John Berry, a founding member of the Beastie Boys who left the group before it found major label success, has died. Co-founding member Yauch, also known as MCA, died at 47 after a battle with cancer four years ago this month. As the band became a more professional outfit, Berry "wasn't up for that rigor," according to his father. Berry died Thursday morning at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts, following a long battle with frontotemporal dementia, according to his stepmother, Louise Berry, of Stamford, Connecticut. The pair founded the Beastie Boys as a punk outfit in 1981 along with Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 20, 2016 15:30 UTC