A Billboard article that came out early this morning reveals the full extent of funk singer Sly Stone‘s money problems. The singer, famed for his work with Sly & The Family Stone, had a big fuss a few years ago when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and had a wash of his performance.

It turns out that not only are his long rumored drug problems entirely true, but that they are a major factor in his money problems. He sold several forms of his royalties to pay off debts in the 70s and 80s, but the real twist comes in 1988. According to the court ruling:

“Between December of 1988 and February of 1989 Goldstein, through his company Goldstein Music, made approximately 30 loans to Stewart [Sly Stone] in amounts ranging from one hundred to several hundred dollars. The money was used to pay Stewart’s living expenses and to fuel his drug addictions. Goldstein and attorney Stone gave cocaine to Stewart on several occasions. In late February of 1989, Goldstein, Topley and attorney Stone told Stewart that Goldstein had obtained a new recording contract for Stewart. They told Stewart there would be no more loans or drugs, and no recording contract, unless Stewart signed an agreement providing that their entity, Even Street, would become manager of all of Stewart’s personal and professional financial affairs. They promised to help Stewart and advised that because of the tax problems, Stewart should not have any assets in his name or receive royalties directly.”

From that point, there are several disputes over who gets what money and how much money was loaned to Stone primarily for cocaine. You can read the full 29 page court document here. We wish the singer luck on his appeal, but uh… damn. Sounds like trouble ahead even if things work out for the guy.

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Dan Bogosian

I finished school with a music theory degree. Before I finished school, I was a janitor. You really should apologize to all the janitors you've ever had. You hurt them. Seriously. You did.

But, now that we've cleared that up and you called your high school janitor, know that I quit being a janitor to pursue writing about music. So here I am, and here you are, and hey how are you?

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