Quincy Jones Obituary-Death News; Legendary Composer And Entertainment, Quincy Jones Passes Away
As a producer, he made the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” He was also a prolific arranger and composer of film music.
Quincy Jones, a powerhouse in American popular music for over 50 years, died peacefully at 91 in his Bel Air home on Sunday.
Starting as a jazz trumpeter, Mr. Jones became a sought-after arranger, film composer, and record producer. His greatest impact was in connecting people and styles across the music industry.
From the late 1950s, he elevated social and professional mobility in Black popular art, creating opportunities for music to flow between styles and markets. This was true even before he produced Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the best-selling album ever.
Mr. Jones’s music has been widely sampled in hip-hop and used in popular media. He won 28 Grammy Awards from 80 nominations, received honorary degrees from prestigious institutions, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
His success, as noted by colleague Benny Carter, may have overshadowed his immense talent.
In the late 1950s and early ’60s, Mr. Jones led bands and arranged notable recordings for Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, and Ray Charles. He also arranged Frank Sinatra and Count Basie collaborations, including the acclaimed “Sinatra at the Sands” (1966).
His film soundtracks, including “The Pawnbroker” (1964) and “The Color Purple” (1985), blended various musical styles. The Michael Jackson albums he produced from 1979 to 1987 — “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad” — reshaped the pop industry by appealing to both Black and white audiences during a time of increasing radio playlist segregation.
Born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Quincy Delight Jones Jr. faced early challenges. His mother developed schizophrenia, and he and his brother were briefly separated from her. The family eventually settled in Seattle, where Quincy and his brother often had to fend for themselves.
At 11, a chance encounter with a piano sparked Jones’s musical interest. He joined his school band and choir, learning multiple instruments. Music became his focus and eventual path out of his challenging childhood circumstances.
At 13, Jones convinced trumpeter Clark Terry to give him lessons between late-night shows and school. At 14, he befriended Ray Charles, then known as R.C. Robinson, and both worked for local bandleader Bumps Blackwell. At 15, Lionel Hampton hired him briefly, but Hampton’s wife sent him back to school.
After high school and a brief stint at Seattle University, Jones attended Schillinger House (now Berklee College of Music) on scholarship. In 1951, he joined Hampton’s band for two years as a trumpeter and arranger, quickly writing music including his first credited composition, “Kingfish.”
During this time, Jones started a family with his high school girlfriend, Jeri Caldwell, having a daughter in 1952 and marrying in 1957. Their interracial relationship faced disapproval. By late 1953, at 20, he left Hampton’s band to freelance in New York.
In 1956, Jones became musical director for Dizzy Gillespie’s band, touring Europe, the Middle East, and South America. He recorded his first album and moved to Paris to work for Barclay Records, staying in Europe for five years. There, he wrote for strings and studied with Nadia Boulanger, opportunities he believed were less available to Black arrangers in America.
In 1958, Jones signed with Mercury Records. His 1959 albums “The Birth of a Band!” and “The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones” featured a big band with top jazz musicians, inspired by the 1950s Count Basie Orchestra’s sound.
Jones led the orchestra for “Free and Easy,” a musical about the post-abolition South. The show opened in Paris in January 1960 but closed within weeks due to script issues and a last-minute director change.
To keep his band together, Jones toured Europe for 10 months, accumulating debt. He sold half his song rights to bring everyone home, later repurchasing them at a higher cost.
Returning to New York, the band disbanded and Jones’s first marriage ended, partly due to his infidelity.
In 1961, Jones became Mercury’s musical director, signing jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Shirley Horn. However, pop music was gaining popularity, while jazz’s audience was declining.
Jones shifted his focus to pop music. He discovered 16-year-old Lesley Gore and produced her hit “It’s My Party” (1963), beating Phil Spector’s unreleased version to radio stations.
In 1964, Jones became Mercury’s first Black vice president and won a Grammy for arranging Count Basie’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” He left the position to score “The Pawnbroker” and moved to Los Angeles for film and TV work.
From the late 1960s to 1974, Jones’s career soared. He married Swedish model Ulla Andersson in 1967 and had two children. He scored numerous films, including “In the Heat of the Night” and “In Cold Blood,” and composed for TV shows like “Sanford and Son.” He also produced jazz-funk albums, winning a Grammy for “Walking in Space” (1969).
In 1974, while working on “Mellow Madness,” Jones suffered a brain aneurysm requiring two surgeries. His friends organized a memorial concert, thinking he wouldn’t survive. Jones attended, under doctor’s orders to stay calm, feeling like he was watching his own funeral.
Mr. Jones slowed down for a few years. He married actress Peggy Lipton and had two daughters: Kidada and Rashida Jones, both in the entertainment industry.
He produced hits for the Brothers Johnson, contributed to “Roots” (1977), and worked on “The Wiz” (1978) with Michael Jackson. This led to their collaboration on “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad,” which sold millions worldwide.
In 1980, Jones started Qwest, a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records. The label’s diverse roster included Frank Sinatra, Joy Division, and Andraé Crouch, showing Jones’s broad musical interests.
He produced “We Are the World” in 1985, featuring over 40 top singers for famine relief. Jones then worked on Spielberg’s “The Color Purple,” writing the score in less than two months.
After his third marriage ended and struggles with Halcion addiction, Jones retreated to Marlon Brando’s Tahitian islands. He recovered and returned with “Back on the Block” (1989), featuring artists from Ella Fitzgerald to Ice-T. The album won six Grammys, including album of the year.
Throughout his career, Jones demonstrated his ability to work across generations and musical styles, creating a unique vision of Black American music.
In 1990, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” was released, and his record label became part of Quincy Jones Entertainment. This company produced TV shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “Mad TV.” Jones also helped launch hip-hop magazine Vibe.
In 1991, he produced a Montreux Jazz Festival concert, reuniting Miles Davis with Gil Evans. There, he met actress Nastassja Kinski, with whom he had his seventh child, Kenya.
Jones’s work became intertwined with hip-hop, with artists like Tupac Shakur sampling his music. He is survived by his siblings Richard, Margie, and Theresa, and seven children.
In his later years, Jones focused on charity work through his Listen Up! Foundation and established a professorship at Harvard. He produced the film “Keep On Keepin’ On” and released “Soul Bossa Nostra,” featuring modern artists covering his past hits.
Jones remained in the public eye, giving notable interviews in 2018 that sparked controversy with comments about Michael Jackson and other topics.
Throughout his career, Jones continued to bridge generations and musical styles, leaving a lasting impact on the music industry.
In 2017, Jones launched Qwest TV, a platform for jazz concerts and documentaries. He also appeared on the Weeknd’s 2022 album “Dawn FM.”
His unrealized projects reveal his diverse interests, including musicals, films, and shows about Black American music, Brazilian carnivals, and historical figures like Sammy Davis Jr. and Alexander Pushkin.
These endeavors showcase Jones’s constant creativity and wide-ranging connections throughout his career.