Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, otherwise known as MCA, has passed away at the age of 47. Yauch is said to have been battling cancer since 2009 when a tumor was found in a salivary gland.
Yauch was one of the co-founding members of the Beastie Boys, made up of Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, first hitting the music scene as a hip hop trio in 1979.
MCA’s publicist released the following statement confirming the news: “It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch … passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.”
So damn sad. Our thoughts are with Adam’s family during this difficult time. Yauch was married to a Tibetan woman named Dechen Wangdu and they have a daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.
More on his death here.
Image via Getty Images
