Quincy Jones dies at the age of 91

Quincy Jones died on Sunday, November 3rd at his home in California. The New York Times Reports. The legendary musician, composer, producer and entertainment giant was 91 years old. No reason was announced.

Jones was one of the most nominated artists in Grammy history, receiving 80 nominations and 28 awards throughout his career. The accomplished jazz musician and arranger distinguished himself from his contemporaries by his willingness to cross genre boundaries, switching between R&B, pop, jazz and rap in the 1980s alone. With production work for legends such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Lesley Gore and Donna Summer, his influence on contemporary music is almost unmatched.

Jones was born in Chicago in 1933 and began playing the trumpet in school at the age of 10. A few years after his training, he founded a band with his fellow student Ray Charles. After attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, he began life as a touring musician and served as Dizzy Gillespie's musical director in the '50s. During this decade he also led his own band, released several jazz albums under his name, and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, where he explored early electronic music at events curated by Pierre Boulez. Jones arranged (and sometimes conducted) songs for Ray Charles, Count Basie, Dinah Washington and others before incorporating synthesizers into his own practice.

In the 1960s, Jones began working as vice president of Mercury Records. He focused on music for the small and big screen, eventually scoring nearly 40 films and hundreds of television shows; his first work was for Sidney Lumet in 1964 The pawnbroker. From the late '60s to the early '80s, Jones was a prolific artist and producer, releasing solo albums such as Body heat And The guy while collaborating with famous other artists. And in 1977 he was appointed head of music supervision for the musical directed by Lumet The magicianwhich introduced him to a young Michael Jackson.

Jones later helmed Jackson's three best-known albums: Away from the wall, thrillerAnd Bad. thriller was arguably the biggest cultural moment of the '80s, sparking international hysteria and making Jackson the biggest star of the late 20th century. In addition to his work in music, Jones was also a philanthropist and activist who channeled his power into all-star charity singles like 1985's “We Are The World,” which raised money to fight famine in Africa. This year he began to expand his influence as a culture industry mogul, producing the Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation of ” The color purple (which Oprah Winfrey introduced to the world).