Adam Yauch, an only child, was born on August 5, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York, to Frances and Noel Yauch, a painter and architect. His father was Catholic, and his mother was Jewish. Adam attended Edward R. Murrow High School, where he taught himself to play the bass guitar. He formed Beastie Boys with John Berry, Kate Schellenbach, and Mike D, and they played their first show on his 17th birthday.
Beastie Boys added Adam Horovitz to the group, and released their first album, Licensed to Ill, on Def Jam Records. They went on to open for Madonna on her "Like a Virgin" tour, and the group gained huge success with numerous albums and tours. They also founded their own label, Grand Royal Records, in 1993.
Under the pseudonym "Nathanial Hörnblowér", Yauch directed many of the Beastie Boys' music videos. He also built a recording studio, Oscilloscope Laboratories, in New York City, and founded an independent film distributing company, Oscilloscope Pictures. Yauch directed the 2006 Beastie Boys concert film, and the 2008 film Gunnin' For That #1 Spot about high school basketball prospects.
Yauch was a practicing Buddhist, and was inspired by his travels and the Dalai Lama to create "The Milarepa Fund" in 1994 to promote awareness and support for Tibet. He organized the first "Tibetan Freedom Concert" in San Francisco in 1996, and his fund has raised large sums of money for the Tibetan cause.
Yauch married Dechen Wangdu in 1998, and they have a daughter named Tenzin Losel Yauch. He has influenced an entire generation of human souls to look deep within themselves in search of a greater truth and a peaceful, compassionate understanding of all that surrounds us.
In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed and treated for a cancerous parotid gland and a lymph node, and underwent surgery and radiation therapy. He became a vegan under the recommendation of his Tibetan doctors.
