close
close

Death of Quincy Jones: The music titan who worked with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra has died aged 91

Quincy Jones, the pioneering musician, record producer and music industry giant, has died aged 91.

His publicist Arnold Robinson said he died on Sunday night (November 3) at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.

“Tonight it is with full but broken hearts that we share the news of the passing of our father and brother Quincy Jones,” the family’s statement said. “And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life he led and know there will never be another like him.”

Jones, who won a total of 28 Grammy Awards (and was the most nominated artist after Beyoncé and Jay-Z), enjoyed a career spanning more than seven decades, working with musicians such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Celine Dion.

He produced the albums for Jackson Off the Wall, Thriller And Bad, helped him become the most successful pop artist of all time. He arranged songs for jazz greats like Count Basie, produced dozens of film scores and once played trumpet in Elvis Presley's band. For most of the '80s and '90s, it was unlikely that music fans wouldn't own at least one record with Jones' name on it.

Jones' father was born to a Welsh slave owner and one of his slaves; His mother's family also came from slave owners. Jones himself was born and raised in Chicago, where he belonged to gangs on the South Side. He received an early introduction to music through a neighbor's piano, which he began playing himself at the age of seven, and through his mother's singing.

Jones with Michael Jackson at the 1984 Grammys

Jones with Michael Jackson at the 1984 Grammys (AP)

After his parents divorced, he moved to Washington state with his father and learned to play drums and various brass instruments in a high school band. At age 14, he briefly played in a band with the young Ray Charles in Seattle before studying music at Seattle University. In the 1950s he toured with jazz bandleader Lionel Hampton and met cultural icons such as James Baldwin, Josephine Baker and Pablo Picasso.

Quincy Jones pictured during the 80's

Quincy Jones pictured during the 80's (Getty Images)

After a disastrous European tour of his jazz musical, Jones fell deeply into debt to cover the band's costs. He later told this L.A. Times that he was on the verge of suicide but “learned a lot” from the experience. He managed to get back on his feet with the help of Mercury Records president Irving Green, who gave him a personal loan and a job as the label's music director. Among the artists he worked with as a producer and arranger during his tenure at the label were Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Sammy Davis Jr.

Jones with the late jazz singer Tony Bennett

Jones with the late jazz singer Tony Bennett (Gary Gershoff/Getty Images for Exploring the Arts)

He mingled with film stars and presidents, foreign executives and philanthropists and, among other things, set films to music The Italian job and Steven Spielberg's The color purple, He also produced the latter and helped it to 11 Oscar nominations in 1986. This was in the middle of one of Jones' most productive decades, as he helped propel Jackson from child star of the Jackson Five to the “King of Pop” with hits like “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” “Don't Stop.” Til You Get Enough,” “Bad,” and “Beat It.”

Quincy Jones (left) with pianist Earl Hines at a birthday party for singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, 1964

Quincy Jones (left) with pianist Earl Hines at a birthday party for singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, 1964 (Getty Images)

With the duo's fusion of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz, they made Jackson a music icon and influenced generations of artists to come. thriller sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Amazon Music logo

Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music

Sign up now for a 4-month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)

Sign in

Amazon Music logo

Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music

Sign up now for a 4-month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)

Sign in

“When an album doesn't do well, everyone says, 'It was the producer's fault'; So if things go well, it should be your “fault,” Jones said in a 2016 interview with the Library of Congress. “The traces don’t suddenly appear. The producer must have the skill, experience and ability to bring the vision to completion.”

Jones' list of honors filled 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography. Q, These included the French Legion of Honor, the Rudolph Valentino Prize from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center honor for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary. Listen: The Life of Quincy Jones and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones.

Quincy Jones received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2010

Quincy Jones received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2010 (AP)

Asked by The Guardian about the artist who had most impressed him in his long career, he simply rattled off a list of some of music's most famous people: “It's just a small list. Oscar Peterson, Charles Mingus, Roland Kirk, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Clark, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Ray Charles , Frank Sinatra, Gene Krupa, Louis Jordan, Dinah Washington, Andy Williams, Billy Eckstine, Charles Aznavour, Aretha Franklin… It's ridiculous, man.”

He said this was his “long-winded” way of saying it was impossible to choose: “You can't compare Lesley Gore to Frank Sinatra or Michael Jackson to Ray Charles.”

He had a story about everything and everyone, whether it was about the time Jackson's snake Muscles wrapped itself around Jones' leg in the recording studio or the time his daughter was bitten by the King of Pop's chimpanzee, Bubbles.

Jones once said he had never seen “anything like” Sinatra’s live performance

Jones once said he had never seen “anything like” Sinatra’s live performance (AP)

He once said he had never seen “anything like” Sinatra perform live: “He was like a magician, from another planet.” He had done it. The most magical thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said The Guardian ina Interview 2014. He also called him “one of the greatest friends” he ever had and wore the pop singer's ring with his family crest from Sicily: “I never took it off.”

Many of his best employees became lifelong friends. He remained close to Sir Michael Caine, with whom he worked on the classic Sixties film. The Italian job, Celebrate birthdays and special occasions. In 2006, Caine presented Jones with a lifetime achievement award at the sixth annual BBC Radio Jazz Awards, where the musician returned to his roots by conducting a big band with some of his own arrangements.

Frank Sinatra and Quincy Jones at the 1991 Grammy Awards

Frank Sinatra and Quincy Jones at the 1991 Grammy Awards (Getty Images)

“Jazz is the classic music of popular music,” Jones told the audience. “In 40 years people will be like this [Count] Basie, Duke [Ellington], [John] Coltrane and Miles [Davis] is mentioned alongside Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky.”

He was married three times, first for nine years until 1966 to his high school sweetheart, Jeri Caldwell, with whom he shared his first child, Jolie. With his second wife Ulla Andersson, to whom he was married, he had a son and a daughter for seven years until he divorced her to get married Twin Peaks Star Peggy Lipton. They had two daughters, including actress Rashia Jones, before divorcing in 1989.

Jones never remarried, but had two more children, Rachel and Kenya, with dancer Carol Reynolds and actress Nastassja Kinski, respectively. He leaves behind his seven children.

You may also like...