[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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Very sad. Beastie Boys were fun, plain and simple.
Licensed to Ill came out my freshman year in college..I was just singing "You got to fight for your right to party" with my 11 & 13 year old in the car on the radio last week...their stuff is timeless..Sorry to hear of his passing.
Awww man, so sad! I grew up listening to the Beastie Boys & MCA was my favorite!! RIP MCA, no more suffering for you. May God give his band mates and family the strength they need to get through this difficult time. "Paul Revere" was my jam!!! "Brass monkey that funky monkey...."
Well said. I grew up on their music, like I did Wheaties for breakfast.
Absolutely terrible. I don't know what to say.
whats with all these people dying? i guess the end is near.
Dear CNN, you could surely find a better photo to use on your front page of Adam Yauch than that?
Talent is talent..whether it be Rock-n-Roll, Death Metal, Rap, Alternative, Classical, Punk, Country and on and on and on. If you can't see talent then you aren't a fan of music, you are a member of a clique.
so sad, he was too young. My prayers go out to his family and the rest of the group.
@Jeff re: Sabotage – I kept waiting for that movie to come out!!
Rest in Peace, Adam Yauch. Blasting some Paul's Boutique in the office in your memory.
Man what a sad day. Prayers to his family and friends.
You suck! The Beastie's ruled. And counter to what some here - who obviously never listened to full BB albums - extremely talented bunch. All played multiple instruments and created some very unique styles and fusions of all types of music with rap.
I feel like some of the best parts of my youth have died too. I had great times with the Beastie Boys in the background.
RIP
i ride on the bus, yeah, to the city everyday.
Sit on the seat and i dream myself away.
I dream im on an island with a foxy lady too.
When im awaken I must be mistaken im on 3rd avenue
Wont you take me away, and take away me...
yeah, get off the bus.
RIP
Trash.
That's sad. I don't usually care when many celebrities die, but I feel like I grew up with the Beastie Boys.
M.C.A. with the bottle
D. rocks the can
Adrock gets nice with Charlie Chan
im, 40 years old and since middle school there has never been a time that i have not had all of their tapes, then cd's, then and now mp3's. the best show I ever saw him at was when they played Laoppalooza, opening song, "Intergalactic Planetary. Thats, 14 to 40, Thanks MCA, you will be missed but your music will live forever. So long, see you or hear you another time in the verse.
+1