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John Sykes


Member

NA- John Sykes - guitars  
1980-1982 Tygers Of Pan Tang - guitars  
1982-2009 Thin Lizzy - guitars  
1985-1987 Whitesnake - guitar  
1988-1994 Blue Murder - lead vocals, lead guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar  

Live musician

1980-1986 Philip Lynott - guitars  

Guest musician

2004 Derek Sherinian - guitars  

Personal information

Born on: 29.07.1959

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John Sykes started his career in 1980 with the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" band, The Tygers of Pan Tang. After two years of albums and tours with the Tygers, John auditioned for a place in classic rock band Thin Lizzy, where he successfully got the part as their new lead guitar player alongside Scott Gorham.

John joined Thin Lizzy in 1982 and performed on the album," Thunder & Lightning" as well as the "Live Life" album and a live album recorded by the BBC of the band's last show at the Reading festival in 1983. After this "farewell" tour, John joined Phil Lynott for Phil's solo tour of Europe in a band dubbed, The Three Musketeers.

John was soon spotted by David Coverdale and was then invited to join the band Whitesnake, where he originally turned the part down due to his loyalty to Philip Lynott & Thin Lizzy.

After more calls and conversations (and a personal blessing from Philip Lynott), John eventually joined Whitesnake and he appeared on the U.S. release of the "Slide It In" album. The band toured constantly in support of the album and ended the tour in front of 500,000 people at "Rock in Rio" in 1985. The show was broadcast to millions of people on television throughout South America.

Whitesnake's next album was the self-titled 1987 release, which featured Sykes' phenomenal guitar playing as well as his diverse song-writing talents. The album went on to sell approximately 20 million copies world-wide. John co-wrote the entire album with the classic hits such as "Still of the Night" and "Is This Love" which are still widely played on rock radio today.

After leaving Whitesnake John returned to England and formed the critically acclaimed supergroup Blue Murder. The band featured bassists Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice. Their debut album not only showcased John's fiery and melodic guitar playing but his excellent singing voice as well. The material ranges from epic rock songs like " Valley of the Kings" to more pop-oriented songs like "Jelly Roll".

In 2006 Gibson Guitars honoured John Sykes and began producing an "Inspired By" Signiture Gibson Les Paul which was modeled after Sykes' 1970s-era Les Paul Custom. There were two versions available; an "aged" look (recreating the exact looks of John's Les Paul) and a "standard" or "VOS" model. There was a limited edition run with 66 aged look models created, and just over 100 VOS models created. These guitars sold out almost immediately and are now sought after collectors items each fetching thousands of dollars.

John currently resides in Los Angeles and for the last several years John has been writing and releasing material under the name Sykes, with a new album due for release in 2013.