John Sykes, the former guitarist for Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy has died at the age of 65 from cancer.
Sykes played on Thin Lizzy’s ‘Thunder and Lightning’ (1983) and live record ‘Life’ (1983) albums and was also heard on the 2000 live album ‘One Night Only’, recorded during a reunion tour of 1994 to honour Phil Lynott. Sykes co-wrote ‘Cold Sweat’ on ‘Thunder and Lightning’.
After Thin Lizzy broke up in 1984 Sykes joined Whitesnake. He was first credited with Whitesnake on the sixth album ‘Slide It In’ and then co-wrote seven of the nine songs om 1987’s ‘Whitesnake’ album including the hits ‘Is This Love’ and ‘Still of the Night’.
After Whitesnake, Skykes formed Blue Murder with Carmine Appice, Ray Gillen and Tony Franklin. Blue Murder released their debut album in 1989.
Sykes released his first solo album ‘Out of the Tree’ in 1995. He released four studio albums through to 2000. In 2009 he auditioned for Gun ‘n Roses. That didn’t work out. He started work on a fifth solo album in 2013. Eventually the song ‘Dawning of a Brand New Day’, his first new music in 20 years was released.
A statement of John’s socials reads:
It is with great sorrow we share that John Sykes has passed away after a hard fought battle with cancer. He will be remembered by many as a man with exceptional musical talent but for those who didn’t know him personally, he was a thoughtful, kind, and charismatic man whose presence lit up the room.
He certainly marched to the beat of his own drum and always pulled for the underdog. In his final days, he spoke of his sincere love and gratitude for his fans who stuck by him through all these years.
While the impact of his loss is profound and the mood somber, we hope the light of his memory will extinguish the shadow of his absence.
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