Jack Sonny, former guitarist for British rock band Dire Straits, has died at the age of 68

(CNN) — Jack Sonny, former guitarist for British rock band Dire Straits, has died in recent hours, the group announced on social media.

“#JackSonni Rest In Peace,” the band wrote on X’s Twitter post Thursday, along with a black-and-white photo of the guitarist. He was 68 years old.

Born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Sonny met founding members of Dire Straits and guitarists David and Mark Knopfler while working in a Manhattan guitar shop in 1978. According to Dire Straits blog postWhich the band shared on social media.

The Knopflers had founded the band the previous year with bassist John Ilsley and drummer Beck Withers.

He is affectionately known as “The Other Guitarist” – a label he accepted in his autobiography from your websiteSonny began playing with the band, including on the worldwide hit Brothers in Arms album, and on the ensuing tour.

The album stayed 14 weeks UK number one After its publication in 1985, after nine weeks in the first place in the magazine Billboard Top 200. It has gone on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide, according to The band’s official website. Brothers in Arms is also the first album to sell more than 1 million copies on CD, according to Billboard.

“So sorry to hear the sad news of Jack Sonny’s passing, we loved having him on our Brothers in Arms tour, fond memories,” Ilsley wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Alongside his music career, Sonni was also the writer and host of a podcast called ‘The Leisure Class with Jack Sonni’.