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Posts tagged as “Sly Stone”

MUSIC MONDAY: Soulful Thanksgiving 2022 Playlist (LISTEN)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

The holiday season fast approaches, and I’m back with a collection to gather around the table with family and friends.

Here’s a Thanksgiving playlist that includes new music by Rihanna from the BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER soundtrack, and food-centered classics like Cab Calloway’s “Everybody Eats When They Come To My House” from way back in the day.

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This musical journey features soul, jazz, reggae, and gospel, all good music to cook, eat, and clean that kitchen to.

Here’s Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole singing songs about autumn, and several artists like Sly Stone, Massive Attack, and Otis Redding offering songs of thanks.

Plus Little Eva, Fantasia, Louis Jordan and others praising grits, stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, cornbread, and collards to name a few. Hungry yet?

Happy Early Thanksgiving, y’all. I’ll see you soon with a funky holiday season offering next month.

Until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Get Down On It” – an Old School and New Funk Mix – (LISTEN)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Sorry, not sorry for this more than a workday’s worth of rump-shaking tunes. Perhaps some of you are at stand-up desks and can get that groove on.

This week’s offering is devoted to Funk music. In the words of Parliament/Funkadelic, “Uncut funk, the bomb.” This mixture of soul, gospel, jazz, and rhythm, and blues was started in the mid-1960s by the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown.

Funk had its hey in the 1970s and ‘80s, though its impact is still felt around the world. Funk grooves have been sampled by hip-hop artists and rock bands alike.

If you’re like me, you’ll be thrilled to know there’s plenty of new funk music being created today. Lady Wray, Yola, Anderson.Paak, and others will make you a believer.

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This collection is devoted to funk masters like James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton and Lyn Collins, and new practitioners like Tank & The Bangas, Emily Wright, Thundercat, Los Coast and others.

Have a great week. And as ways stay safe, sane and kind. More soon.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Everyday People” – A Sly and the Family Stone Collection (LISTEN)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Sly Stone turned 78 years old on the 15th of this month. I thought it was a good time to spotlight him and The Family Stone with a playlist.

His work has had a potent effect on the course of modern music. Sly and The Family Stone served a dazzling fusion of psychedelic rock, soul, gospel, jazz, and Latin flavors.

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The trailblazing classic “Dance To the Music” has the distinction of being chosen for the Grammy Hall Of Fame, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock,” and Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.”

This collection gathers many of his hits including “Everyday People,” “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again)” and “Family Affair,” “Stand!,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Runnin’ Away,” “If You Want Me To Stay,” “Time For Livin’,” and more.

From Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to the halls of Motown and George Clinton’s P-Funk, from Michael Jackson and Curtis Mayfield, down the line to Bob Marley, the Isley Brothers, Prince, Public Enemy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Eyed Peas, Beastie Boys, The Roots, OutKast and on and on, Sly’s influence can be felt throughout popular music.

This is another one that comes with Rumpshaker Warning. Have a great week.

And always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

Lauryn Hill’s Grammy-Winning Album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" to Be Entered Into the Library of Congress

Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill poses with the five Grammy Awards she won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at the 41st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles Feb. 24, 1999. (VINCE BUCCI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Each year, the Library of Congress selects 25 recordings to add to its archive. This year, Lauryn Hill’s record-breaking album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, will be included in the 25.

According to the Library of Congress press release, among requirements for inclusion in the archive are that the recordings be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” and be at least 10 years old. The Library of Congress gave a lengthy explanation as to why it chose Hill’s debut album:
“Lauryn Hill’s debut solo record, following the breakup of the Fugees, is a work of honesty in which Hill explores her feelings on topics that included the deep wonder of pregnancy, the pitfalls of modern relationships and the experience of the sacred. The album effortlessly fuses soul, rhythm and blues, rap and reggae. Hill’s vocal range, smooth clear highs and vibrato are stunning. The rapping is rhythmically compelling while always retaining, and frequently exploiting, the natural cadences of conversational speech. Standout guest performances include Carlos Santana’s soulful acoustic guitar solo on ‘Zion,’ and duets with Mary J. Blige and D’Angelo on ‘I Used to Love Him’ and ‘Nothing Even Matters,’ respectively.”
Hill’s album joins an eclectic list, which includes Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” Sly and the Family Stone’s Stand album, and even a Sesame Street platinum-hits album.
Check out the full list of inductees below:
1. Vernacular Wax Cylinder Recordings at University of California, Santa Barbara Library (c.1890-1910)
2. The Benjamin Ives Gilman Collection, recorded at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893)
3. “The Boys of the Lough”/ “The Humours of Ennistymon” (single)—Michael Coleman (1922)

Sly Stone Wins $5 Million Verdict in Lawsuit Against Former Manager and Attorney

Sly Stone Wins $5 Million Verdict
Sly Stone (TIM MOSENFELDER/GETTY IMAGES)

Legendary singer/songwriter Sly Stone has been awarded $5 million by a Los Angeles jury in his lawsuit against a former manager and attorney he claimed diverted royalties from his music for their own benefit.  The Los Angeles Superior Court announced its verdict on Tuesday, after two days of deliberations.
Stone’s litigation, filed under his real name Sylvester Stewart, involved millions of dollars in royalties and stretched over almost five years.
He filed suit in 2010, claiming that manager Gerald Goldstein and attorney Glenn Stone in the late 1980s induced him to sign an employment and shareholder agreement with Even Street Prods., but that they instead used the arrangement to divert millions in royalties, leaving him unable to get the money he said was due him.
The jury awarded $2.5 million in damages against Even St. Productions, $2.45 million against Goldstein and $50,000 against attorney Glenn Stone.
“It was a classic case of Hollywood accounting, but I guess it would have to be called record industry accounting,” said Nick Hornberger of Hornberger Law Corp., the lead attorney for the singer.
The jury, he said, “sent a very clear message.”
Gregory Bodell of Kozberg & Bodell, lead attorney for the defendants, said via e-mail that the jury found that Sly Stone was underpaid by $2.5 million under the employment agreement with Even St. Prods., and that the money was paid instead to Goldstein and Stone.
“We are disappointed in the finding and believe it will be changed by further proceedings,” Bodell said.
Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, testified that he had not received any royalty payments between 1989 and 2000.
But attorneys for Goldstein and Glenn Stone contended that the singer was paid millions, but broke an agreement to make new records. They claim that the singer was not tricked into signing the contract, but was aware of the terms and renewed the agreement 40 times over 15 years between 1994 and 2006.
article by Ted Johnson via Variety.com