Sheldon Maurice Reynolds (born September 13, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Reynolds is a former member of bands

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

The Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

and

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

Career

Born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio, Reynolds began playing the guitar when he was eight years old, and by the age of 12 was considered a prodigy. He went on to become an alumnus of

The University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

. Reynolds eventually embarked upon a professional musical career. At first he toured with singer

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson's songs o ...

. Reynolds later joined R&B band

, with whom he recorded three albums. During 1983 he became a member of

. With the Commodores he sang on their 1985 LP '' Nightshift'' and then played on their 1986 album ''

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

''. Altogether he featured with the band for four years. Reynolds then joined Earth, Wind, & Fire (EWF) in the roles of lead guitarist and co-vocalist. He went on to play on EWF's LPs '' Touch The World'' (1987), '' The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 2'' (1988), ''

Heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physica ...

'' (1990), ''

Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

'' (1993) and '' In The Name of Love'' (1997). With EWF he earned a Grammy nomination in 1994 in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the song " Sunday Morning". As a member of the band, Reynolds was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.

Solo work

Reynolds played on Maurice White's 1985 self-titled album and

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, ...

's 1989 LP ''

Family Affair ''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempte ...

''. He later guested on Barbara Weathers's 1990 self-titled album, Smokey Robinson's 1990 LP '' Love, Smokey'' and Joey Lawrence's 1993 self-titled album. Reynolds also performed on 4Him's 1994 LP '' The Ride'' and

Take 6 Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as Dove ...

's 1996 album ''

Brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

''. He later appeared on jazz group

Urban Knights The Urban Knights are an all-star jazz fusion band. They released their self tilted debut in 1995. They have a total of 8 studio albums. Overview The Urban Knight's debut album, ''Urban Knights I'', was released in 1995 by GRP Records. Produced ...

1997 LP '' Urban Knights II'' and on Alfonzo Blackwell's 1998 album '' Body of Soul''. Reynolds also featured on

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's 2008 LP '' Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus'',

Brian Culbertson Brian Culbertson (born January 12, 1973) is an American smooth jazz/ R&B/ funk musician and producer. His instruments include the synthesizer, piano and trombone. Early life and career Culbertson was born in Decatur, Illinois. As a child, he ...

's 2008 album '' Bringing Back The Funk'' and on Culbertson's 2010 release ''XII''.

Personal life

Reynolds is a contributing editor to the magazine ''

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

''. He also has a talk show on Twilight Radio. He was formerly married to Janie Hendrix, the adopted sister of Jimi Hendrix.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Sheldon 1959 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American funk guitarists American male guitarists American rhythm and blues guitarists Musicians from Cincinnati Commodores members Earth, Wind & Fire members Guitarists from Ohio University of Cincinnati alumni 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians