STEPHEN PEARCY's Longtime Guitarist ERIK FERENTINOS Suffers Heart Attack After Ohio Concert

Guitarist Erik Ferentinos, who has played with Stephen Pearcy since 2001, suffered a heart attack after the RATT singer's July 15 performance at Picktown Palooza in Pickerington, Ohio. He was rushed to the hospital where he had three stents implanted into his coronary arteries. This is known medically as a coronary angioplasty and aims to re-open the blocked coronary artery by inserting one or more stents. This helps keep the narrowed artery open.

On Saturday, Erik took to his Instagram to share a photo from the hospital and break the news of his medical emergency. He wrote: "I want to let my friends and family know that I suffered a heart attack last night after our show. I had a 99% blockage in my main artery as well as 2 other blockages."

He continued: "I'm in good hands here!! I now have 3 stents and I'm improving. Hoping to get discharged by tomorrow! Just need to get my blood pressure down.

"I will not be missing any upcoming Stephen Pearcy concerts!

"See you all soon!!"

Pearcy also addressed Erik's heart attack in a tweet on Saturday. He shared a short video of the Picktown Palooza and wrote in an accompanying message: "THANK YOU! @PicktownPalooza Erik (suffering a heart attack after the show) gave it all. He's doing better and will be 'Back for More'! Till next time."

Pearcy told Sleaze Roxx that Erik was briefly considered for a position in RATT before Jordan Ziff and Chris Sanders came along in 2018. "He's literally been in my band for years, in my solo band," he said. "He's a big part of my life, my solo records, the mixing, the engineering, just everything. I mean, we're like a team when I go in to do my solo records with Matt Thorne in the studio, and Erik and myself. We get in there and there is no stopping us, so I wanted to keep that a little separate, but he's always ready to go at any moment. He's a total professional."

Five years ago, Stephen praised Erik in an interview with Classic Rock Revisited, calling him "just brilliant. He comes up with stuff and he has these ideas and he just puts a title on it and I would go, 'That is the most perfect title.' He starts riffing on stuff and says, 'Now… watch this.'"