There was a rumor circulating in the early 70's (which even made TIME magazine) which people are still talking about. Did Sly and Doris Day have an affair? It started when Sly recorded the Academy Award-winning song that Doris had made famous in the 1950s, Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" on his 1973 album Fresh. And whenever reporters asked Sly about the supposed "romance," he would just smile -- neither denying nor confirming it. Many people today still ask ....

Did Sly Stone and Doris Day Have an Affair? The truth: they never had an affair. But they did meet. Once. Steve Paley, Sly's friend and best man, (as well as his A&R man at Epic), explains: "Sly knew Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son, who was a staff producer at Columbia Records, Epic's sister label. Sly had heard that either Terry or Doris owned some old car, I think it was a Rolls Royce, and Sly was interested in seeing it. So one afternoon, Sly went over to Doris' house to check it out. When they were introduced, Sly told Doris how much he had liked "Que Sera, Sera," and then they sat down at the piano and sang the song together. And that was it. But I think the rumor started when people heard that Sly had recorded Doris' tune. Now, as it happens, there had also been a rumor that Doris had an affair with the black baseball player, Maury Wills. So the idea that Doris and Sly were an "item," didn't seem all that far-fetched at the time. And the bizarre notion that Sly, a black rock'n'roll star, was sleeping with Doris Day, America's professional virgin, was just grist for the rumor mills, and the rumor just spread like a poison ivy. I also heard that poor Doris Day was not amused by the rumor, by the way." When asked about why he included the song on Fresh by New Musical Express in June 1973, Sly responded: "I sang 'Que Sera, Sera' one time with Doris and it sounded real good, and then Rose did it again so well that I just had to put it on the album. Naturally, I'm a fan of Doris's, but that don't mean I go and see old Doris Day movies." Thanks To: Steve Paley and Sharon Lorna Fox for the Doris Day photo

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