John Sykes, guitarist for rock bands Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake has died at the age of 65.
As per NME, the death announcement was made on the Looking for Love singer official Facebook page on Monday night, January 20, confirming that he lost the battle against cancer.
Sykes official page statement began, noting, "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."
While describing the kind of person the Is this Love songwriter was, the caption 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 sombre, we hope the light of his memory will extinguish the shadow of his absence," the statement concluded.
The English guitarist, who was born in Reading, started his career in heavy metal with band Tygers of Pan Tang, after quitting he joined Thin Lizzy in 1982.
Sykes stayed with the Irish rock band till their split in 1984, and afterwards chose Whitesnake as his next destination for the music career, where he featured on the band’s commercial hit album Slide It In.
Furthermore, Sykes formed his own band, Blue Murder, featuring bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice before venturing in solo career in 1994.
Two year later, Sykes rejoined the newly reformed Thin Lizzy and remained part of the band till 2009.
John Sykes, never losing passion for his music, also auditioned for Guns N’ Roses in 2009, though it didn’t go well, and continued to work on his solo projects in the years before the sickness took over.
