Cynthia Robinson, Sly and the Family Stone Trumpet Player, Dies at 71. Sly and the Family Stone in their heyday, featuring from left, Rose Stone, Larry Graham, Sly Stone, Freddie Stone, Greg Errico, Jerry Martini (seated) and Cynthia Robinson. Cynthia Robinson, a trumpet player and original member of the seminal psychedelic-funk-soul group Sly and the Family Stone, died on Monday in Carmichael, Calif. She was 71. The cause was cancer, Jerry Martini, a friend and bandmate, said. Ms. Robinson joined Sly Stone in a short-lived group called Sly and the Stoners in 1966. Soon after, he asked her to be a member of the Family Stone, whose inclusion of black and white musicians of both sexes, and its hippie style, made it a living poster for the ideals of the counterculture.