Rickie Lee Reynolds, the guitarist for rock band Black Oak Arkansas, has died at 72. Reynolds’ daughter, Amber Lee, confirmed the news of his death on Facebook, as did current ‘Black Oak Arkansas’ member Sammy Seauphine on Sunday.
According to Lee’s previous posts, Reynolds had been hospitalised due to COVID-19 and then suffered from kidney failure and cardiac arrest, according to Variety.com.
“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,” Lee wrote.
“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.”
Reynolds was a founding member of ‘Black Oak Arkansas’ which was named after the band’s hometown along with original vocalist Ronnie Smith, fellow guitarists Stanley Knight and Harvey Jett, bassist Pat Daugherty and drummer Wayne Evans. The band then decided that their friend Jim Mangrum was better suited as the band’s frontman, and Smith became their stage manager.
The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970s with four charting albums released in that decade. Their style is punctuated by multiple guitar players and the raspy voice and on-stage antics of vocalist Mangrum.
