Sly Stone has admitted he may never make music again because he’s too ill.
The 80-year-old musician is battling a number of serious health issues including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hearing problems as well as having trouble with his voice — and fears he’s too sick to ever step back into the studio again.
“I have trouble with my lungs, trouble with my voice, trouble with my hearing and trouble with the rest of my body, too … [The issues] haven’t stopped me from hearing music, but they have stopped me from making it … I can hear music in my mind,” he told the Guardian newspaper.
The Sly and the Family Stone front man spent years battling an addiction to crack cocaine but finally got clean in 2019 after doctors warned him it could cost him his life.
“They told me that if I kept smoking, I would ruin my lungs or I might die … I just decided [to get clean]. From the way I was feeling, I took it serious this time. Once I decided, it just happened,” he said of his addiction issues.
After getting sober, the star started work on telling his life story in new book Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and he revealed the time wasn’t right until after he got clean.
“I always wanted to tell my story, partly because not everybody knew my side of the story on some things. But the time wasn’t right and I wasn’t ready. When I got clean in 2019, that let the process start,” he added.
The book is due for release on Oct. 17 while his story will also be told in an upcoming documentary being directed by Questlove. The currently untitled project will air on Hulu and focus on the singer and his band.
The film’s synopsis reads: “Oscar-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson directs his sophomore feature documentary follow-up to “Summer of Soul,” examining the life and legacy of Sly and the Family Stone, the groundbreaking band led by the charismatic and enigmatic Sly Stone. This film tells the story behind the rise, reign and fadeout of one of pop music’s most influential artists and, in doing so, tells a very human story about the cost of genius.”
