Adam Yauch

Early life and education

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Yauch was an only child. His father, Noel, was an architect, and his mother, Frances, a social worker. She was Jewish and his father Catholic, but he had a non-religious upbringing in Brooklyn Heights.

Yauch attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood. In high school, he taught himself to play the bass guitar They played their first show—while still a hardcore punk band in the vein of Reagan Youth—on his 17th birthday. Yauch attended Bard College for two years before dropping out.

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys, a hip-hop trio, released their first album Licensed to Ill on Def Jam Records when Yauch was 22. He directed many of Beastie Boys' music videos, often under the pseudonym Nathanial Hörnblowér.

In 2002, Yauch constructed a recording studio in New York City called Oscilloscope Laboratories. He began an independent film distributing company called Oscilloscope Pictures. He directed the 2006 Beastie Boys concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!

Beastie Boys had sold 40 million records worldwide by 2010. In April 2012, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch was inducted in absentia due to his illness. His bandmates paid tribute to him; a letter from Yauch was read to the audience.

In 2011, Yauch received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College, the college he attended for two years. The award is "given in recognition of a significant contribution to the American artistic or literary heritage".

Other independent work

He directed the 2008 film Gunnin' For That #1 Spot about eight high school basketball prospects at the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park in Harlem, New York City.

Yauch produced Build a Nation (2007), the comeback album from hardcore/punk band Bad Brains. When Bad Brains released Into the Future (2012), the band dedicated the album to Yauch, their longtime friend and backer, who had died several months previously.

In addition, Oscilloscope Laboratories also distributed Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), Oren Moverman's The Messenger (2009), and Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011).

Personal life and views

Yauch was a practicing Buddhist. He became an important voice in the Tibetan independence movement, creating the Milarepa Fund, a nonprofit organization devoted to Tibetan independence and organized several benefit concerts to support the cause, including the Tibetan Freedom Concert.

In 1995, while attending a speech by the Dalai Lama at Harvard University, he met his wife, Tibetan American Dechen Wangdu. They married in 1998 and had a daughter the same year.

In 1998, during the MTV Video Music Awards, when receiving the Video Vanguard Award, Yauch condemned America's wars in Muslim countries and prejudice against Muslims and Arabs.

Illness, death and legacy

In July 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland and lymph node. He underwent surgery and radiation therapy, delaying the release of Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 until 2011 (when it was renamed Hot Sauce Committee Part Two) and canceling the trio's planned tour. He was unable to appear in videos for the album. At the time, Yauch called the cancer "very treatable".

On May 4, 2012, Yauch died in Manhattan, New York, at age 47. In his last will and testament, he left instructions that his music not be used in advertising, though the legal validity of those instructions has been questioned.

On May 3, 2013, ceremonies were held to rename the Palmetto Playground in Brooklyn Heights Adam Yauch Park.

Yauch is also the subject of a mural dedicated to his memory at the Beastie Boys' former studios in Los Angeles.

Discography

Main article: Beastie Boys discography

with Beastie Boys

• Licensed to Ill (1986)
• Paul's Boutique (1989)
• Check Your Head (1992)
• Ill Communication (1994)
• Hello Nasty (1998)
• To the 5 Boroughs (2004)
• The Mix-Up (2007)
• Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)

References

References

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2. (May 4, 2012). "Beastie Boys Co-Founder Adam Yauch Dead at 47". [[Rolling Stone]].
3. "Noel Yauch Obituary from the New York Times".
4. (May 4, 2012). "Adam Yauch Dies at 47; Beastie Boy Became Advocate for Tibet". The Washington Post.
5. Anthony DeCurtis. (May 28, 1998). "Adam Yauch on His Spiritual Journey: 'I Don't Care If Somebody Makes Fun of Me'".
6. O'Malley Greenburg, Zack. (May 4, 2012). "Adam 'MCA' Yauch And The Beastie Boys: Hip-Hop Pioneers". Forbes.
7. A. Greenberg, Brad. (May 4, 2012). "Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, Jewish legend and hip-hop pioneer, has died". Jewish Journal.
8. (May 4, 2012). "Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch dies at age 47". USA Today.
9. "Nathanial Hornblower bio". oscilloscope.net.
10. Ryzik, Melena. (September 8, 2008). "Offstage, a Beastie Boy Enters the World of Independent Film". [[The New York Times]].
11. Coyle, Jake. (May 4, 2012). "Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47". Boston.com.
12. Gray, Madison. (May 4, 2012). "Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, Dies After Cancer Complications".
13. "Yauch misses Hall of Fame ceremony". London Free Press.
14. "Academics – Bard College Catalogue". Bard College.
15. Eric R. Danton. (November 20, 2012). "Bad Brains Dedicate New Record to Adam Yauch". Rolling Stone.
16. Rafer Guzman. "Beastie Boys rapper Adam Yauch dead at 47". Newsday.com.
17. (October 13, 1997). "Buddhism in America".
18. Goldberg, Eleanor. (May 4, 2012). "Adam Yauch Of Beastie Boys Remembered For Tibetan Activism, Freedom Concerts". The Huffington Post.
19. "Frontline: Online Interview with Adam Yauch". [[Frontline (U.S. TV series).
20. [http://www.tibetsun.com/features/2012/05/05/the-union-between-adam-yauch-and-dechen-wangdu-a-look-back/ Tibet Sun: "The union between Adam Yauch and Dechen Wangdu: a look back" from the ''International Business Times''] May 5, 2012
21. "MTV | Homepage - Shows & Schedules".
22. Thomson, Katherine. (July 20, 2009). "Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has 'very treatable.' cancer". Huffington Post.
23. {{YouTube. u7CH3M7cECI. Yauch Announcement
24. "The Associated Press: Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47".
25. (May 4, 2012). "Adam Yauch, a Founder of the Beastie Boys, Dies at 47". [[The New York Times]].
26. Goffe, Wendy. (August 13, 2012). "Yauch's Will, Banning Use Of Music In Ads, May Not Be Valid". Forbes.
27. (May 1, 2013). "Brooklyn playground named after Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch". Nme.com.
28. (14 July 2023). "The Beastie Boys studio in Atwater Village". The Eastsider.