Not all rock fans may know his face, but some of the songs he co-wrote certainly do. Now John Sykes has died at the age of 65. He co-wrote some of the biggest hits on 1987, Whitesnake’s most successful album of the same year.
On his official Facebook page you can find the message from January 20th:
“It is with great sadness that we announce that John Sykes has passed away after a tough battle with cancer. Many will remember him as a man of exceptional musical talent, but for those who did not know him personally, he was a thoughtful, kind and charismatic man whose presence lit up the room.
He always followed his own rhythm and always stood up for outsiders. In his final days, he spoke of his sincere love and gratitude for his fans who have remained loyal to him over the years.
Although the loss is heavy and the spirits are depressed, we hope that the light of his memory will dispel the shadow of his absence.”
On his website A lonely guitar can be seen in the spotlight, with the caption “John Sykes 1959 – 2024” (even though it is already 2025).
On
John Sykes was born in Reading, England in 1959 and started playing guitar as a teenager. He then joined the band Streetfighter, and later briefly with Tygers Of Pan Tang. He released his first solo single in 1982. In the same year he wrote the piece “Please Don’t Leave Me” with Phil Lynott. Eventually Sykes even joined Thin Lizzy and recorded their last album “Thunder And Lightning” (1983) with them.
When Thin Lizzy split up, Sykes defected to Whitesnake. He contributed a few guitar parts to the US version of the album “Slide It In” (1984), but wasn’t really involved until “1987”. “1987” became the biggest commercial success for the British band. In the USA, the album reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. Coverdale and Sykes co-wrote, among other things, the hit “Still Of The Night” and the power ballad “Is This Love”. It also reached number 2 in the USA. (Only “Here I Go Again” was even more successful.)
Sykes co-wrote “Is This Love,” then was fired
Surprisingly, Sykes was soon sacked by David Coverdale. Which the singer later regretted, at least insofar as he attested to the guitarist’s “incredible talent”. They would have gotten along well musically, but unfortunately not personally.
John Sykes then founded the band Blue Murder, with which he released two studio albums, and then concentrated on his solo work. Between 1995 and 2004 he released five more albums, most recently “Bad Boy Live!”. There were two more singles in 2021, “Out Alive” and “Dawning Of A Brand New Day”. He had been working in Los Angeles for years on an album called “Sy-Ops.” How far he was able to complete it is currently unknown.