John Sykes, Guitarist For Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Dies at 65

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John Sykes (Uncredited photo via his Facebook page)

John Sykes, a highly respected guitarist for Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and others, died today (January 20, 2025). The news of his passing at age 65, following a battle with cancer, was announced on his Facebook page. Sykes served as a songwriter, along with David Coverdale, for most of Whitesnake’s phenomenally successful, self-titled album, which featured such classic rock songs as “Is This Love” and “Give Me All Your Love.” The 1987 release has sold a reported 25 million copies worldwide.

The entire tribute 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.”

From his website: Sykes started his career in 1980 with the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” band, the Tygers of Pan Tang. After two years of albums and tours with the Tygers, John auditioned for a place in classic rock band Thin Lizzy, and in 1982 he became their new lead guitar player alongside Scott Gorham.

Sykes performed on the album Thunder & Lightning, as well as the Live Life album and a live album recorded by the BBC of the band’s last show at the Reading festival in 1983. After this farewell tour, he joined Phil Lynott for the latter’s solo tour of Europe in a band dubbed, the Three Musketeers.

The guitarist was soon spotted by David Coverdale and was then invited to join the band Whitesnake, where he originally turned the part down due to his loyalty to Lynott and Thin Lizzy. After more calls and conversations (and a personal blessing from Lynott), John eventually joined Whitesnake and he appeared on the Slide It In album. The band toured constantly in support of the album and ended the tour in front of 500,000 people at “Rock in Rio” in 1985. The show was broadcast to millions of people on television throughout South America.

Whitesnake’s next album was their self-titled 1987 release, which featured Sykes’ guitar playing as well as his diverse songwriting talents. Sykes co-wrote the entire album, save for two tracks, with Coverdale. After recording was completed in 1986, however, Coverdale parted ways with the entire band including Sykes, along with bassist Neil Murray, well-traveled drummer Aynsley Dunbar and session keyboardist Don Airey. The promotional materials for the album excised these other performers who played on it.

After leaving Whitesnake, Sykes returned to England and formed the critically acclaimed supergroup Blue Murder with bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice.

In an interview with Metal Edge decades later, Coverdale was asked about his split with Sykes. “Things went squirrely between us, which was unfortunate. But John was and is an incredible talent. Our musical chemistry was great, but it didn’t work personally. The truth of the matter is no matter how incredible of an album that we made together, we were unable to connect as people.”