Sly and the Family Stone’s Cynthia Robinson passed away on Monday (Nov. 23) after a battle with cancer.
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Robinson’s role in Sly and the Family Stone eventually earned her recognition as one of the first black female trumpet players in popular music and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making her the only female trumpeter to receive such distinction. “You are in our thoughts and prayers, and we are here for you”. Those behind her Facebook have asked fans to continue contributing to the Cynthia Robinson Cancer Care Fund, here. “God Bless Cynthia Robinson!”.
The cause of death was cancer, according to a post on her Facebook page.
She had known Sylvester Stewart slightly since the early 1960s, before his transformation into Sly Stone, after her mother saw his guitar in the back seat of his vehicle and invited him into their house to play; she subsequently listened to his radio show on KSOL, at first without knowing it was her high school acquaintance.
Like the Family Stone itself (which broke ground as rock’s first racially and gender integrated groups), the Sacramento-born Robinson was groundbreaking herself, as one of the first African-American female trumpeters to attain notoriety in a major recording act. “She was out front telling you to get up and dance to the music, and she could blow with the best of ’em, always”, he said. The Family Stone lineup also includes singer Sylvette Phunne Stone, who is Cynthia’s daughter with Sly Stone.
With hits like “Dance to the Music”, “Everyday People”, “Hot Fun in the Summertime”, and “Family Affair”, the band became a worldwide sensation. Robinson also played with such artists as Prince, George Clinton’s Funkadelic, and Graham Central Station, led by former bassist for Sly and the Family Stone, Larry Graham.
After Sly Stone & The Family Band dispersed in the late 1970s (partly due to Stone’s drug abuse), Robinson and bandmates including saxophonist Jerry Martini continued to play together as The Family Stone. “Music’s original “hypeman” 20 years before Public Enemy pioneered the “Vice President” position”, he writes.
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In 1966, she joined Sly and the Stoners, just as Sly’s brother was setting up his own group, Freddie and the Stone Souls.
