John Sykes dead: Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake star dies after cancer battle

Former Thin Lizzy and Whitesnakes guitarist John Sykes has sadly died at the age of 65. 

The iconic rockstar passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer, with the news of his passing shared in a statement on his social media channels.

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 the 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 is final days, he spoke of his sincere love and gratitude for his fans who stuck by him through all these years. 

"While the imact of his loss is profound and the mood somber, we hope the light off his memory will extinguish the shadow of his absence."

It didn't take long before fans flooded to the comments to share their own touching tributes to the late musician online. Posts on Facebook included one user's post, which read: "RIP John. I wish I could hear the music you're making with Gary Moore up therre now." 

Another echoed: "Oh no. I had no idea he was ill. He was awesome. Thank you for sharing your art and talent with us. RIP I love Blue Murder." 

A third chimed in with: "Never knew he had cancer... He will always be one of the musicians whose music stayed with me. Blue Murder... life changing. RIP Sir.... than you for all you gave..." 

"John was an unbelievable player. His tone was so unique to himself. I always wish that blue murder had kept going. Amazing singer and guitarist. I remember seeing him live with Thin Lizzy. The dude was unreal." 

John performed on Thin Lizzy's 1983 top five album Thunder and Lightning before he joined Whitesnake and contributing to two albums, beginning with 1984's Slide It In. 

He went on to co-write much of 1987's eight-times platinum hit Whitesnake, but he also battled through a difficult relationship with the lead singer David Coverdale. 

Speaking about their time together, David later said: "John was and is an incredible talent. Our musical chemistry was great, but it didn't work personally. 

"The truth of the matter is no matter how incredible of an album that we made together, we were unable to connect as people." John later took over as the lead vocalist for Thin Lizzy when the band reunited in 1996, and he remained a part of the line-up until 2009. 

He was also known for his fast alternate=picking style and tendency to use pinch harmonics. Later in life he was named in Guitar World's list of 100 greatest heavy metal guitarists in 2004.