Musician, Singer. He was a founding member of the influential hip hop trio, Beastie Boys. He was frequently known by his stage name, MCA, and other pseudonyms such as: Nathanial Hörnblowér. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Noel, an architect father and Frances, a social worker mother, his parents were Catholic and Jewish but Adam was raised non-religiously in Brooklyn Heights. While attending Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood, Brooklyn, he became self-taught in playing the bass guitar and upon the dissolution of the band, Young Aborigines, he co-founded the Beastie Boys in 1978 with Michael "Mike D" Diamond, John Berry and Kate Schellenbach. His stage name MCA is an abbreviation of "Master of Ceremonies Adam." With Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz joining the band and following the departures of Berry and Schellenbach between 1982 and 1984, the Beastie Boys transitioned their sound from hardcore punk to hip-hop. The single "Rock Hard" (1984) sampled AC/DC's "Back in Black." The band gained early exposure as the opening act for Madonna's The Virgin Tour in 1985. After being signed to Def Jam Recordings by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, with distribution from Columbia Records (CBS), they released their debut album, "Licensed to Ill" in 1986. A commercial-critical smash, it was the first hip hop album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, featured the hit singles, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)," "Paul Revere," Brass Monkey" and "No Sleep till Brooklyn." The album was later certified Diamond by the RIAA. Moving from Def Jam to Capitol Records, their second album "Paul's Boutique" (1989) saw the Beasties collaborating with The Dust Brothers as their producers. Paul's Boutique was critically acclaimed, utilized layers of samples and is considered a landmark album in the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. Subsequent albums include: "Check Your Head" (1992), "Ill Communication" (1994), "Hello Nasty" (1998), "To the 5 Boroughs" (2004), "The Mix-Up" (2007) and "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two" (2011). A practicing Buddhist, he was active in the Tibetan independence movement and with the Beastie Boys, they created the Tibetan Freedom Concert, a series of socio-political music festivals in support of Tibetan independence. In 2008, he co-founded the independent film company, Oscilloscope Laboratories with David Fenkel. In 2012, the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.