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Diamond was born in New York City to an upper-middle-class Jewish household. He attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York for six months. In 1979, Diamond co-founded the band The Young Aborigines. In 1981, Adam Yauch, 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 to hip-hop. In 1992, Mike D founded the Beastie Boys' now-defunct record label Grand Royal Records. He is also interested in interior decoration, and designed Brooklyn-themed toile wallpaper; it was used in the renovation of the Marquee nightclub in Chelsea, which reopened in January 2013. A year after the passing of MCA in 2012, Mike D 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 Mike D and Adam Horovitz was streamed online in August 2013. The pair is credited with “additional beats, programming and other curve balls.”