Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is best known as a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys.

Early life

Diamond was born in New York City to Harold Diamond, an art dealer, and Hester (née Klein) Diamond, an interior designer and art collector. He grew up on the Upper West Side surrounded by artwork, including pieces by

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

, and Barnett Newman. He attended the arts-oriented Saint Ann's School and Walden School.

Career

Mike D singing with the Beastie Boys at Trans Musicales 2004 in Rennes

In 1979, Diamond co-founded the band The Young Aborigines. In 1981,

Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), better known under the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bass player, filmmaker and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed ...

, aka MCA, a friend and follower of the band, became their bass player, and on the suggestion of their then-guitar player, John Berry, the band changed their name to the Beastie Boys. By 1983, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) joined, and their sound began to shift away from

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

to hip hop. In 1992, Diamond founded the Beastie Boys' now-defunct record label

Grand Royal Records Grand Royal was the Los Angeles, California-based vanity record label set up in 1992 by rap group Beastie Boys in conjunction with Capitol Records after the group left Def Jam Recordings. ''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a magazine written a ...

. He is also interested in interior design, and designed Brooklyn-themed toile wallpaper; it was used in the renovation of the Marquee nightclub in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, which reopened in January 2013. A year after the death of Yauch in 2012, Diamond told ''Rolling Stone'' he was "excited about making new stuff again" and released "Humberto Vs the New Reactionaries (Christine and the Queens Remix)" in July 2013. A remix of Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band's "Bad Dancer" by Diamond and Adam Horovitz was streamed online in August 2013. The pair is credited with "additional beats, programming and other curve balls". In October 2014, Diamond stated that he had been working in the studio with American rock band Portugal. The Man as a producer. He has also produced English punk duo Slaves' second studio album, ''

Take Control "Take Control" is a song by the American singer Amerie from her third studio album, ''Because I Love It'' (2007). It was released as the album's lead single on October 17, 2006. The song was written by Cee-Lo Green, Mike Caren and Amerie, and wa ...

'', which was released on September 30, 2016. He hosts the

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

podcast The Echo Chamber.

Personal life

In 1993, Diamond married film, television and music video director

Tamra Davis Tamra Davis (born January 22, 1962) is an American film, television and music video director. Early life Davis was born the second out of four children in Studio City, California. She was exposed to the media industry at an early age by her gran ...

; They have since legally separated. They have two children, Davis Diamond and Skyler Diamond who formed the group Very Nice Person. They lived in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. He grew up on

Central Park West Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, ...

. He later lived in Brooklyn and Tribeca, and as of 2016 was living in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

Discography

with Beastie Boys * ''

Licensed to Ill ''Licensed to Ill'' is the debut studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys. It was released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records, and became the first rap LP to top the ''Billboard'' album chart. It is one of Columbia ...

'' (1986) * ''

Paul's Boutique ''Paul's Boutique'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Dust Brothers, the album is composed almost entirely from samples, and was recorded over two ...

'' (1989) * ''

Check Your Head ''Check Your Head'' is the third studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Grand Royal and Capitol Records on April 21, 1992. Three years elapsed between the releases of the band's second studio album ''Paul's Boutique'' ...

'' (1992) * ''

Ill Communication ''Ill Communication'' is the fourth studio album by American hip-hop group Beastie Boys, released by Grand Royal Records on May 31, 1994. Co-produced by Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr., it is among the band's most varied releases, drawing from ...

'' (1994) * ''

Hello Nasty ''Hello Nasty'' is the fifth studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Capitol Records and Grand Royal Records on July 14, 1998. It sold 681,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album ...

'' (1998) * ''

To the 5 Boroughs ''To the 5 Boroughs'' is the sixth studio album by the American hip-hop group, Beastie Boys. The album was released on June 14, 2004 internationally, and a day later in the United States. The album debuted #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming ...

'' (2004) * ''

The Mix-Up ''The Mix-Up'' is the seventh studio album by Beastie Boys, released on June 26, 2007. The album consists entirely of instrumental performances and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Background On May 1, 2007, an e-mail sent to ...

'' (2007) * ''

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two ''Hot Sauce Committee Part Two'' is the eighth and final studio album by American hip hop band Beastie Boys, released on May 3, 2011, through Capitol Records. The project was originally planned to be released in two parts, with ''Hot Sauce Commi ...

'' (2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mike D 1965 births Living people Alternative hip hop musicians American male singers American male rappers American rock drummers American rock singers Beastie Boys members East Coast hip hop musicians Rap rock musicians Grammy Award winners Jewish American musicians Jewish rappers People from Tribeca Rappers from Brooklyn Rappers from Manhattan Vassar College alumni Jews in punk rock 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 21st-century American rappers Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn) alumni People from Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Walden School (New York City) alumni People from the Upper West Side Remixers