Beastie Boys Sonar 2007 Barcelona Catalonia

Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist, and actor. He was a member of the

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

group

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project,

BS 2000 BS 2000 (also known as Beat Science 2000) was an American rock and hip hop group formed by Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (member of Beastie Boys) and Amery "AWOL" Smith (drummer for Suicidal Tendencies and touring drummer for Beastie Boys) featuring ...

. Since the group disbanded in 2012 following the death of

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

, Horovitz has participated in several Beastie Boys-related projects, worked as a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

er, producer, and guest musician for other artists, and acted in a number of films.

Early life and education

Horovitz was born on October 31, 1966, and raised on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York, the son of Doris (''née'' Keefe) and playwright

Israel Horovitz Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 – November 9, 2020) was an American playwright, director, actor and co-founder of the Gloucester Stage Company in 1979. He served as artistic director until 2006 and later served on the board, ex officio and ...

. His sister is film producer

Rachael Horovitz Rachael Horovitz (born 1962) is an American film producer. She is known for producing the film '' Moneyball'', and the miniseries '' Patrick Melrose''. Early life Horovitz is the daughter of playwright Israel Horovitz and the late painter Doris ...

. His father was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, whereas his mother, who was of Irish descent, was

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He had a secular upbringing.

Career

Horovitz began his music career with a stint in the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band The Young and the Useless, who often performed with Beastie Boys. In 1982, Beastie Boys guitarist John Berry quit and Horovitz replaced him. He was only 16 at the time. After Horovitz joined the band, Beastie Boys changed their sound, evolving from a

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

band to a more of a hip-hop group. The band was signed to

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

, and released its debut album, '' Licensed to Ill'', in 1986. The album was a huge commercial success and spawned six singles, of which one, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", reached the top 20 of the US Hot 100 (US #7). The album was certified diamond several years later. Several albums followed, with some attaining platinum or multi-platinum status, and by 2010, Beastie Boys had sold 40 million albums worldwide, including 22 in the U.S. In 2012, Beastie Boys were inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

. In addition to his work with Beastie Boys, Horovitz remixes numerous tracks for other artists under the alias 41 Small Stars. He plays bass in The Tender Moments, the backing band of New York-based

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

performer Bridget Everett. Horovitz has acted in several motion pictures and television shows. His roles include Tim "Chino" Doolan in ''

Lost Angels ''Lost Angels'' (also known as ''The Road Home'') is a 1989 independent drama film directed by Hugh Hudson and written by Michael Weller, known for his work on Ragtime and Hair. The film stars Donald Sutherland and Adam Horovitz, best known as a ...

'' (1989), Sam in '' Roadside Prophets'' (1992), Repulski in ''Godspeed'' (2007), Fletcher in '' While We're Young'' (2014), and Nick in '' Golden Exits'' (2017). In 2020, he was featured in the documentary ''Have a Good Trip''.

Personal life

In the late 1980s, Horovitz was in a relationship with American actress

Molly Ringwald Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and '' The Facts of Life'' (both 1979–1980) before being nominated for ...

. They met on the set of '' The Pick-up Artist''. Horovitz was married to actress

Ione Skye Ione Skye Lee (born September 4, 1970) is a British-American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller '' River's Edge'' (1986) before gaining mainstream exposure by starring in Cameron Crowe's '' Say Anything...'' (1989). She continued ...

from 1992 to 1999. She is mentioned in the song "Get It Together". They separated in 1995, got back together in 1996, and separated again that year. They divorced in 2000. After his separation in 1996, he entered into a relationship with

riot grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest, and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement ...

artist

Kathleen Hanna Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. She is the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill and fronted the electropunk band Le Tigre ...

; they married in 2006. Horovitz appeared prominently in '' The Punk Singer'', a 2013 documentary film about Hanna's life and career, and even shot some scenes. Horovitz and Hanna adopted a son, Julius Hanna Horovitz, in 2013. Horovitz began to wear a medical alert bracelet after having a tonic–clonic seizure in 2003. Horovitz has been close friends with actress Nadia Dajani since childhood; the two attended elementary school together.

Discography

with Beastie Boys * '' Licensed to Ill'' (1986) * '' Paul's Boutique'' (1989) * '' Check Your Head'' (1992) * '' Ill Communication'' (1994) * '' Hello Nasty'' (1998) * '' To the 5 Boroughs'' (2004) * '' The Mix-Up'' (2007) * '' Hot Sauce Committee Part Two'' (2011) with

* ''BS 2000'' (1997) * '' Simply Mortified'' (2000)

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1966 births Living people Male actors from Manhattan Rappers from Manhattan American people of Irish descent American rap rock musicians Alternative hip-hop musicians American male film actors 20th-century American male rappers Jewish American musicians Jewish punk rock musicians Jewish rappers American rock guitarists American male guitarists Beastie Boys members Grammy Award winners People with epilepsy 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male actors Guitarists from New York City 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American guitarists Jewish American singers 21st-century American male rappers