American guitarist, singer and songwriter Sheldon Reynolds, who made his title within the Seventies and 80s with a number of chart-topping bands that helped outline the period, has died. He was 63.
Reynolds’ dying was introduced Wednesday by his former Earth, Wind & Fireplace band mate Philip Bailey. Reynolds joined the favored outfit in 1987 and remained with them on tour and within the studio till 2002.
Throughout his interval they earned a Grammy Award nomination for the tune “Sunday Morning” in 1994 and as a member he was inducted into the NAACP Picture Award Corridor of Fame.
“This news of Sheldon Reynolds transition is very sad for all of us who knew and worked with him,” Bailey wrote on Fb, praising his fellow Ohio native whereas together with a photograph of the band’s best hits sheet music ebook.
File/Earth, Wind & Fireplace performing on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Competition on 27 Might 1997 with Verdine White (bass, left), Sheldon Reynolds (centre) & Philip Bailey (vocals, proper). (Howard Denner/Avalon/Getty Pictures)
“Sheldon vocally had Reese down. That’s what Maurice said when he hired Sheldon to share vocals and play guitar,” Bailey wrote of Maurice White, the founder and frontman of Earth, Wine & Fireplace.
“Sheldon was an excellent addition to the band, a great writer and producer, and a genuinely kind and loving person,” Bailey continued. “He will be missed. Our condolences to his family. Rest in peace.”
This information of Sheldon Reynolds transition could be very unhappy for all of us who knew and labored with him. Sheldon vocally had…
Posted by Philip Bailey on Tuesday, Might 23, 2023
Earth, Wind & Fireplace started in 1970 beneath the management of Maurice White, who created a band that would mix components of jazz, funk, R&B, soul, dance, pop and rock, and celebrated African musicianship and spiritualism, Fox Information reviews.
They went on to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2000. Different achievements embody performing in the course of the 2005 Tremendous Bowl halftime present.
Reynolds’ music profession started with a gap act slot on tour with R&B artist Millie Jackson within the Seventies.
He then turned a part of disco and funk band Solar for a short interval earlier than turning into a member of The Commodores in 1983.

File/THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO /Musical visitor Sheldon Reynolds of “Earth, Wind & Fire” acting on August 03, 1999 — (Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photograph Financial institution/NBCUniversal by way of Getty Pictures)

File/(L to R) — Sheldon Reynolds, Kate Linder, Hawthorne James and Trae Eire attend the Eric Zuley And Dr. Dante Sears eZWay Household Birthday Celebration on March 19, 2022 in Laguna Hills, California. (Amy Graves/Getty Pictures for eZWay Community)
Their 1977 hits “Easy” and “Brickhouse” had propelled the Tuskegee College band right into a nationwide phenomenon.
Reynolds stayed with the funk and soul band — for whom Lionel Richie was a frontman and unique member earlier than his departure in 1982 — for 4 years, incomes his first-ever Grammy award for the band’s “Nightshift,” which gained greatest R&B efficiency by a duo or group with vocals in 1985.
He then made his transfer to Earth, Wind & Fireplace which propelled him to even higher fame. Maurice White, Smokey Robinson and the band Chicago additionally benefited from his expertise.
Reynolds was at one time married to Janie Hendrix, the adopted sister of Jimi Hendrix.
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