According to his family, the guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas had been hospitalized since August due to the coronavirus and suffered from kidney failure as well as cardiac arrest.
- September 6, 2021
AceShowbiz - Rocker Rickie Lee Reynolds has died of complications from COVID at the age of 72.
The son of the guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas told TMZ his father died in hospital on Sunday, September 5.
Reynolds' daughter, Amber Lee, also confirmed the news on Facebook, as did current band member Sammy Seauphine.
Lee's previous posts noted Reynolds had been hospitalized due to COVID-19 last month (August 2021) and was suffering from kidney failure and cardiac arrest, Variety reports.
"Unfortunately, this morning he suffered another cardiac arrest, which they were unable to resuscitate him from. We are all heartbroken by this massive loss, and the whole world feels colder and more empty without his presence among us," she wrote on Sunday.
"Please take a moment of silence today to remember all of the love he gave to the world, and take some time to give back some of those wonderful feelings that he gave us all in our times of need."
A post on the band's official Facebook page last week (ends September 3), which announced Reynolds' hospitalization, read, "Our drummer Johnny [Johnnie Bolin] was also positive and is recovering at home with mild symptoms. The rest of us all tested negative. Be safe everyone."
Reynolds was one of the founding members of the Southern rock band, along with singer Ronnie Smith, guitarists Harvey Jett and Stanley Knight, bassist Pat Daugherty, and drummer Wayne Evans.
Jim Mangrum eventually replaced Smith as the band's frontman.
Black Oak Arkansas experienced the peak of their success in the early 1970s with three certified gold albums.
Reynolds left the band in 1977, but rejoined in 1984 and admitted the members had gone through some hard times in the interim.
He told Yahoo in 2013, "When we wanted to begin enjoying life, we were left high and dry. We all lost our homes, cars, publishing and almost lost our band name. It got blamed on bad investments. All I know is some of us had to pawn our Gold albums to feed our families."
