Earlier today, January 20th, it was announced that English guitar legend John Sykes (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Blue Murder) has passed away at 65 years of age following a battle with cancer. The following message was posted via his official Facebook page:
"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."
Everyone here at BraveWords offer our condolences to John's family, friends, and fans. RIP.
Tributes from Sykes' bandmates, colleagues, and friends are beginning to appear on social media. A sampling follows:
Carmine Appice (Blue Murder, Rod Stewart):
"I’m am saddened about the news of my band mate John Sykes . I’m shocked about his passing. We played such great music and had such great times together . Check out Blue Murder 1, and The Cry of Love albums. John’s playing, writing and singing were amazing …I loved him like a brother. We lived close to each other when we were in Blue Murder we hung out everyday. He was an amazing guitarist and together with Tony Franklin on bass we had a great rock trio.
He will be missed. [❤️] [❤️] RIP brother John . Check out Blue Murder on MTV in 1989 John played great on this."
Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, The Winery Dogs):
"Absolutely shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of the great John Sykes. As many of you might know, John & I spent a lot of time working together back in 2011 when we were planning on launching a new band. We even demoed 12 of his songs and went on That Metal Show together to announce the project. Sadly it never went anywhere and the demos never saw the light of day, but working with him and spending as much time together as we did provided me with so many great memories. He was an incredible talent and it was an honor to work with him. Such a sad loss [
