Sad news reaches the Quietus this evening that Beastie Boy Adam Yauch - AKA MCA - has died. He was 47. The TMZ website reported the news a short while ago, saying it was announced by Russell Simmons. "We have spoken to people independently connected to the rapper who also say he is dead," they added. Yauch had been suffering from cancer for some time, and had undergone various therapies alongside traditional treatments to try and defeat the disease. It has not yet been confirmed whether the cancer was the cause of his death. Adam Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen Wangdu and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

UPDATE: The band's management have posted a lengthy statement on the Beastie Boys website. Click here to read the statement in full. It begins:

"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."

Photograph by Sam Christmas