Author of new Sly Stone biography at Book Soup

Bay Area journalist Jeff Kaliss will be at Book Soup in West Hollywood on Sunday to recount his search for the reclusive Sly Stone. That search was ultimately successful and led to rare interviews with the mercurial rock and funk star that are part of his new biography, "I Want To Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone" (Backbeat Books, $24.95). Kaliss will appear at 5 p.m. to discuss the book and sign copies.

"I like the way Jeff tells my story," Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, says of the volume that traces the story from before his birth in Denton, Texas, to his formative years in a musical family in Vallejo, Calif., just outside San Francisco, where he achieved stardom in the late '60s and early '70s.

While tracking down his subject at his home among the vineyards of Napa Valley, Kaliss wrote a profile of Stewart for The Times last year on the eve of an appearance in Anaheim by the Family Stone band. The group included Stewart's sister Vet and some other holdovers from the original band of the '60s, but not Stewart himself.

-- Randy Lewis

Sly Stone photo by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times