Legendary music producer and composer Quincy Jones, renowned for his work with icons like Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, has passed away. He was 91 years old.
The singular artist was surrounded by family at home in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel Air when he died Sunday, his publicist Arnold Robinson said in a statement, without specifying a cause.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” his family said in the statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
“Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity,” they said.
From Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, jazz to hip-hop, Jones tracked the ever-fluctuating pulse of pop over his seven-decade-plus career — most often orchestrating it himself.
A jazz musician, composer and tastemaker, Jones’s studio chops and arranging prowess made him a star in his own right.
But his mark on the business side was indelible as well: Jones became the first Black executive of a major record company, and developed infrastructure within the industry to pave new pathways for Black artists.
“Quincy Jones was a musical genius who transformed the soul of America,” said President Joe Biden in a statement, calling the artist “a great unifier.”
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris also praised Jones’s “generosity of spirit” and said in a statement she was “honored to call Quincy a friend.”
“For decades, Quincy Jones was music,” posted former president Barack Obama, who honored Jones with the prestigious National Medal of Arts in 2010.
– ‘You name it, Quincy’s done it’ –
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. ascended to the upper echelons of entertainment from humble beginnings, the grandson of a former slave who was born in 1933 on the south side of Chicago.
He discovered his natural aptitude for the piano at a recreation center, and later became teenage buddies with Ray Charles.
He briefly studied at the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts before joining bandleader Lionel Hampton on the road, eventually relocating to New York, where he earned notoriety as an arranger for stars including Duke Ellington, Dinah Washington, Count Basie and his friend Ray Charles.
He played second trumpet on Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” teaming up with Dizzy Gillespie for several years before moving to Paris in 1957, where he studied under the legendary composer Nadia Boulanger.
He wrote his own hits, like the addictively cacophonous “Soul Bossa Nova,” while also arranging at a breathless pace for dozens of stars across the industry.
And his scores for film and television became instantly recognizable classics in their own right; in 1967, Jones was the first Black composer to be nominated in the original song category of the Oscars, for the film “Banning.”
On top of that laundry list of accomplishments, Jones was perhaps best known for his work with Michael Jackson, producing “Thriller” as well as “Off the Wall” and “Bad.”
Among entertainment’s most decorated figures, Jones won virtually every major entertainment award, including 28 Grammys.
He also started a label, founded a hip-hop magazine, and produced the 1990s hit television show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” discovering Will Smith.
“He pointed me toward the greatest parts of myself,” Smith wrote Monday. “He defended me. He nurtured me. He encouraged me. He inspired me. He checked me when he needed to. He let me use his wings until mine were strong enough to fly.”
– Music Collaborations –
Hits like “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and the title song made “Thriller” the biggest-selling album of all time. It won three Grammys for Jones and seven for Jackson.
They followed that in 1987 with “Bad,” which had five No. 1 hits, including “Smooth Criminal” and “Man in the Mirror.”
In 1985, Jones, Jackson and singer Lionel Richie organized “We Are the World,” a record to raise money for fighting famine in Ethiopia. The huge all-star chorus featured Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Smokey Robinson. Jones set the tone for the recording session with a sign that said: “Leave your ego at the door.”
“Wow Q — what a great ride!” Richie said above a picture of the two that he posted on social media platform X on Monday.
Oprah Winfrey, who said Jones “discovered” her for her Oscar-nominated role in “The Color Purple,” called him “one of one.”
“My life changed forever for the better after meeting him,” Winfrey wrote on Instagram. “I had never experienced, nor have since, anyone (whose) heart was so filled with love.”
Jackson died in 2009, and Jones later sued the estate, testifying that he was “cheated out of a lot of money” in royalties. In July 2017, a Los Angeles jury awarded Jones $9.4 million.
Jones started his own record label, Qwest, as well as Vibe, a magazine that covered the hip-hop world, and had various foundations and humanitarian projects.
He kept launching new projects well past the traditional retirement age. In 2018, Jones, then 84, told GQ magazine: “I never been this busy in my life.”
Jones was married three times. His first wife was his high school sweetheart Jeri Caldwell with whom he had one daughter; his second wife was Swedish model Ulla Andersson with whom he had two children, including Quincy III, who became a hip-hop producer.
His third wife was “Mod Squad” actor Peggy Lipton, with whom he had two daughters, including actor Rashida Jones. He had two other children outside his marriages, including one with actor Nastassja Kinski.
– Tributes Pour In –
As the tell-all celebrity interview grew increasingly rare, Jones remained one of entertainment’s most opinionated gossips, beloved for his willingness to dish on the record.
He had tales about everyone from Sinatra and Jackson to Malcolm X and Prince, leading his daughters to reportedly nickname him LLQJ: Loose-lipped Quincy Jones.
Figures spanning politics and entertainment paid homage to Jones’s vast legacy upon news of his death.
Iconic producer Clive Davis praised him as “the ultimate music renaissance man” while Oprah Winfrey — who starred in “The Color Purple” which Jones produced and scored — said “my life changed forever for the better after meeting him.”
“He was love lived out loud in human form,” said Winfrey. “He treated everybody as if they were the most important person he’d ever met.”
“Music would not be music without you,” said hip hop pioneer LL Cool J, as rap mogul Dr. Dre called Jones “incomparable.”
“Nobody had a career as incredible as Quincy Jones,” wrote Elton John and added, “What a guy. Loved him.”