Sly Stone is living in a van in L.A.

Sly Stone performs at the Coachella Valley Music & Art Festival, April 18, 2010, in Indio, Calif.

/ Getty

(CBS) There's a new chapter in the strange and fascinating story of Sylvester Stewart, better known to the world as Sly Stone. The soul and funk legend currently resides in a van in Los Angeles.

According to the New York Post, the singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist lives in a white van in the Crenshaw section of L.A., the neighborhood where the movie "Boyz n the Hood" was filmed. He once lived in a Beverly Hills mansion and as little as four years ago resided in a large house in California's Napa Valley, reports the Post.

Stone had this to say about the van, according to the paper:

"I like my small camper," he says, his voice raspy with age and years of hard living. "I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving."

Stone records music on a laptop computer inside the van. The Post reports Stone is paranoid and thinks the FBI is after him.

With his band Sly and the Family Stone, Stone had a multitude of hits and was directly responsible, along with contemporaries such as Stevie Wonder and James Brown, for shaping the sound of funk and soul music in the 1960s and 1970s. Sly and the Family Stone's singles include the number one hits "Everyday People," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Family Affair."

The original band dissolved in 1975 after Stone's increasingly erratic behavior and alleged drug abuse. Over the years, he's become almost as famous for being a recluse as he is for his music. In 2006, he gave a performance at the Grammys - his first in about 19 years - that received mixed reviews.

Stone tells the Post he started having serious money problems in 2009, stemming from a bad management contract he signed in 1989. He has sued the manager with whom he made that deal.

Read more here.

[slystonenow]

sly stone releases new music this friday on slystonenow dot com. are you ready? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5k4e6wSAWE

[vandweller2]

He is not the only one. Thousands do this and we do it out of choice...not because of bad management. If you Vanabode you can certainly get more out of life than any other method of travel and housing.

[bajajohn1]

We are family, all my little brothers and me.

[thetruthwillout]

Too bad for Stone, or should I say "Stoned." So many of the artists from the 60s and 70s have been ruined by their drug habits. What once seemed cool is now just another bad decision. I don't believe he lives in a van for the hell of it. I believe he lives in a van because he has no choice. Again, too bad, so sad.

[ddog88]

He should run for President in 2012 on both parties tickets.

[Cocogrrrlll]

I still love Sly and the Family Stone music. I have their albums in vynl an play them now and then. George Clinton's too Who cares if he doesn't have a house. You go Sly. I hope you are working on some more good music. Funk never dies.

[Forty-Four]

Who?

[Forty-Four]

I wanna play the electiric triangle!

[ammo17]

another reason to never make drugs legal.

[ExcitedUtterance]

Headline correction: Wife-Beater Junkie Sly Stone Experiences Karma

[cuffhead]

This is what 90% of rap stars future looks like.