Sly: the Lives of Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone chronicles the ascent, downfall, and reemergence of one of music s most gifted and controversial artists. Music industry veteran Eddie Santiago traces Stone s life and career from his formative days in Vallejo, CA to his work as a radio disc jockey in San Francisco where he was considered by many to be the nation s first shock jock. The book follows Stone from his days as a songwriter and producer for Autumn Records (where he scored hits for Bobby Freeman and the Beau Brummels and worked on sessions with the precursor to Jefferson Airplane) to the formation of Sly and the Family Stone whose original members also included Rose Stone, Freddie Stone, Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, Greg Errico, and Jerry Martini.

Sly takes readers to the heights of the band s acclaimed live performances at the Fillmore and Woodstock to the depths of the riots that ruined the band s reputation to the descent into drug addiction that destroyed the band. The book places Sly Stone and his music in the context of the counterculture, Civil Rights, anti-Vietnam War, and Black Power movements that rocked the 60s. Santiago speculates whether Stone was a target of the FBI s notorious surveillance program that sought to neutralize powerful public figures. Santiago also considers Stone s work in the context of peers like James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Wonder and artists who have been influenced by Stone such as George Clinton, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Prince. Sly also examines Stone s influence on hip hop music and the use of his songs in film and advertising.