John Berry dead: Original Beastie Boys member dies aged 52

Berry left the band after a year in 1982

John Berry, one of the original members of the Beastie Boys, has died aged 52 after suffering from dementia.

Berry’s father, John Berry III, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone. He said his son died at 7.30am on Thursday morning in a Massachusetts hospice after his frontal lobe dementia worsened.

Berry played guitar on the band's first seven-inch EP, "Polly Wog Stew,” but left the group shortly after it was recorded in 1982. He was credited with coming up with the band’s name.

The Beastie Boys held their very first band practices in his father’s loft in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Adam Horovitz paid tribute to Berry and this loft when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In an acceptance speech written by Adam Yauch, a Beastie Boys member who died of cancer in 2012, Horowitz said: “To John Berry, and John Berry’s loft on 100th street on West 100th Street and Broadway, where John’s dad would come busting in on first practices screaming ‘will you turn that f**king sh*t off already!’”.

After leaving the Beastie Boys, Berry joined a number of less well-known bands.