John Thomas Sonni (December 9, 1954 – August 30, 2023) was an American writer, musician, and marketing executive, best known as "the other guitarist" in Dire Straits during the band's Brothers in Arms era.

[2][3] After graduating, Sonni was introduced to New York session guitarist Elliott Randall, who had played the solo on Steely Dan's single "Reelin' In the Years".

[2] In the late 1970s, Sonni's band The Leisure Class became a Monday night fixture at Kenny's Castaways on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, a venue for up-and-coming acts.

After his collaboration with Dire Straits, Sonni contributed to other musicians' works, but ended his professional musical career when his twin daughters were born in 1988.

[9] In mid-2006, Sonni left Guitar Center to write literature, and moved to San José del Cabo, in Baja, Mexico, in 2007, then to Healdsburg, California, until January 2012, when he relocated to Brooklyn, New York, for a short time.