 million, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalty payments. Clearly paranoid, Stone shared that he believes he is being hunted down by the FBI and that his enemies have hired hit men to kill him.
“My music is a format that will encourage you to have a song you won’t forget. That’s why I got so much money, that there are so many people around, and that’s why I am in court. Millions of dollars!” Stone said.
Stone claims to have recorded hundreds of new songs in his van that he keeps to himself but is wary of signing with another record label.
“But, with new energy, it will feel good to step on stage,” he says. “I see all the guys playing those old songs. Let these guys know, like Lady Gaga, let me come in, just let me come in and pay me if you like it.”
Though Stone seemed optimistic about his music, the 68-year-old funk star pleaded with the Post to help him get off the streets.
“But now please tell everybody, please, to give me a job, play my music. I’m tired of all this s–t, man,” said Stone.
–nicholas robinson
