 A photo of Freddie before he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. |
New Music From Freddie Stone by Jon Dakss, 8/98 |
 Freddie during the high point of Sly & the Family Stone's heyday, ca. 1969. |
| There are some musical vibrations within the Stewart/Stone Family that have not been felt in a long, long time. The sounds are coming from within "the music room" inside a modest house in Vallejo, California. The sounds are new, but for many are quite familiar. They are coming from none other than Freddie Stone. |
 Freddie's church in Vallejo, CA. His parents, KC & Alpha Stewart, as well as his sister Vet, are members of his congregation. |
For many of you, the idea of a solo project from Freddie is not entirely new. In the 70's there was talk within the Motown label about a Freddie Stone solo album, and Freddie has brought some of his writing skills and soulfulness to other artists' music, like "Tell Me What It Is" on the first Graham Central Station album. This time it really does sound like some new music is on its way. "For a while, it was more work than fun," Freddie told me as we spoke on the telephone last week. "Now, it has started becoming much more fun again. There are some things which have come to me in The Music Room that have been a blessing." Freddie would know, he is now a pastor of a small church in Vallejo, where he delivers inspiring sermons on Sunday mornings, leading the church in song and occasionally plugging in his electric guitar. |
 This photo was taken in August 1997 during a jam session with original Sly & the Family Stone member Greg Errico and Gary Duncan who was the founder of 60's psychedelic band "Quicksilver Messenger Service." |
"Sly & the Family Stone was so unique because of the way each of us
fit together as a whole -- it was a perfect fit. When the group split apart,
it left a vacum inside each individual. We found out that if you stay on
that same wavelength, you will never be satisfied. You have to live long
enough and play enough music to divorce yourself from everyone else and
really find who you are. Sly always tried to recapture what he had, but
you can't go back. It's like an actor who falls in love with one role
and tries to play that role over and over in all of his movies. Once it's
over, it's over -- you have to move on."
There has been no word from Freddie at this time about which musicians you'll be likely to hear on his new music, or, more specifically, if there will be any former members of Sly & the Family Stone featured. Both Greg Errico and Rusty Allen, formerly of Sly & the Family Stone, are locals, as is Freddie's sister Vet who fronted the group Little Sister which had two Sly-penned hits in the early 70's. Freddie is definitely thinking "Family," as he has already used the voices of his twelve-year-old nieces in his music, and says he plans to use two of his children (ages 15 and 12) and possibly some of the youth in his parish. |
| You will definitely hear more about Freddie's new music in the next few weeks -- keep an eye on the websites for the latest. Freddie has estimated that it will take about three months to complete his new material. In the meantime, Freddie does not yet have e-mail, but if you'd like to send him an encouraging message, and you should, please send it to me at [email protected] with the subject FREDDIE STONE and I will send him all of his e-mail at the end of the month. |
Creator and Webmaster: Jon Dakss