Glenn Wheatley has died at the age of 74.
The Australian native - famed for playing the bass guitar in The Masters Apprentices - lost his battle with the virus in Melbourne, reports claim.
It is understood he had contracted the bug over the festive period and was admitted into ICU, Noise11 report.
He joined Masters Apprentices in 1968 and played on two of their biggest hits Turn Up Your Radio and Because I Love You.
After the band became fed up with their management Glenn took over as their talent manager in the late 1960s.
The group also set up its own Melbourne-based booking agency called Drum.
He also went on to look after the Little River Band, who in the 1970s became one of the world's biggest rock bands thanks to his guidance.
After Little River Band became popular in Australia, Wheatley took the band to the United States.
Due to Glenn's contacts, experience and skill, the group became the first Australian band to achieve major and lasting chart and sales success in America.
Glenn also managed John Farnham and helped him make a comeback in the 1980s.
He also got involved in FM radio broadcasting and was a founding director of Melbourne-based EON-FM.
In 1987 he negotiated a series of acquisitions which resulted in the formation of Hoyts Media, a national FM radio network, and from 1987 to 1989 he was managing director of Hoyts Media.
He also founded the artist agency TalentWorks in 1996.
The talented businessman was given the Advance Australia Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Entertainment Industry and was the recipient of the 1988 Business Review Weekly Australia's Business Award for Marketing.
He has been a director and part-owner of the Sydney Swans, and a board member of AUS MUSIC, Tourism Task Force (promoting Australia as a tourist destination), and the AIDS Trust of Australia.
In 1998 the Masters Apprentices were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and in 1999, Glenn - who was married to actress Gaynor Martin - published his autobiography named Paper Paradise.
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Glenn had some trouble with the law in his lifetime.
In 2007 he pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and faced the possibility of up to 16 years in jail.
He was sentenced in the County Court to 30 months jail, with a minimum of 15 months to be served.
"I'm ashamed of what I have done", Wheatley said in court. "It was something that I have regretted for a long, long time and I'm ashamed of what I've brought on my family, who have had to suffer a lot."
On 14 May 2010, Wheatley was charged with drink driving after recording a blood alcohol level of 0.08 by a random breath testing unit in Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales.
He faced Waverley Court on 9 June 2010 and pleaded guilty as a result his licence was suspended for six months and he received a fine.
