Marilyn Manson’s original guitarist Daisy Berkowitz dead at 49

Daisy Berkowitz (standing) with Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor, Twiggy Ramirez, Ginger Fish and Madonna Wayne Gacy in 1995
Daisy Berkowitz (standing) with Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor, Twiggy Ramirez, Ginger Fish and Madonna Wayne Gacy in 1995 (Image credit: Getty)

Marilyn Manson’s original guitarist Scott Putesky, aka Daisy Berkowitz, has died at the age of 49 after a long battle with colon cancer.

The news was confirmed via various sources, including Jack Off Jill’s Facebook page, which said: “Saying goodbye to Scott, friend, band mate, artist , hero.. RIP Scott - “always touched by your presence dear.”

Putesky helped compose the majority of music on Marilyn Manson’s 1994 debut album Portrait Of An American Family and went on to play on 1995 EP Smells Like Children. He left Manson’s camp during the recording of 1996 album Antichrist Superstar due to creative differences with the shock rocker.

Along with Jack Off Jill, Putesky played in Godhead and in his Three Ton Gate project.

Manson has paid tribute to his former bandmate on Instagram, saying: “Scott Putesky and I made great music together. We had our differences over the years, but I will always remember the good times more.

“Everyone should listen to Man That You Fear in his honour. That was our favourite.”

Putesky reported in 2013 that he was battling stage-four colon cancer and speaking about the disease in 2014, he told Noisey: “It’s become a huge annoyance. It really gets in the way. It doesn’t get in the way with the kind of work I do, but the amount of work I do.

“When I started chemotherapy in September 2013, I thought I would have down time where I could relax and work on music or artwork. But, I quickly realised that downtime would mean extreme fatigue where I didn’t really feel like doing anything. The most I could do was catch up on movies.

“I didn’t realise how much it would take out of me.”

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Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.