Sylvester Stewart, known artistically as Sly Stone, died on Sunday at the age of 82 in Los Angeles, where he had lived since the 1970s. Without the musician and the handful of iconic albums he released in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the band Family Stone, there would likely be no Prince, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Stone revolutionized the funk and soul of the era with a style that incorporated rock and psychedelia and launched political slogans: an inflamed, interracial soundtrack (two of the band members were white) in tune with the turbulent spirit of the times. The cause of death was "a long battle with chronic lung disease" and "other underlying health issues," his representatives explained.