Visit onemanstrashband.com! Video features the live band in studio and live! From the debu
Visit onemanstrashband.com! Video features the live band in studio and live! From the debut CD!
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I found the small essay on the back of the album very interesting, written by Cheryl Macha
I found the small essay on the back of the album very interesting, written by Cheryl Machat in 1979:
"Sly is a hero, a true legend. He revolutionized music and created a new sound; he explored new forms and developed an audience unrestricted by color or class. His music drew on diversified elements of rock'n'roll and hard driving rhythm and blues. His first album, recorded in 1967 on Epic Records, was appropriately titled A Whole New Thing.
That album gave Sly his first national hit, "Dance To The Music," and established Sly as the progenitor of a whole new kind of dance music. Sly did not foresee the disco craze, but he did practically create the sound. Few today would disagree.
Sly developed an amazing success story, building from A Whole New Thing, creating hit after hit, including: "Family Affair," "Everyday People," "Stand," "Thank You," and " Hot Fun In The Summertime."
Many of us remember each note of those songs; they became an integral part of our culture. The few times they are played on radio now an unmistakable sense of nostalgia overwhelms. But, they are played too infrequently and only as oldies.
Ten Years Too Soon was concieved in an attempt to awaken millions of fans of rocking dance music to Sly's ingenious style. The music has been "disco-fied" to expose his undiscovered talents to a young and growing radio audience.
Extreme measures were taken to accomplish this task without drastically altering the essence of Sly. New Yorks finest musicians were contacted; each one considered Sly his mentor. They knew everything about Sly - they studied the kind of guitars he used, each finger, each drum lick, every syncopated beat - they knew Sly cold. And yet, they sat paralyzed when first confronting their task. To recreate Sly was like demanding a miracle to occur.
Never before have we witnessed sessions as magical and mystical. Eyes revealed bewilderment as time lost significance. The meter scans as the tape reversed. Years fluttered by at the touch of a button. The year is 1979, but history was recreated.
To bring Sly into the modernized sound of disco, certain sounds had to be added, some parts elongated, certain beats exaggerated. Some new tracks were added, including new drums, guitars, bass guitars, fresh handclaps, timbales, syndrums. The original horns and Sly's vocals were left as originally recorded. They were cleaned in the mixing stage, and you will hear shouts and licks that were never heard before. But the voice is pure and unsynthesized Sly. We lived and breathed Sly for months, moving on to the next song only when every aspect of perfect recreation was exhausted.
In the final analysis, this project was completed out of deep respect and the sincere belief that the world needs to hear Sly again. The key is the title, Ten Years Too Soon. Sly practically created todays disco sound. Nearly every artist composing rock, funk or disco has borrowed some elements of Sly's music - the list is endless. You need only listen to the radio to note the juxtaposition. Ten Years Too Soon enables a whole new generation, the "Everyday People" of the 1980's, to hear Sly and understand why we, who grew up on his pulsating beat, say he is the forerunner of todays music." - Cheryl Machat
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YOU'RE THE ONE - Part.1&2
Little Sister - 1970
Collection Single
Little Sister's Biog
YOU'RE THE ONE - Part.1&2
Little Sister - 1970
Collection Single
Little Sister's Biography
The short-lived female R&B trio Little Sister was best known for its associations with Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart. Not only did Stone organize the trio, its principal member was his sister, Vaetta "Vet" Stewart (hence the group's name). Stewart, Mary Rand, and Elva Melton began singing together as touring backup for Sly & the Family Stone in the late '60s and providing backing vocals on several of their albums. In 1970, Stone produced a series of church-inflected soul tracks for them on his Stone Flower imprint. Two of them became Top Ten R&B hits: "You're the One, Pt. 1" and "Somebody's Watching You," the latter of which the Family Stone had previously recorded on their Stand! album. "You're the One" was the bigger hit, but the funky "Somebody's Watching You" had greater sonic impact: charting in early 1971, it was said to be the first significant pop hit to use programmed drums, and its percolating rhythm-bed presaged that of the Family Stone's own massive hit "Family Affair" later that year. Lacking both management and Sly Stone's continued attention and involvement, the group disbanded shortly thereafter with no fanfare.
History
Formation
While still in high school, Vaetta Stewart and her friends Mary McCreary and Elva Mouton had a gospel group called The Heavenly Tones and performed at various venues around the Oakland/San Francisco area. When Vaetta's older brother Sylvester took on the name Sly Stone and formed Sly & the Family Stone with their brother Freddie, and friends Larry Graham, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico, The Heavenly Tones were recruited directly out of high school to become Little Sister, Sly & the Family Stone's background vocalists.
