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Sly Stone's Higher Power

David Kamp, Vanity Fair, August 2007

Sly Stone vanished into rumor in the 1980s, remembered only by the great songs ('I Want to Take You Higher', 'Dance to the Music') he left behind. What's become of the funky leader of the Family Stone since he forsook his Woodstock-era utopianism for darkness, drugs, and isolation? After a few sightings – most notoriously at the 2006 Grammys – DAVID KAMP tracked the last of the rock recluses to a Bay Area biker shop, to scope out where Stone's been, where he's headed, and what's behind those shades.

 

Total word count of piece: 8437

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