In addition to the various inductees, the late Sly Stone was honored during Saturday’s 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles with a medley of Sly and the Family Stone‘s biggest and most enduring hits.
Led by a multigenerational mix of notable artists influenced by Stone including Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Maxwell, Questlove, Beck, Leon Thomas, and Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), the funky retrospective included partial takes on “Dance to the Music”, “Everyday People”, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”, and “I Want to Take You Higher”. Watch the full Sly Stone tribute performance below.
Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Maxwell, Flea, More – Sly & The Family Stone Medley [Pro-Shot] – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – 11/8/25
Sly Stone died this past June at age 82. Revisit our full obituary for the visionary musician, producer, songwriter, bandleader, and cultural icon here.
Although he had remained out of the spotlight for some time prior to his death, his name and story had returned to the cultural conversation in recent years due in large part to Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the filmmaker and drummer for The Roots. In 2021, Sly and the Family Stone were prominently featured in Thompson’s Academy Award-winning documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, often dubbed “Black Woodstock.” (In fact, they were the only band to play both “Black Woodstock” and Woodstock Music & Art Fair that fateful summer.) In 2023, Stone published his memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), via Questlove’s AUWU Books imprint.
Earlier this year, a new Questlove jawn, Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), brought the massive influence and infamous spiral of Sly Stone into the spotlight once again, enlisting the likes of D’Angelo, André 3000, Chaka Khan, Vernon Reid, Q-Tip, Clive Davis, and George Clinton, plus the members of Sly and the Family Stone, to speak on his struggles and the pressures historically faced by Black superstars.
The full list of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees this year included Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes in the “Performer” category and Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon in the “Musical Influence” category. You can stream the full 2025 Rock Hall induction ceremony on-demand via Disney+ here.