Sly Stone must be feeling good after winning $5 million in a royalty law suit settlement earlier this year.
The former Sly & The Family Stone frontman made his first appearance with The Family Stone in nearly 10 years, surprising the audience by joining his old band at The Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. Stone even surprised the band members, as Greg Errico was quoted in the Asbury Park Press saying, “It was quite a surprise, a pleasant surprise and it was cool… I couldn’t see people’s faces in the audience but everybody told me there was a lot of crying going on — it was emotional.”
Errico continued, saying “I never thought it could happen… but there were a couple of places recently I had the feeling it could happen. We played Glastonbury (Festival) in the U.K. and it didn’t happen there … but he stayed in contact with us. It was great to see him (at the Basie) with a great big smile on his face. He was really in the moment and he was grooving.”
Stone joined the band during “If You Want Me To Stay”, playing some keys for the emotional moment. Check out this fan-shot video of the set, which Jambase discovered:
This must have been quite the experience! The last time Stone appeared with The Family Stone was in July of 2007, when he made a brief appearance during “Sing a Simple Song” and “If You Want Me To Stay” during Summerfest in San Jose, CA.