John Illsley

John Illsley is an English musician who rose to fame as the bass guitarist of the critically acclaimed band Dire Straits.

With Dire Straits, John has been the recipient of multiple BRIT and Grammy Awards and a Heritage Award. As one of the founding band members, with Mark Knopfler, his brother David and drummer Pick Withers, John played a major role in the development of the Dire Straits' sound.

Throughout it all, John and Mark were the only founding members to remain in the line up of Dire Straits right through from 1977 until they decided to call it a day in 1995. They still remain close friends and recently produced a programme "Guitar Stories" for Sky Arts.