It is with great sadness that we confirm
that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam “MCA” Yauch, founding member
of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan
Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company
Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning
after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Yauch taught
himself to play bass in high school, forming a band for his 17th birthday party
that would later become known the world over as Beastie Boys.
With fellow members Michael “Mike D”
Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz, Beastie Boys would go on to sell over 40
million records, release four #1 albums–including the first hip hop album ever
to top the Billboard 200, the band’s 1986 debut full length, Licensed To
Ill–win three Grammys, and the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award.
Last month Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,
with Diamond and Horovitz reading an acceptance speech on behalf of Yauch, who
was unable to attend.
In addition to his hand in creating such
historic Beastie Boys albums as Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill
Communication, Hello Nasty and more, Yauch was a founder of the Milarepa Fund,
a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and activism
regarding the injustices perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational
government and military forces. In 1996, Milarepa produced the first Tibetan
Freedom Concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which was attended by
100,000 people, making it the biggest benefit concert on U.S. soil since 1985′s
Live Aid. The Tibetan Freedom Concert series would continue to stage some of
the most significant benefit shows in the world for nearly a decade following
in New York City, Washington DC, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Taipei and other
cities.
In the wake of September 11, 2001, Milarepa
organized New Yorkers Against Violence, a benefit headlined by Beastie Boys at
New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, with net proceeds disbursed to the New York
Women’s Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New
Americans (NYANA) September 11th Fund for New Americans–each chosen for their
efforts on behalf of 9/11 victims least likely to receive help from other
sources.
Under the alias of Nathanial Hörnblowér,
Yauch directed iconic Beastie Boys videos including “So Whatcha Want,”
“Intergalactic,” “Body Movin” and “Ch-Check It Out.” Under his own name, Yauch
directed last year’s Fight For Your Right Revisited, an extended video for
“Make Some Noise” from Beastie Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, starring
Elijah Wood, Danny McBride and Seth Rogen as the 1986 Beastie Boys, making
their way through a half hour of cameo-studded misadventures before squaring
off against Jack Black, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as Beastie Boys of the
future.
Yauch’s passion and talent for filmmaking led
to his founding of Oscilloscope Laboratories, which in 2008 released his
directorial film debut, the basketball documentary Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot and
has since become a major force in independent video distribution, amassing a
catalogue of such acclaimed titles as Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy, Oren
Moverman’s The Messenger, Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop, Lance Bangs and
Spike Jonze’s Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait Of Maurice Sendak, and many
more.
Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen and
his daughter Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents Frances and Noel Yauch.
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