Musician John Sykes, the guitarist for Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and more, has died. He was 65.
Sykes passed away after battling cancer, according to a post shared on his verified social media accounts.
“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,” the statement read.
“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.”
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“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.”
Sykes began his music career with the band The Tygers of Pan Tang in 1980. He went on to audition for Thin Lizzy. While the band was already popular, Sykes performed during the group’s farewell tour and played for the last two albums, “Thunder and Lightning” and “Life.”
The guitarist then joined Whitesnake, founded by David Coverdale. Sykes played for the group’s album “Slide It In” before co-writing some of the band’s greatest hits including, “Still of the Night” and “Is this Love.”
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Coverdale shared a tribute to Sykes on Instagram.
“Just heard the shocking news of John’s passing… My sincere condolences to his family, friends & fans…” he wrote alongside a handful of photos from their time together in Whitesnake.
Despite co-writing the album, Sykes, along with bassist Neil Murray and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, were all thrown out of the band before the album was released.
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Sykes went on to form Blue Murder with Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice, who also shared a tribute to Sykes.
“We played such great music and had such great times together,” he wrote on Facebook. “Check out Blue Murder 1, and The Cry of Love albums. John’s playing, writing and singing were amazing… I loved him like a brother. We lived close to each other when we were in Blue Murder we hung out everyday. He was an amazing guitarist and together with Tony Franklin on bass we had a great rock trio.”
“He will be missed.”
