SLY STONE (SYLVESTER STEWART)
Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart, March 15, 1943, Denton, Texas) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1966, the Farfisa Organ was even more prominent in the hit song “Double Shot (of My Baby’s Love)” by the Swingin’ Medallions (who were from South Carolina). That lovely organ that you hear in Percy Sledge’s immortal 1966 hit “When a Man Loves a Woman” is a Farfisa, and Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone was playing one at his landmark Woodstock performance in 1969. Richard Wright’s Farfisa Organ was a key element on many of the early Pink Floyd albums, particularly The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Ummagumma, but also including The Dark Side of the Moon. Elton John was able to get a different sound entirely from a Farfisa Organ on his hit “Crocodile Rock”.
(December 2012)
