The Beat Goes On For Sly & The Family Stone’s Greg Errico – Goldmine

Greg Errico was only 17 years old on the night he showed up to rehearse with the Stone Souls, his band with guitarist Freddie Stewart, only to find himself at a meeting led by Freddie’s older brother — Sylvester (a.k.a. Sly), a musician, producer and popular San Francisco-area DJ — about forming a different group.

“When I got there, no one else was there except for Sly and Freddie, who were in the kitchen having something to eat,” Errico recalls with a laugh. “I walked in and said, ‘Where are all the guys?’ And they said, ‘We’re going to try something new tonight.’ And as time went on, everyone showed up individually at different times during that evening. So we gathered that first evening — all six original members, because Rose [Stone] wasn’t in it at first.

“Freddie pulled a fast one on me,” Errico adds. “He hadn’t told me that Sly had been handpicking [musicians] and thinking about this and taking notes. He kept it hush. So when I showed up, I was absolutely surprised.”

Errico also was a little surprised by the scope of the Higher! box set: It includes 77 tracks, of which 17 were previously unreleased. Included with the set’s four discs is a 104-page book featuring liner notes by Sly & The Family Stone biographer Jeff Kaliss, a timeline compiled by Edwin and Arno Konings as well as track-by-track annotations from various sources, among them original Family Stone members Errico, Larry Graham, Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson.

Read more at Goldmine Magazine.