In this May 12, 2009 file photo, musician Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys, attends a special evening to honor artist Ross Bleckner's appointment as Goodwill Ambassador at the United Nations. Yauch, the gravelly voiced Beastie Boys rapper who co-founded the seminal hip-hop group, has died at age 47. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. Yauch, who's also known as MCA, was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland in 2009. AP/Evan Agostini, file
LOS ANGELES – Adam Yauch, a co-founder of Grammy-winning hip-hop giants the Beastie Boys, died Friday three years after being diagnosed with cancer, media reports said.
The cause of death of the 47-year-old, better known by his stage name MCA, was not immediately clear, said the TMZ celebrity news website. His death was also reported by Rolling Stone.
The three-member band canceled a tour in 2009 after Yauch announced he had been diagnosed with cancer in a salivary gland. They have not appeared live since the summer of that year, said Rolling Stone.
Yauch launched the Beastie Boys, initially a punk band, in 1979 with Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, but they gradually moved towards hip hop, making it big with their 1986 album “Licensed to Ill.”
The rapper was also involved in support for Tibet, and helped organize charity concerts for the cause in the 1990s. He recently became a vegan at the recommendation of his Tibetan doctors, TMZ reported.
The band won three Grammys: two in 1998 — best rap performance and best alternative music performance — and one in 2007, best pop instrumental album, for “The Mix Up,” according to the Grammys website.
Yauch did not appear at a ceremony to induct the Beastie Boys into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, and his treatments delayed the release of the group’s most recent album, “Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2,” the magazine said.
Representatives for the Beastie Boys did not immediately return calls or emails seeking comment or confirmation.
Yauch is survived by a wife and daughter.