John Sykes, the guitarist whose talent helped propel Whitesnake to success, is dead at 65. He also worked with the bands Thin Lizzy and Blue Murder.

John Sykes, the British hard rock guitarist best known for his time in Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, has passed away. Sykes’ social-media pages reported his passing yesterday, saying that Sykes died after a “hard fought battle with cancer.

The English guitarist co-wrote Whitesnake's 'Is This Love,' one of the defining power ballads of late-'80s hard rock.