John Berry, one of the founding members of the Beastie Boys, has tragically died at the age of 52.
The Associated Press and Rolling Stone both confirmed the news with Berry’s father and stepmother and report that the former guitarist for the group suffered from frontal lobe dementia before his death.
Original Beastie Boys member John Berry has died at age 52 https://t.co/yiaN0OoV2Q pic.twitter.com/LwRThyApVN
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 19, 2016
Berry, who performed with the Beastie Boys from 1981 to 1982, actually came up with the name of the group early on. The band would perform shows at his Manhattan loft in the beginning.
The musician knew Beastie legend Mike Diamond, aka Mike D, in high school and the boys later recruited Adam Yauch and others to join the band.
According to Rolling Stone, Berry played in other bands like Big Fat Love and Highway Stars, but never found the level of acclaim his original group achieved.
He was mentioned in 2012 at the Beastie Boys’ Hall of Fame induction, when Yauch wrote a special note before he died that year at the age of 47, which was read by fellow band icon Adam Horovitz.
“To John Berry, to John Berry’s loft on 100 Street on Broadway, where John’s dad would come busting in on our first practices screaming, ‘Will you turn that f—— s— off already,’” he wrote in tribute to everyone who made the band possible.
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