John Sykes, a guitarist with the rock bands Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, has died aged 65. A statement said his death followed “a hard-fought battle with cancer”.
It added: “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 sombre, we hope the light of his memory will extinguish the shadow of his absence.”
The Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale paid tribute on Instagram, calling the news “shocking”. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash also remembered Sykes on Instagram.
Sykes was born on 29 July 1959 in Reading, Berkshire. His family spent three years living in Ibiza but returned before Sykes’ teenage years, when he became obsessed with playing guitar. He cited guitarists including Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore as influences. He joined his first band, Streetfighter, after the family moved to Blackpool.
After two years in the metal band Tygers of Pan Tang, a dissatisfied Sykes quit in 1982 to join the Irish band Thin Lizzy, nudging them towards the metal sound for which they would become widely known and playing guitar on final album Thunder and Lightning, released in 1983. Frontman Phil Lynott died in 1986 and the group disbanded.
Coverdale pursued him to join the British band Whitesnake, and Sykes debuted on their 1984 album Slide It In, which brought them US success. While he played on their 1987 self-titled album – again pushing them towards a more crowdpleasing sound – he became distant from Coverdale who subsequently fired the rest of the band, which they claimed only to have discovered from the band’s A&R man.
“David said nothing to any of us about having decided to kick us out of the band,” Sykes told Rock Candy magazine in 2017. “I was furious and wasn’t about to accept this. So I went down to the studio where David was still recording his vocals, prepared to confront him. Honest to God, he ran away, got in his car and hid from me!”
They were never able to reunite. “I really have no interest in ever talking to him again,” said Sykes.
Sykes then formed the band Blue Murder with lauded session musicians Tony Franklin and Carmine Appice. Their 1989 self-titled debut was not successful, nor 1993’s Nothin’ But Trouble, made after Franklin and Appice’s departures. Sykes subsequently pursued a solo career and released four studio albums.
Paying tribute, Appice said: “I loved him like a brother.”
Sykes married Jennifer Brooks Sykes in 1989. They divorced in 1999. He is survived by his three sons, James, John Jr and Sean.
