Sly Stone Awarded $5 Million in Breach of Contract Lawsuit

Sly Stone was awarded $5 million on Tuesday in a breach-of-contract suit that claimed his business partners and his own company cheated him out of royalties.  A LA jury ruled for the 71-year-old funk legend in his action against his ex-manager Gerald Goldstein, attorney Glenn Stone and Even St. Productions Ltd.  Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, led his group Sly and the Family Stone to a string of hits in the 1960s and early ’70s including “Everyday People,” “Dance To The Music” and “Family Affair.” But heavy drug use began to take a toll, and his lawyers say he was destitute when Goldstein and Glenn Stone convinced him to become an employee of and co-owner of Even St. Productions with them in 1989.  Stone assigned royalty rights to the company and was supposed to receive some of the money it collected for him but Goldstein and Glenn Stone arranged to get it through shady accounting.  In other words, they met him, they signed him up…but what they really wanted was his royalties.