Funk and soul legend Sly Stone was awarded $5 million from a jury on Tuesday in a lawsuit against former business partners and his own company. He claimed that he had been cheated out of royalties for over a decade.
Stone, 71, sued former manager Gerald Goldstein, attorney Glenn Stone and Even St. Productions Ltd. for breach of contract. The Associated Press reports that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer testified that he never received royalty payments between 1989 and 2000.
Stone’s attorneys said that in 1989, long after his iconic hits with Sly and the Family Stone were released, Goldstein and Glenn Stone convinced him to join Even St. He was convinced to give the new company royalty rights and was supposed to receive some of that money. However, his attorneys said that Goldstein and Glenn Stone figured out ways to funnel the money to themselves.
The singer is best known for hits like “Dance To The Music,” “Everyday People” and “Stand!,” but has mostly kept out of the public eye in recent years. As The Los Angeles Times notes, he made an appearance at the 2006 Grammy Awards and the 2010 Coachella festival. However, the last time he was in the news was in 2011, when it was reported that he was homeless.
Gregory Bodell, the attorney representing Goldstein and Glenn Stone, told the AP that he will challenge the ruling. He claims that Stone had promised his clients a comeback records, but he never made one.
Nichols Hornberger, Stone’s attorney, thinks that the ruling is a good one for musicians overall. “It's a good day for Sly, it's a good day for entertainers in general,” he said. “This was an important verdict for people that are artists, entertainers, music composers, etc.”