Sly Stone Makes Surprise Appearance With The Family Stone

The Family Stone is in the middle of a tour celebrating the music of Sly & The Family Stone featuring three original members of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame act. The band’s original front man, Sly Stone, is not touring with the group having last performed with The Family Stone at the 1993 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. The reclusive rocker broke that streak when he sat-in with the group on Sunday night in Red Bank, New Jersey.

The first teaming of Sly Stone and the Family Stone since 1993 took place at the Count Basie Theatre when Sly slid behind the keyboards for a rendition of “If You Want Me to Stay.” “It was quite a surprise, a pleasant surprise and it was cool,” Family Stone member Greg Errico told the Asbury Park Press after the show. “I couldn’t see people’s faces in the audience but everybody told me there was a lot of crying going on — it was emotional.”

The Asbury Park Press revealed the band members only found out Sly would be performing with them moments before taking the stage. “I never thought it could happen,” Errico said, “but there were a couple of places recently I had the feeling it could happen. We played Glastonbury (Festival) in the U.K. and it didn’t happen there … but he stayed in contact with us. It was great to see him (at the Basie) with a great big smile on his face. He was really in the moment and he was grooving.”

Here’s the first video of the guest spot to surface thanks to wmcginty: