“Sly Lives” (2025) / Z-View

Sly Lives (2025)

Director:  Questlove

Stars: Sly Stone, Greg Errico, Larry Graham, Jerry Martini, Vernon Reid, D’Angelo, Cynthia Robinson, Clive Davis, Jimmy Jam, Nile Rodgers, Terry Lewis, André 3000, George Clinton  and Chaka Khan.

Tagline: Baited…by a million dollars – and all they had to do was REACH!

The Plot…

Follows the rise and fall of Sly Stone.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

At the age of 19, Sly Stone (whose real name was Sylvester Stewart) was a popular LA disc jokey and record producer.  He started the group Sly and the Family Stone.  At the time they were unique because of the group’s make-up (men and women, multiple races).  Sly wrote and produced many of their songs.

Some of Sly and the Family Stone hits include: Dance to the Music, Everyday People, Stand!, I Want to Take You Higher, Hot Fun in the Summertime, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and Everybody Is a Star.

The band’s popularity was on the rise, they were selling out concerts with multiple hit records and then Sly became addicted to drugs.  This led to him being late or even missing show dates.  His output dwindled along with the band’s popularity.  Multiple drug arrests, the breakup of the band and continued drug dependency…

Yet, Sly Stone’s music stood the test of time.  Sly and the Family Stone influenced many other bands of the era.  A younger generation of song writers discovered and sampled his music.  It took years but Sly Stone finally got his life together.

Sly Lives! is an excellent documentary that presents the life and career of Sly Stone… warts and all.

Sly Lives (2025) rates 5 of 5 stars