At their apogee, Sly and the Family Stone made music that broke racial and commercial barriers, combining soul, R & B, doo-wop, white rock, and British Invasion influences into an ineluctably delicious package that slithered and grooved and, at times, shouted from radios and turntables across America. For its time, the group's personnel was no less remarkable: an integrated, multi-gender line-up where the musicians switched instruments and roles with a fluidity as snaky as the band's trademark syncopated backbeat. Emerging in 1968, Sly and the Family Stone filled a vacuum in the musical landscape, presaging a whole new form of music-funk with their musical cross-pollination and incandescent live shows.

Sylvester Stewart, the guiding force behind this musical potpourri, was born in Texas and grew up in Vallejo, a tough oil-town across the Bay from San Francisco. As a child, Stewart sang in...