[Updated at 3:03 p.m. ET] Adam "MCA" Yauch, a founding member of the pioneering rap band the Beastie Boys, has died after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, the band's publicist said Friday. He was 47.
Yauch revealed in July 2009 that he had surgery for cancer in a salivary gland and a lymph node.
What is salivary gland cancer?
Yauch's death comes less than a month after the Beastie Boys were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Because of his fight with cancer, Yauch did not attend, Rolling Stone magazine reported.
The Beastie Boys – Yauch, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond – did not perform that night. But Horovitz read a letter from Yauch to the audience.
"I'd like to dedicate this to my brothers Adam and Mike," Yauch wrote, according to Rolling Stone. "They walked the globe with me. It's also for anyone who has ever been touched by our band. This induction is as much ours as it is yours."
Yauch's cancer delayed the release of the band's most recent album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two," for two years. It was supposed to come out in 2009 but instead was released in spring 2011.
The Beastie Boys' debut album, 1986's "Licensed to Ill" – featuring the singles "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)," "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," "Paul Revere" and "Brass Monkey" – was the first rap album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.
Yauch was a founding member of the group, which played for the first time at his birthday party in 1981, according to the band’s Facebook page.
He converted to Buddhism in the 1990s after visiting Nepal and hearing the Dalai Lama speak in Arizona, he told the Buddhist magazine Shambhala Sun in 1995.
As a Buddhist, Yauch became an advocate for Tibetan freedom, organizing concerts involving the Beastie Boys and other acts to raise money for the cause, including the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996. Several similar concerts followed.
FULL STORY
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
This is really mess up
Well this sucks.
RIP MCA this nasty disease can take any one of us...so tell the people in your life that matter "I love you"
'Don't you tell me to stop"
Pioneers in hip hop. Rest in peace MCA.
pioneer of hip hop?? are you mad???
Juggar – In mainstream music, yes in fact they were.
They are one the reasons why rap and hip hop has gotten really popular. Screw them and I hope all of them burn in hell for exposing us to that poison.
Yeah you are an idiot and have no clue on hip-hop.
His hollogram is already in the works.
This is so sad!
massively talented and now he's gone.
His name is M.C.A., God said, "Howdy" he said, "Hi"...
You think this story's over but it's ready to begin
Very sad, RIP Adam.
Completely dumbfounded.
The Beastie Boys are one of my favorite bands of all time. Check Your Head and Hello Nasty (which could have easily come from two different bands) both meant the world to me.
The world is a little richer for having him and a little poorer now that we are without.
Goodnight sweet prince and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Beastin for life. We ride for...Beyond color...
OMG this breaks my heart so much
I'm am so sad R.I.P MCA I love you man.
who cares?
Cookie puss....Hey! RIP Yauch.....you made it man!
Please don't post any rude comments. It doesn't matter if you don't like him or the bb. If you don't care for it then don't read it. But it's quite rude to write mean things about someone who just died of cancer. If you have nothing nice to say. . . . . Then shut your face. I couldn't imagine people writing nasty things about my brother, son etc. who just died of cancer. How icky.
Exactly! Jeez, have some respect.
Sad, so sad. RIP knowing you touched the lives of so many. This world has lost a true artist, and an amazing talent.