The group performed background vocals on a number of the Family Stone's biggest early hits, including "Everyday People" and "Stand!" Besides Little Sister's background vocals, Sly, Freddie, Larry Graham, and middle sister Rose Stone were heard singing backgrounds on the tracks as well.
Hit singles
During the interim period between the releases of the Family Stone albums Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly Stone negotiated a production deal with Atlantic Records, resulting in his own imprint, Stone Flower. Stone Flower released four singles, including one by R&B artist Joe Hicks, one by 6IX, and two by Little Sister: "You're The One" and "Somebody's Watching You", a cover of a song from Stand!. The Little Sister version of "Somebody's Watching You" was the first major record to have a rhythm track created with a drum machine.
Both Little Sister 45s reached the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 and the Billboard R&B Top 10 ("You're the One" made it to #4, and "Somebody's Watching You" made it to #8), but for unclear reasons Sly ceased production of further Little Sister recordings, and Little Sister were relegated to background vocal work for the rest of its existence.
Later period
During the post-1971 period of Sly & the Family Stone, Little Sister began singing nearly all of the background vocals itself, as Sly began singing nearly all of the lead vocals himself.
Little Sister was dissolved when the Family Stone did, in 1975, after the band's fortunes slowly fell due to Sly Stone's drug abuse problems. After the group's dissolution, Mary McCreary married singer/songwriter Leon Russell.
Members
• Vet Stone
• Mary McCreary
• Elva Mouton
Vet Stone (born Vaetta Stewart on May 2, 1950 in Vallejo, California) is an African-American soul singer, the lead singer in Sly & the Family Stone's background group Little Sister (the group name derives from the fact that she is the "little sister" of frontman Sly Stone. Little Sister had a #8 R&B hit of its own in 1970 entitled "You're the One".
Today, Vet Stone is the lead figure in a band called Family Stone (formerly called Phunk Phamily Affair), which serves to carry on the legacy of Sly & the Family Stone. The band includes Cynthia Robinson and Rose Stone's daughter Lisa Stone among its members, and is being produced by Sly Stone.
Discography
Singles
•1970:You're The One [Part.2]" (US #22, R&B #4)
•1970: "Somebody's Watching You" b/w "Stanga" (US #32, R&B #8)
•1971: "Stanga" b/w "Stanga" (radio promo release only) (US #44 R&B)
Similar Artists:
Honey Cone, Brenda & the Tabulations, Ike & Tina Turner, Freda Payne, Jean Knight, The Chi-Lites, Chairmen of the Board
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Added: 4 months ago
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a group comprised of a trio of females that contained Sly's younger sister, this song rose
a group comprised of a trio of females that contained Sly's younger sister, this song rose to the top ten on the charts in 1970, yet the album was released in 1971...as you can tell, Sly Stone wrote and produced this one..:)
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Added: 6 months ago
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SLY CD reissues out now! The first seven albums are remastered, expanded with extra songs
SLY CD reissues out now! The first seven albums are remastered, expanded with extra songs and essays, in deluxe digipaks! Hurry, before the limited run sells out forever!
SIS & the Family Stone!:
Everybody knows the Family Stone had three Stewart siblings -Sly, Freddie, and Rose- but younger sister Vaetta (Vet) had her own group as well. Vet paired up with Mary Rand and Elva Melton as Little Sister. They sang back-up for the Family starting in 1970 before making singles of their own.
Sly's fans know there was a long wait between the epic "Stand!" album (1969) and the Funk-defining masterpiece "There's a Riot Goin' On" (1971). In between were several dazzling slngles, including a few for Little Sister. Both their songs, You're the One" and "Somebody's Watching You", charted in the R'n'B Top 10 that year. It's probable that Sly is playing everything on them as well as writing and producing on his Stone Flower label. This is the first use of a drum machine, the famed Rhythm King, on a hit song. Crucially, these singles previewed the Riot album's new sound a year early; if that LP defined the path of modern Funk music, then these singles were its first steps.
Vet was recently hurt in an auto accident. She's recovering, but why not send her a get-well line at this address:
http://www.slyslilsis.com/index1.cfm
As for our hero, check out Sly's personal spaces at:
http://www.phattadatta.com/
and also:
http://profile.myspace.com/slyfamily1
Sly's birthday is March 15th, so wish him well!
Check out my massive History of Funk videos at this address!:
http://youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=funknroll
(All rights reserved. Fan-made video for promotion of artist.)
Tym Stevens
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