I ran in panic from the stadium back to my hotel room, where I hurriedly packed and left the city. I felt that God had somehow intervened to save my life. However, the electronic equipment malfunctioned, and the concert promoter came out and canceled the performance. I was told that during a performance in the Los Angeles Coliseum, I would be shot as the sound of the music and the roar of the crowd reached a crescendo. In 1971 I received a threat against my life. Later, we played for 300,000 people on the Isle of Wight in Britain and for 350,000 at a music festival in West Germany. Other hits quickly followed, including “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You for Letting Me Be Myself Again.” Then came the Woodstock Music Festival, where we played alongside other internationally famous musicians. Our record “Dance to the Music” became an international hit, and we became the most popular black group of the time. The result was that, in 1966, I was offered the role of bass guitarist in a seven-piece group that became known as Sly and the Family Stone. A regular patron was so impressed that she telephoned a disc jockey, Sly Stone, and urged him to listen to me. In this way I developed my own distinctive thumping-and-plucking style of bass playing. To make up for the lack of a drummer, I thumped and plucked the bass strings of my guitar to accentuate the rhythm. At the age of 15, I began playing in nightclubs as part of the Dell Graham Trio, which was made up of my mother on piano, me on lead guitar, and a drummer.
By the time I was 13, I had my own professional rock ’n’ roll band called The Five Riffs. Later, I learned to play the drums, the clarinet, and the saxophone. When I was 11, my father gave me his guitar and amplifier, and I eagerly set about learning this new instrument. Two years later, I learned the piano under the guidance of my grandmother, who cared for me in those early years. Soon afterward my family moved to Oakland, California, where I started tap dancing at the age of five. She was a pianist with the church choir, and my father was a jazz guitarist. In 1946 I was born into a musical family in Beaumont, Texas, my mother’s only son. However, before describing it, let me explain things that shaped my life. I have found a rare treasure, a ‘one in a million’ find. That was indeed a thrilling moment, but it is now far from the most memorable event of my life. A tremendous roar of approval came from the throats of half a million people as they called for an encore of our performance. It was awe-inspiring! I was the bass guitarist and singer with Sly and the Family Stone, one of the best-known music groups of the time. A sea of humanity stretched as far as the eye could see. THE New York Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 was the most thrilling moment of my musical career.