Sly Stone The American music icon on his new memoir, reclaiming his past from myth at 80, and forgiving himself

How are you feeling these days? I feel good in my mind, but my health is not very good. I have COPD, which reduces my lung capacity, and other problems too. For part of this year I couldn't hear almost at all until I got a hearing aid.

- ANDREW R. CHOW

In your memoir Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), you write that you had to enter "a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone," referring to your birth name. What was that like? People liked to say there were two personalities in me. A doctor said it when I was in rehab, that Sylvester was welcome in meetings but Sly couldn't come. My dad even said there were Sly days and Sylvester days. I never thought that's how it was. I was the same person no matter what. But there was a myth, some stories that people liked to tell. I had to get past some of the Sly Stone stories, and the only way to get past them was to go right through them.