John Sykes, a hard-rock guitarist and singer who played with Thin Lizzy before joining Whitesnake for its smash 1987 album and later forming Blue Murder, has died of cancer. He was 65.
The news was confirmed on Sykes’ Facebook page, but other details including a date of death were not provided.
“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 reads in part. “He certainly marched to the beat of his own drum and always pulled for the underdog.”
Born on July 29, 1959, in Reading, England, Sykes began playing guitar as a teenager, inspired by the legion of late-’60s British axmen. He played with metal band Tygers of Pan Tang in the early 1980s before joining Phil Lynott in Thin Lizzy for 12th album. Thunder and Lightning went Top 5 in the UK, fueled by the Top 30 single “Cold Sweat,” which Sykes co-wrote, but sold poorly stateside. The 1983 set would be Thin Lizzy’s last studio disc, with the band dissolving by year’s end.
The following year, Sykes was approached to join former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale’s band Whitesnake. After some wrangling, he agreed to play with the new group and cut some tracks for the U.S. release of its 1984 album Slide It In. It was the fifth of eight consecutive Top 10 UK albums for the band and its first to go platinum in the U.S., fueled by the bluesy FM hit “Slow An’ Easy.”
But the band was about to score its biggest commercial success, with Sykes playing a huge role — despite officially having been fired from the group.
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Coverdale and Sykes began writing tracks for what would become Whitesnake’s seventh album. It was released with various titles in different parts of the world but hit the States as an eponymous effort. Sykes co-wrote all but two of the 1987 disc’s songs, including the No. 2 pop ballad “Is This Love?”, whose MTV-favorite video featured Coverdale’s girlfriend Tawny Kitaen.
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That album also featured the power ballad “Here I Go Again,” which hit No. 1 in the U.S., along with hard-rock tracks including “Crying in the Rain,” “Still of the Night” and “Give Me All Your Love.” Whitesnake spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2 in the U.S., where it has sold more than 8 million copies, and went Top 10 in the UK.
Whitesnake is among the handful of biggest albums of the glam-infused “hair metal” era, with several of its songs still heard on classic rock radio.
But the run-up to its recording and release had seen Coverdale fall out with Sykes and the rest of the band, firing them all. Despite their keen musical chemistry, the lead singer and ace guitarist couldn’t get along and wouldn’t work together again.
Sykes then recruited The Firm alum Tony Franklin on bass and Vanilla Fudge and Rod Stewart veteran Carmine Appice to form Blue Murder. The trio’s 1989 debut on Geffen Records featuring Sykes on lead vocals and spawned the U.S. Mainstream Rock hit “Jelly Roll,” reaching the Top 70 stateside and Top 50 in the UK. A follow-up album, 1994’s Nothin’ but Trouble, featured Sykes and a new supporting case but failed to chart on either side of the pond.
Sykes left Geffen later that year and would release the first of five solo sets in 1995, but none could match the sales he’d seen earlier in his career.
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