Sykes, born in Reading in 1959, embarked on his musical career in 1980 with the heavy metal band Tygers of Pan Tang. He recorded two albums with the group before joining Thin Lizzy in 1982. His tenure with the band saw him contribute to their final studio album, ‘Thunder and Lightning,’ released in 1983. He also toured Europe alongside the band’s frontman, Phil Lynott, as part of The Three Musketeers project.

In 1984, Sykes was invited by Whitesnake founder and frontman David Coverdale to join the band. He played a pivotal role in shaping their sound on the ‘Slide It In’ album and co-wrote some of their most iconic tracks, including ‘Still of the Night’ and ‘Is This Love,‘ featured on their eponymous 1987 release. The album’s critical and commercial success solidified Whitesnake’s place in rock history, though Sykes departed the band before its release.

Following his departure from Whitesnake, Sykes formed the hard rock outfit Blue Murder, releasing two albums that showcased his virtuosity and songwriting prowess. In later years, he led a touring version of Thin Lizzy, honouring the band’s legacy after Phil Lynott’s passing in 1986.

Sykes remained active in the music scene throughout his career, releasing solo material and continuing to inspire generations of guitarists. In 2006, Gibson Guitars honoured Sykes with a limited series release of his custom guitar: a Signature Gibson Les Paul. Despite not always receiving the widespread recognition of his peers, his contributions to rock music were highly regarded. Forbes magazine’s Quentin Thane Singer noted, “While Sykes didn’t see the same worldwide recognition as other like-minded 1980s guitar heroes […] his musical contributions to the genre and capabilities as a guitarist are no less significant.”

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He is survived by his three sons, James, John Jr., and Sean.

A private funeral service is expected to take place, with further tributes pouring in from the music world as they remember one of rock’s most gifted and enduring figures.

SO looking forward bring our film about the incomparable Philip Lynott to cinemas this Autumn!

Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away Official Trailer- In Cinemas This Autumn – YouTube https://t.co/puCcrSj8j1

— Emer Reynolds (@emerpreynolds) August 20, 2020

Phil Lynott was born to a Guyanan father and an Irish mother in 1949 West Bromwich. Shortly after Phil’s birth, his father left for London, leaving his mother Philomena to raise him alone. After a while, Lynott was sent to live with his grandparents in Dublin due to the racial prejudices he and his mother were experiencing in England.

However, life was not a walk in the park for Lynott in Dublin either. Ireland was very conservative at the time. In the trailer for the documentary, a voiceover tells us ‘you just didn’t see black people in Ireland in the 50’s‘ and ‘there were people saying things to this guy that hurt him to his core‘. Despite this fact, Lynott talked openly about his love for Dublin in interviews, saying: ‘if I don’t get back to Dublin within three months then I really start to suffer from homesickness‘.

Lynott’s ambivalence toward Dublin is expressed in his 1971 song ‘Dublin’, containing the lyrics: ‘How can I leave the town that brings me down// That has no jobs// Is blessed by God// And makes me cry‘. This melancholy song is a good example of how poetic Lynott’s songwriting is, and also how varied – this being a gentle folk song that stands in stark contrast to Thin Lizzy’s famed 1976 album Jailbreak.

The documentary’s title, ‘Songs For While I’m Away‘, was taken from Phil Lynott’s two volumes of poetry of the same name. Speaking on BBC’s Rock Hour in 1979 Lynott explained that one of his reasons for publishing these books was because people had told him: ‘you get classed as an artist if you’re a poet’. Yet when asked if he considers himself one he replied in a soft Irish drawl ‘no, I’d say I’m a song-writer.’ This is why Lynott’s musical legacy remains so interesting and relevant, because it blurs the line between poetry and song-writing.

Though the upcoming documentary will celebrate Lynott as a charismatic front-man, featuring ‘loud and proud the glorious Lizzy performances‘, it will also explore his vulnerable and troubled side that led to a premature death from drug-induced pneumonia at the age of 36. Phil Lynott was more than smash hits ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ and ‘Dancing in the Moonlight‘, and should be remembered as the complex poet that he was. There is no doubt that Reynolds’ documentary will do this with finesse.