John Illsley
John Illsley (* June 24, 1949 in Leicester, United Kingdom) is a British bass player. In 1977, Illsley with Mark Knopfler (guitar), his brother David Knopfler (guitar ), and Pick Withers on drums the British band Dire Straits, where he played until the dissolution in the 1990s through and alongside Mark Knopfler is the only founding member.
In the 1980s, he released two solo albums, Never Told a Soul (1984) and Glass ( 1988), where he helped out Mark Knopfler on guitar. In June 2002, organized by Mark Knopfler in London four charity concerts where Illsley and other ex- Dire Straits members (Guy Fletcher on keyboards, Chris White on sax and Danny Cummings on drums ) for the first time on stage together since 1992 stood.