Ted Nugent, Mike Portnoy, and others shared tributes to Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes after his recent death.
Sykes died at 65. The news was shared on his official Facebook page. The statement read, “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.”
It added, “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.”
Nugent wrote on Facebook in his tribute to the late musician, “We lost an incredible great man goodf riend and monster soul full musical force! Godspeed my friend.”
Portnoy also said on Instagram, “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.”
The drummer continued, “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 & it was an honor to work with him. Such a sad loss.”
Glenn Hughes also posted on Instagram and wrote, “There are no words to describe how I feel about John’s guitar playing. He was absolutely a phenomenon. Here’s a song that we wrote together called ‘Heaven’s Missing An Angel.’ What an amazing solo on this song & Honored to have John join me on vocals. RIP Dear one. The angel is now in heaven, Love you.”
Slash simply wrote, “RIP John Sykes.” Myles Kennedy stated on Instagram, “So sad to hear John Sykes passed away. He had a profound influence on me and my friends when we were young. He wrote great riffs and songs. He could sing and looked cool as hell doing all of it.”
The singer went on to say, “What a lead player. Great tone, phrasing, and technique. THAT WIDE VIBRATO! The Whitesnake, Blue Murder, and Thin Lizzy recordings he was on contain some of my favorite guitar moments to this day.”
Gary Holt was another musician who honored Sykes, writing, “RIP John Sykes, one of the greatest guitarist to walk this earth. Another legend gone. Another hero has left the stage. This may be one of the top ten solos I’m ever seen.”
Eddie Trunk also posted a message on Instagram, writing, “Devastated.. RIP John Sykes. Crushed. More on my X and FB. More when back on Trunk Nation tomorrow. Beyond belief. A friend and one of my favorite players ever. This audio is John paying tribute to one of his heroes Gary Moore. RIP JS. Condolences to fans, friends and family. This one hits very hard.”
Sykes was famous for co-writing Whitesnake’s 1987 album, which had hits like ‘Still of the Night’ and ‘Is This Love.’ He played with Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, and Tygers of Pan Tang, and led his band Blue Murder. He also released four solo albums and one live album.