John Sykes — guitarist for Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy, among other bands — has died at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer. The sad news was reported on the veteran musician’s official Facebook page.
The statement read as follows: “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.”
It continued, “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.”
The UK guitarist first made a name for himself in the metal bands Streetfighter and Tygers of Pan Tang in the early ’80s before joining Thin Lizzy in 1982, and appearing on their final album, 1983’s Thunder and Lightning. The band broke up later in 1983, a couple years prior to the passing of frontman Phil Lynott. Sykes subsequently became a member of a new incarnation of Thin Lizzy in 1996 and remained with the band until 2009.
In between his stints in Thin Lizzy, Sykes started to work with Lynott in a new band called Grand Slam, which was only active for roughly a year before Lynott’s passing. However, Sykes turned his attention to Whitesnake when they recruited him for the band in 1984.
He appeared on Whitesnake’s multiplatinum albums Slide It In (1984) and Whitesnake (1987), the latter of which featured the hits “Still of the Night,” “Is This Love,” and the massive chart-topper “Here I Go Again ’87,” a re-recording of an earlier Whitesnake song that became a ubiquitous staple on MTV.
However, prior to the release of the self-titled album, Whitenake frontman David Coverdale fired all the members of the band including Sykes, whose relationship with Coverdale remained acrimonious in the decades since then.
Sykes went on to form and front the band Blue Murder, which featured bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice, and lasted from 1997 through 1994. After that, he released a series of solo albums in the ’90s and early 2000s. In 2021, he released his first new solo songs in 20 years, “Dawning of a Brand New Day” and “Out Alive.”
Among the musicians who have paid tribute to Sykes upon learning of his passing is Coverdale, who despite their contentious relationship, wrote, “Just heard the shocking news of John’s passing…My sincere condolences to his family, friends & fans.”
Carmine Appice stated, “I’m am saddened about the news of my band mate John Sykes. I’m shocked about his passing. We played such great music and had such great times together … 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.”
Drummer Mike Portnoy, who worked with Sykes on a project that never came to fruition, wrote, “Absolutely shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of the great John Sykes. As many of you might know, John & I spent a lot of time working together back in 2011 when we were planning on launching a new band. We even demoed 12 of his songs and went on That Metal Show together to announce the project. Sadly it never went anywhere and the demos never saw the light of day, but working with him and spending as much time together as we did provided me with so many great memories. He was an incredible talent and it was an honor to work with him. Such a sad loss ”
Our condolences go out to John Sykes’ family, friends, and bandmates during this difficult time. See a video of him performing with Whitesnake in 1985 below, as well as a music video of him fronting Blue Murder.