Washington DC [US], September 1 : Dire Straits, a British rock band, said on social media that their longtime guitarist Jack Sonni has passed away, CNN reported. He was 68.
The band posted a black and white image of the guitarist on Thursday along with the hashtag "#JackSonni Rest In Peace" on X, formerly known as Twitter.
{{{{twitter_post_id####}}}}#JackSonni 🎸 Rest In Peace 🙏#DireStraits pic.twitter.com/W3vx65bY5h— Dire Straits 🎸 (@DireStraits77) August 31, 2023
According to a post on the Dire Straits Blog that was posted by the band on social media, Sonni, who was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, met David and Mark Knopfler, the brothers who would later become the founding members of Dire Straits, in 1978 while working in a Manhattan guitar store.
The band was started by The Knopfler, bassist John Illsley, and drummer Pick Withers the previous year, as per CNN.
Sonni began to perform with the band, including for the album "Brothers in Arms," which shot to international acclaim, and the ensuing tour. He adopted the moniker "the other guitarist" in the biography on his own website.
Following its 1985 debut, the album spent 14 weeks in the UK at number one and nine weeks atop the Billboard Top 200. According to the band's official website, more than 30 million copies of the record were ultimately sold worldwide. According to Billboard, "Brothers in Arms" holds the distinction of being the first CD album to sell over a million copies.
“So sorry to hear the sad news that Jack Sonni has died, we loved having him with us on the Brothers in Arms tour, fond memories,” Illsley wrote in a post on Facebook Thursday.
Alongside his musical career, Sonni was also a writer and hosted a podcast, “The Leisure Class with Jack Sonni.”
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