Photo: Artwork
John Berry, one of the founding members of The Beastie Boys, has died aged just 52.
Berry, who came up with the name of the band when they were teenagers, had been suffering from frontal lobe dementia, which had got worse in the past few months. His death was confirmed by his father, John Berry III yesterday afternoon (19 May).
The guitarist - who is second from the right in the artwork above - was a member of The Beastie Boys (who were initially called Young Aborigines) in 1978, alongside Michael 'Mike D' Diamond, Kate Schellenbach and Adam 'MCA'' Yauch. When Berry left after the release of the band's first EP, he was replaced by Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz.
Not only did Berry come up with the band's name, his apartment in New York City was also the venue for some of the band's first shows. During their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2012, Horovitz said, "To John Berry [and] to John Berry’s loft on 100th Street and Broadway, where John’s dad would come busting in during our first practices screaming, ‘Would you turn that fucking shit off already?'"
Berry's death follows that of fellow Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch, who died of cancer in 2012.
