John Berry, a founding member of rap group Beastie Boys has died at the age of 52.
His father said he had been suffering from frontal lobe dementia, which had worsened in recent months.
John Berry originally formed the Beastie Boys as a hardcore punk band with three friends in 1981 and came up with the name for the group.
He played guitar on their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, but left before they achieved commercial success.
Berry attended the Walden School in New York with fellow band member Mike Diamond, known as Mike D.
The pair were later joined by Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach and released their debut EP in 1982.
When Berry left the group, he was replaced by Adam Horovitz, known as Ad-Rock, and the band took a new direction as a rap group.
Schellenback also left the group before the release of their 1986 album Licence To Ill, which debuted at number one in the US.
The group became a huge commercial success, recording a total of eight studio albums over 25 years, which collectively sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
Four of them reached number one in the US, while their 1998 album Hello Nasty topped the album chart in the UK.
Their best-known hits include (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), Intergalactic, and Ch-Check It Out.
Seven of their albums achieved platinum sales status and the band toured with Madonna in 1985.
Beastie Boys remained a three-piece until Adam Yauch's death from cancer in 2012.
In the same year, Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Billboard declared them the biggest-selling rap group since the magazine began recording data in 1991.
Horovitz read a speech written by Yauch at the ceremony, which mentioned Berry as a formative member of the band's early years.
His father said he had been suffering from frontal lobe dementia, which had worsened in recent months.
John Berry originally formed the Beastie Boys as a hardcore punk band with three friends in 1981 and came up with the name for the group.
He played guitar on their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, but left before they achieved commercial success.
Berry attended the Walden School in New York with fellow band member Mike Diamond, known as Mike D.
The pair were later joined by Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach and released their debut EP in 1982.
When Berry left the group, he was replaced by Adam Horovitz, known as Ad-Rock, and the band took a new direction as a rap group.
Schellenback also left the group before the release of their 1986 album Licence To Ill, which debuted at number one in the US.
The group became a huge commercial success, recording a total of eight studio albums over 25 years, which collectively sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
Four of them reached number one in the US, while their 1998 album Hello Nasty topped the album chart in the UK.
Their best-known hits include (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), Intergalactic, and Ch-Check It Out.
Seven of their albums achieved platinum sales status and the band toured with Madonna in 1985.
Beastie Boys remained a three-piece until Adam Yauch's death from cancer in 2012.
In the same year, Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Billboard declared them the biggest-selling rap group since the magazine began recording data in 1991.
Horovitz read a speech written by Yauch at the ceremony, which mentioned Berry as a formative member of the band's early years.
Source: bbc.com
No comments:
Post a Comment