[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.
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Keep rhymin & stealin... loved MCA.
What sad news. It's kind of creepy. Yesterday, I realized that I had no Beastie Boys on my dash units hard drive, so this morning, I copied their albums onto a thumb drive, then forgot about it as I took my daughter to school. I turned around and had her run in and get it... then jammed the B-Boys all the way into to work. RIP MCA... you'll be missed brother!
Though not a BB fan overall, there were a few of their songs I did enjoy, like Sabotage. That being said, as a long time fan of music in general, I can fully appreciate and respect the innovations and impact that three guys brought to the table. This is a sad day indeed for modern rock/pop/rap music.
R.I.P This is a big loss of a great pioneer that changed music. I listened to them all the time when i was growing up.
yawn..must be slow news day or is it just CNN News
You wouldn't say that if it was Dave Matthews probably.
Alot of BEER, alot of GIRLS, and alot of cursin'....
Such great memories their music instills.... RIP my brother.
RIP MCA. Gods speed!
RIP MCA
R.I.P!
Beastie changed the game! R.I.P. MCA.
Correction... R-DMC changed it up. BB put a spin on it.
RIP MCA
All that dirty language he spewed out. His salivary and lymph glands just couldn't take it anymore.
I'll be rocking the suede Adidas tonight.
I was never a big fan of the Beastie Boys, but I respect them and offer my condolences to his family and friends. R.I.P.