Sly Stone, the famously elusive former frontman of the legendary funk band Sly and the Family Stone, has announced his first memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). Co-written with Ben Greenman, who’s worked with George Clinton and Brian Wilson (among others) on their own autobiographies, it’s scheduled to arrive October 17 in the U.S. via AUWA books, Questlove’s new publishing imprint at MCD/FSG, and in the U.K. via White Rabbit Books.
Named after one of the group’s best-known tunes, the book will chronicle Stone’s rise to the upper echelon of the music industry in the ’60s and ’70s, as well as the personal issues that led to his effective retirement from public life in the ’80s, and what he’s been up to since. “For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story,” Stone writes in a press release. “I wasn’t ready. 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.”