YEAR
1993
INDUCTED BY
George Clinton (Parliament Funkadelic)
CATEGORY
Performers
They took us higher.
Sly and the Family Stone were a brief glimpse of utopia. Their songs were more than danceable hits—they were a force for positive change. When Sly and the Family Stone played, we all got along. We were part of the family.
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Harry Weigner
Sly Stone was very cool. Shirtless, vested, the languorous look, one eye cocked, mouth half-open as if caught laughing at his own joke. Freddie, Rosie, Gregg, Larry, Cynthia and Jerry were the Family, and we were the children.
The bikers, the stoners, a butcher, a banker, the longhaired hippies and the Afro-ed blacks, we were all Everyday People. Sly Stone alone created that mix. And when he raised two long fingers skyward at Woodstock, we went wherever he wanted to take us — literally, spiritually, eventually.