(Washington) Rock group Dire Straits, known for their classics “Sultans of Swings” and “Money for Nothing,” announced Friday the death of Jack Sonni, “the other guitarist” in virtuoso Mark Knopfler’s band.
Published at 11:22 am.
“Jack Sonni, rest in peace,” the group soberly wrote on the social network X to announce the death of their former second guitarist.
Jack Sonni, who was born in December 1954 in Pennsylvania and whose real name was John Thomas Sonni, was working at Rudy’s, a famous guitar shop in New York, in the late 1970s when he became friends with Knopfler, who had just founded Dire in London Straits.
The group then experienced intense and sudden fame with “Sultans of Swings”, still their most symbolic title, in which clear, rhythmic chords and cascading guitar solos reverberate in the chorus with a touch of blues.
Jack Sonni joined the band in the mid-’80s to replace guitarist Hal Lindes while Dire Straits was recording Brothers in Arms, an album that put him at the forefront again with the song “Money for Nothing,” his greatest commercial success, which was broadcast continuously on the music channel MTV.
What followed was a dizzying world tour and participation in the Live Aid cult concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985 to raise funds against the famine in Ethiopia at the time.
After briefly participating in the group’s successful period, Jack Sonni turned his attention to marketing, but focused on the music industry before Dire Straits disbanded in the mid-90s. According to the trade press, he was “the other guitarist” of Dire Straits, a nickname he did not deny, died on Wednesday at the age of 68.