Sly Stone is homeless and living in a van according to an investigation.
Seventies funk legend Sly Stone is homeless and living in a van in a rough Crenshaw neighborhood, according to an investigation by the New York Post.
The mastermind of Sly and the Family Stone has hit hard times after his fortune was wasted through a “lethal combination of excess, substance abuse and financial mismanagement,” says the paper.
The white camper van is parked in front of the home of a generous retired couple who feeds him once a day and lends out their son to be the star’s driver.
“I like my small camper,” Sly Stone told the New York Post. “I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving.”
The van is a far cry from the 5400 square foot Bel Air estate he once lived in where Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Miles Davis would hang out, or the lavish Napa Valley compound he lived in just four short years ago.
So what happened to all his cash? A combination of a legendary drug habit and bad financial decisions have left his money wrapped up in court. In 2009, the singer claims, his manager stopped sending him royalty checks. They are now wrapped up in a $50 million lawsuit over fraud and stolen payments.
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Another bad decision? Sly sold his music publishing rights for his iconic songs to Michael Jackson for a mere $1 million in 1984.
“My music is a format that will encourage you to have a song you won’t forget. That’s why I got so much money, that there are so many people around, and that’s why I am in court. Millions of dollars!” Stone says. “But now please tell everybody, please, to give me a job, play my music. I’m tired of all this [expletive], man.”
Image courtesy Dimitri Halkidis / WENN
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