Yesterday (January 20), it was announced that John Sykes – a hugely influential mainstay of '80s hard rock guitar who had stints in Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, and Tygers of Pan Tang – had died at 65.

(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP ... He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work of such folk music icons as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

After recording their last No. 1 hit, a 1969 cover of John Denver’s “Leaving ... He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work of such folk ...

He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the ... (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) “We called Noel up. He was there,” Yarrow said, recalling ...

(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File ... class family he said placed high value on art and scholarship. He took violin lessons as a child, later switching to guitar as he came to embrace the work ...