Sly Stone has announced his memoir, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” expected out October 17 via Questlove’s new publishing imprint in the US and White Rabbit Books in the UK.
The book will include a foreword from Questlove and was written with Ben Greenman, who has previously written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson, according to Pitchfork.
“For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story, I wasn’t ready,” Stone, the elusive soul icon behind Sly and the Family Stone, reportedly said in a statement. “I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It’s been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too.”
Sly and the Family Stone had multiple hits in the late ’60s, including “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” and the song behind the new book’s title, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” In 1971, the band released what’s considered to be their dark masterpiece, There’s a Riot Goin’ On. Their sound was a hybrid of funk, soul, psychedelic rock, and pop.
Questlove said Sly was a genius from the Bay Area that totally transformed music, “and we’re going to get deep into the mind state of people, when they get success, why does the temptation to ruin it come into play. It’s going to resonate with all of us.”
White Rabbit publisher Lee Brackstone said he fell in love with Sly Stone as a teenager and has been obsessed with his music and the mysterious story of his life ever since.
“To be publishing his memoir at White Rabbit Books is the ultimate honour. It simply doesn’t get any bigger or more exciting than this: a bona fide genius, a funk visionary who re-set the dial in the late ’60s and in so doing anticipated the hip-hop revolution to come. This book delivers and then goes again.”
