Key Takeaways

• Rumors suggest that Taylor Swift may marry Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden next month.
• Sly Stone was the first music star to marry at this iconic venue over fifty years ago.
• The wedding featured extravagant plans, including a laser-light show and a celebrity-studded reception.
• Despite the hype, Sly’s career did not benefit significantly from the event.

Rumors are swirling that music superstar Taylor Swift is going to get married to her football star fiancé Travis Kelce at New York City’s Madison Square Garden early next month.

If the reports are true, Swift won’t be the first music star to get married at the world’s most famous arena. Funk and soul legend Sly Stone already did so over fifty years ago, exchanging vows with model and actress Kathy Silva in front of 21,000 fans prior to Sly and the Family Stone’s June 5, 1974 MSG show.

Stone was the leader of Sly and the Family Stone, who exploded onto the music scene in the late ’60s by smashing genre boundaries with their innovative, infectious, and exuberant blend of rock, soul, and funk.

Their most famous songs include “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” which Janet Jackson famously sampled for her 1989 smash “Rhythm Nation.

The group’s multiracial, mixed-gender lineup was just as groundbreaking as their music and years later would serve as one of the main models for Prince and the Revolution.

Unfortunately, things fell apart for Stone just as quickly as they had come together. Heavy drug use, interpersonal disputes, and other issues caused a two-and-a-half-year delay between the release of the group’s 1969 breakthrough album Stand! and its much-anticipated follow-up, 1971’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On.

The latter record was brilliant but also shockingly different than Stone’s previous work: darker, angrier, and nearly completely devoid of the optimism that had made his earlier music so popular.

This new direction — and more importantly, Sly’s habit of showing up late or not at all to a large percentage of his concerts — derailed much of the group’s hard-earned momentum.

1973’s Fresh was more upbeat and again earned nearly unanimous praise from peers and critics, but only one song from that album cracked the Top 20. When it came time to promote the next record, 1974’s Small Talk, it was clear something major needed to be done to draw the world’s attention back to Sly and his music.

Luckily, a big change in his personal life afforded the bandleader and natural showman just such an opportunity: He was looking to get married to model and actress Kathy Silva, the mother of his child, Sylvester, Jr.

So why not kill two birds with one stone, turning the whole thing into a publicity event?

“You should do it as your opening act,” suggested Stone’s friend and Epic Records representative Stephen Paley. He was partially joking, according to a report on the big night from Rolling Stone, but Sly’s eyes lit up. Soon after, the star left a message on Paley’s answering machine: “I wish you would make my wedding the biggest event this year. You can do it if you want to. I’ll be at home awaiting your ideas.”

(It seems Swift’s motivations for choosing Madison Square Garden are the exact opposite of Stone’s. Her wedding is not expected to be open to the public, and the venue is being selected partly because of its location as well as its security and privacy capabilities.)

It was already early May, but plans were drawn up to stage the wedding just a month later, right before the band’s June 5 concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, perhaps the most prestigious venue in the music world. Soul Train host Don Cornelius was hired to serve as the MC; talk show host Geraldo Rivera was an usher; and Paley served as best man.

Ultra-popular designer Roy Halston was enlisted to create elaborate, futuristic gold outfits for the happy couple. Elaborate plans called for a laser-light show, a real-life “angel” flying on wires dropping gold glitter all over the crowd, and for thousands of doves to be released (indoors?) to celebrate the nuptials.

The official invitation also promised a star-studded reception at the Starlight Roof of the Waldorf Astoria and asked attendees to “wear something gold.”

As you can imagine, an absolute ton of money was spent trying to hastily arrange all of this magic. As an extensive account of wedding planning in the Aug. 26, 1974 issue of The New Yorker, explained Paley’s job as wedding planner was made far more difficult by his friend and client’s continued erratic behavior.

One telling encounter from the article finds Paley venting to his hairdresser about Stone’s habitual tardiness. “The bad news is that Sly didn’t rehearse on Saturday and he didn’t rehearse on Sunday. The good news is that he did show up for his 8:00 rehearsal on Monday. The bad news is that he came to his 8:00 rehearsal at 11:45 and stayed only fifteen minutes. The good news is that he said he wanted to rehearse and record the wedding march at noon today. The bad news is that he didn’t show up …”

Nevertheless, the big event did take place on the planned day — albeit in not quite as ornate a manner as originally conceived. The threat of an ASPCA lawsuit kept the doves from flying, and the Garden wouldn’t let the human “angel” fly unless Stone and company posted a $125,000 security bond.

They declined to pick up that fee and also opted not to pay for the 200 extra security guards demanded by the venue in order to allow the wedding party to stage a processional right through the audience.

But there were still 12 beautiful models carrying golden gilded palms, even if there weren’t enough fog machines to make the laser light show behind them look as impressively 3D as it had been on a previous demonstration.

As you can see in the video below, even a seasoned stage performer like Stone wasn’t immune to traditional nervousness all grooms feel during their ceremony; as the minister’s “Don’t be nervous” joke elicits a chuckle that just might be the most honest, real and unstaged moment of this entire spectacle.

Watch Sly Stone Get Married at Madison Square Garden

Unfortunately, all of Paley’s hard work and all that money did very little to help Sly’s career — in fact, it didn’t even achieve the desired short-term effect of fully selling out the show.

Small Talk got only slight chart bumps as a result of this ensuing media circus. (Years later, The Beastie Boys would lovingly revisit two songs from this album — sampling ‘Loose Booty‘ for their 1989 hit ‘Shadrach‘ and covering ‘Time for Livin’‘ punk-rock style for their 1992 album Check Your Head) .

Sadly, Stone and Silva divorced just two years later in 1976 after accusations of abuse and a tragic accident where Sly’s dog attacked their young son. “I didn’t want that world of drugs and weirdness,” Silva told People magazine.

Soon after this event, Stone largely disappeared from public view for most of four decades; releasing new songs sporadically while making rare appearances on stage — such as his visit to Grammy Awards in 2006. He died after a prolonged health battle on June 9, 2025.