Jack Sonni, former guitarist for Dire Straits died on Wednesday (August 30). He was 68. The band confirmed Sonni’s death on their social media pages. No cause of death was revealed.
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“[JackSonni] Rest In Peace,” wrote the band on Thursday (August 31), alongside a black and white photograph of the guitarist. On Facebook, the band added, “Our beloved Jack has left a void in our heart and soul… we will miss you so much, you are forever with us.”
Keyboardist Alan Clark wrote, “It’s with a heavy heart that I have to say my friend and Dire Straits’ colleague has left us. Rest in peace, amigo,” while bassist John Illsley added “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.”
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Born December 9, 1954, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Sonni moved to New York City in 1976 to pursue music and formed a band called The Leisure Class. Soon after, he met founding David and Mark Knopfler in 1978, while he was working in a guitar shop in Manhattan, according to a post on the the band’s official blog.
Though the Knopflers, along with Illsley and drummer Pick Withers had already formed Dire Straits a year earlier. Later on, Sonni was the perfect addition, and was affectionately called “the other guitarist.” It’s a label he fully embraced and even included in his biography on his website.
Sonni also played with the band during their Brothers In Arms era and performed with the band during their historic Wembley Arena performance for Live Aid in 1985. Brothers In Arms, which included the band’s No. 1 hit “Money for Nothing” — penned by Mark Knopfler and Sting — went to No. 1 worldwide, on the Billboard 200, where it spent nine weeks, in addition to spending 14 weeks at No. 1, in the UK.
The album sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and was also the first album in CD format to sell more than one million copies.
“I’m extremely proud of being part of that album. Besides being a commercial success, it is a fantastic artistic achievement,” said Sonni in an interview on the band’s blog in 2020. “The tour supporting that album was really the band at its finest. Of course, I would have enjoyed being part of the financial rewards of that success but that was not to be.”
By the mid-’00s Sonni focused on more literature and was a writer-in-residence at the Noepe Center for Literary Arts on Martha’s Vineyard through 2017. He also recently hosted the Spotify podcast The Leisure Class with Jack Sonni.
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In his short bio, Sonni also described himself as a “writer, musician, nomadic raconteur, father and grandfather who has taken to heart the reality in the hard-learned lesson that life is short.”
His bio continues, “He has embraced a philosophy to live well and live now in pursuit of creating memorable moments with friends and family. And he is one who knows the supreme importance of hugging them while you can, because tomorrow never knows.”
Photo by FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
