John Sykes, a guitarist who played with Thin Lizzy before joining Whitesnake for its smash 1987 album and later forming Blue Murder, has died of cancer at 65.

Rock ’n’ roll tributes have flooded in for Irish rock band Thin Lizzy’s legendary guitarist John Sykes after he died from cancer. John, who was 65 and died yesterday, famously described the group’s iconic frontman Phil Lynott, from Dublin, as his “hero”.

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