[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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SeanJohn218. It is "You're" not "Your".
Not only do you have an inability to know Rock talent. You also lack a grasp of proper grammer.
hey you misspelled grammar lol
yeah, and you can't spell. moron.
*grammar* :p
You mean "grammar".
RealityBlowz:
It's spelled grammAr.
It's "grammar", not "grammer".
And it's grammar, not grammer.
As well as your inability to spell
"grammer"?
It's "grammar" actually, just FYI.
You shouldn't call someone out for a grammar mistake by misspelling the word. That is beat, yo.
Also beat – your sentence fragment. You're so beat, dude. So very, very beat. #hugsforlife
grammer = grammar.... don't throw stones in glass houses
First concert. New Haven with Public Enemy and Murphy's Law. Paul's Boutique one of the funnest albums of all time. Positive hip hop and spreading the funky vibes. Thank you MCA!!!!!
Brought a whole generation of white kids like me into the fold of hip-hop and rap. Pioneer, activist, and just all together good human being. I will mourn him.
R.I.P.
Was never a HUGE fan but they were a great talent. I am sorry to hear this news and I wish the 2 remaining B-Boys the best as well as Ad-Rock's family.
RIP, but I wonder if this is a warning to watch your 420 intake.
Actually, MCA was straight edge but thanks for trying to turn his death into a marijuana debate.
No sleep till....RIP
Beasties were Awesome! MCA R.I.P.
oops, I meant Adam's family.
I was instantly shocked and suddenly sad to hear that MCA had passed. He will be missed. RIP MCA
Thanks for all the grooves, brother, you will be missed...love out to the family
He was great in the dual role as Sir Stewart Wallace and also as Cochese in Sabotage.
Sabotage... Listen to it..... AWESOME!!!
He was my favorite one...Rest in Peace, MCA...
Rest in peace, MCA. Your music has touched my life and will always be associated with so many, many good memories!
He's not even in the ground yet. Show some respect. And all metal made after about 1984 sucks.
You're asking to show some respect and then go a disrepect many. Way to be an oxymoron!!
Nonpoint, kittie, static x, kidney theives, human waste project. The bands are out there if you're actually interested in the talent. What plays on the radio is a physics marvel: it both sucks and blows at the same time. If you stopped looking for good heavy metal in 1984, then you missed out on a lot. Not that the beastie boys ever really qualified to be in that category. I liked them for a brief summer in sixth grade, then moved on. Except for their episode of Futurama! Hilarious!