Frederick Jerome Stewart (born June 5, 1947), known professionally as Freddie Stone, is an American pastor and musician, known for being a member of

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

Career

Born Frederick Stewart, he started playing music when he was twelve. In 1966, Freddie co-founded the band

, fronted by his brother Sly and including his sister Rose. He was the guitarist and vocalist. After leaving the band in the late 1970s, Stone signed a short

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of Sly and the Family Stone.

Personal life

His childhood years were spent in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

. His parents were Christians and they attended the Pentecostal church. They also were musicians with his father playing violin, harp and guitar and his mother playing guitar as well as piano. His early years were spent at church and without racial inhibition. His mother would babysit the children in the neighborhood who happened to be of all colors. As a result of fighting at Vallejo High School, he was expelled and had to attend Benicia High School. He did quite well there and in his junior year he was MVP on his basketball team. In his senior year he was President of the student body. Not long after he graduated, the Stewart family along with Freddie moved to San Francisco.

Ministry

According to a 2009

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

interview with

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development ...

, Freddie has been, since 1994, Pastor Frederick Stewart, a preacher in his native Vallejo. He became a committed Christian in 1980 and in 1988 he was ordained as a pastor. Over a period of time he was being prepared to take over his uncle's church, the Evangelist Temple Fellowship Center, of which he is currently

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

. The church is located on Sonoma Boulevard in Vallejo, California.

Releases

Albums * ''Everywhere You Are'' - (2001; released as ''Right Now'' in 2012) Singles * "Steadfast" - (2019)

References

1947 births American funk guitarists American rock guitarists American soul guitarists American male guitarists American lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Vallejo, California Sly and the Family Stone members African-American rock musicians Members of the Church of God in Christ American Christian clergy American rhythm and blues guitarists American soul singers American rhythm and blues singers American funk singers Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists African-American guitarists 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers {{US-musician-stub