With a vast legacy, from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to award-winning film and television music composition and collaborations with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and hundreds of other recording artists. Quincy Jones, a multi-talented musical giant, has died at the age of 91. .
Jones’ publicist Arnold Robinson said he died Sunday night at his home in Los Angeles’ Bel Air neighborhood, surrounded by his family.
Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP, File)
“Tonight, it is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of our father and brother, Quincy Jones,” the family said in a statement. “And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate his amazing life and know there will never be another like him.
“He was a truly one-of-a-kind person and we will miss him so much. I feel comforted and immense pride knowing that it was shared. Quincy Jones’ heart will beat forever for his endless love for music.”
Jones rose from his time working with gangsters on Chicago’s South Side to the top of show business, becoming one of the first black executives to succeed in Hollywood and creating an extraordinary music that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. Accumulated catalogs.
For years, it was rare to find a music lover who didn’t have at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment or other industries who didn’t have some connection to him.
Jones continued to associate with presidents, foreign leaders, movie stars, musicians, philanthropists, and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” and worked with Bill・Planned President Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “”. “We Are the World” is a record of philanthropic efforts for famine relief in Africa in 1985.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and is one of the featured singers, called Jones a “master orchestrator.”
Jones and Michael Jackson’s work
In a career that began when records were still being played on vinyl at 78 RPM, perhaps the highest honor he received was for producing with Jackson. “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were near-universal albums at the time. their style and charm. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped unleash Jackson’s explosive transformation from child star to “King of Pop.” With classic songs like “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson explore global sounds from disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B, jazz, and African chants. I created a scape. On “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches come from Jones, who enlists Eddie Van Halen for the guitar solo on the genre-blending “Beat It” and on the title track. Vincent Price was hired to provide the brutal narration.
“Thriller” sold over 20 million copies in 1983 alone, competing with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” for the best-selling album of all time.
In a 2016 interview with the Library of Congress, Jones said, “If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says, ‘It’s the producer’s fault,’ but if the album does well, it’s also your fault. It should be,” he said. “Trucks don’t just appear out of nowhere. Producers need the skills, experience and ability to bring their vision to completion.”
His list of honors and awards spans 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography, Q, and includes at the time 27 Grammy Awards (now 28), honorary Academy Awards (now 2), and Roots. Includes an Emmy Award. He also received France’s Légion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Italian Republic, and an award from the Kennedy Center for Contributions to American Culture. He was the subject of the 1990 documentary Listen Up: The Life of Quincy Jones and a 2018 film by his daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
Music as Jones’ savior
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones cites the hymns his mother sang around the house as the first music he remembers. But he sadly looks back on his childhood and once told Oprah Winfrey, “There are two kinds of people: those who have supportive parents and caretakers, and those who don’t. There’s nothing in between.” ” he said. Jones’ mother had emotional problems and was eventually institutionalized, but the loss made the world seem “meaningless” to Quincy. He spent much of his time on the streets in Chicago, stealing and fighting with gangs.
“They nailed my hand to the fence with a switchblade,” he told The Associated Press in 2018, displaying childhood scars.
Music saved him. As a boy, he learned that a neighbor in Chicago owned a piano, and soon he was playing it himself. When Quincy was 10 years old, his father moved to Washington state and a local recreation center changed his world. Jones and some friends broke into the kitchen and were making lemon meringue pie when Jones noticed a small room with a stage nearby. There was a piano on the stage.
“I went up there, stopped, looked, and just stared at it for a while,” he wrote in his autobiography. “That’s where I started to find peace. I was 11 years old. I knew this was it for me. Forever.”
Within a few years, he was playing the trumpet and befriended a young blind musician named Ray Charles, who became a lifelong friend. He was talented enough to win a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out when Hampton asked him to tour with his band. Jones continued to work as a freelance composer, conductor, arranger, and producer. As a teenager, he supported Billie Holiday. By his mid-20s, he was touring with his own band.
“We had the best jazz band on the planet, and we were literally starving,” Jones later told Musician magazine. “That’s when I realized there’s music and there’s a music business. If I’m going to survive, I have to learn the difference between the two.”
businessman jones
As a music executive, he overcame racial barriers by becoming vice president of Mercury Records in the early ’60s. In 1971, he became the first black music director for the Academy Awards. The first film he produced, The Color Purple, was nominated for 11 Oscars in 1986, but unfortunately did not win.
In partnership with Time Warner, he founded Quincy Jones Entertainment, which includes the pop culture magazines Vibe and Quest Broadcasting. The company was sold in 1999 for $270 million.
“My philosophy as a businessman has always come from the same roots as my personal beliefs, which is to hire talent on your own terms and to understand who they are and where they come from. “It means treating them fairly and with respect, regardless of their circumstances,” Jones wrote in his autobiography. .
Jones, a symbol of versatility
He paired Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” with punchy, swinging rhythms and wistful flutes, and Charles’ soulful “In the Heat of the Night.” He was familiar with virtually every form of American music, often opening with a glossy sound. tenor saxophone solo. He is a member of jazz giants (Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington), rappers (Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J), crooners (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), pop singers (Leslie Gore), And I worked with a rhythm and blues star (rapper Chaka Khan). and singer Queen Latifah).
“We Are the World” alone features appearances by Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and more. He co-wrote Jackson’s hit “PYT (Pretty Young Thing)” and Donna Summer’s hit “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger),” and has written songs for rappers like Tupac Shakur and Kanye West. I had them sample it. Theme song for the sitcom “Sanford and Son.”
