1970 and 1971 were tough years for Sly and his band. Sly himself had gotten into drugs and was living the culture of the late Sixties to the fullest. It got so bad that the group were missing more concerts than they were attending. It was eighteen months between his last album and the one that contained “Family Affair.” Columbia, their label, went so far as to suspend their contract and if Sly hadn’t done something, his contract would have expired and we may have never gotten the song, “Family Affair.”

But, Sly came through and wrote the song. It was part of a new album which the group were working on called There’s a Riot Goin’ On. The public was waiting for something from the group as the album debuted on the Billboard album chart at number one and stayed there for two weeks. It came in at number 79 for the entire year of 1971, but that number probably would have been higher had the album debuted in the middle of the year instead at the end. It held the top spot for the last two weeks of 1971.

Oddly enough, “Family Affair” doesn’t not include all of the Stone Family. The only people singing on the record are Sly himself and his sister Rose, who you can hear doing the higher pitched parts of the song. Also, Billy Preston is doing the piano work on the recording.

As popular as this album and single were for Sly and the Family Stone, it wasn’t enough to keep the group together. The psychedelic culture of the late Sixties was starting to wear off as the public turned to other types of music. (Disco was not far away.) Sly and the Family Stone never had another number one or even another Top 10 song. They continued releasing albums through the Seventies and Eighties, but nothing ever had the success of There’s a Riot Goin’ On.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. The entire original group was there to accept the award, except Sly. But during the actual giving of the award on stage, Sly suddenly appeared, mumbled a few words and then walked off stage, leaving everyone just kind of staring after him. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine placed the group at number 43 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

“Family Affair” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1971 and took just four weeks to get to number one where it stayed for three weeks. It was the last time Sly and the Family Stone hit number one.