The US music titan, who worked with huge artists including Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, passed away on Sunday night at in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, his publicist, Arnold Robinson said
Music mogul Quincy Jones has passed away at 91, his family announced.
The renowned US producer, who collaborated with iconic artists like Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, died on Sunday night in Los Angeles’ Bel Air area, surrounded by loved ones, according to his publicist Arnold Robinson. His family released a statement, saying: “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing. 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.”
With a remarkable 28 Grammy wins, Jones produced numerous multi-platinum albums, including Jackson’s record-breaking “Thriller”. Over his six-decade career, Jones amassed a reported $500 million fortune, as estimated by Celebrity Net Worth.
From his humble beginnings on Chicago’s South Side to becoming a Hollywood powerhouse, Jones broke barriers as one of the first Black executives to achieve immense success, leaving behind an unparalleled musical legacy that showcases some of the most iconic moments in American music. For decades, you’d be hard-pressed to find a music aficionado without one of his records, or an entertainment mogul who hadn’t brushed shoulders with him.
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Rubbing elbows with presidents, foreign dignitaries, silver screen icons and musical legends alike, he was a titan in his field. With tours alongside Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, creating arrangements for icons like Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, his name became synonymous with musical excellence.
His credits include the iconic score for Roots and In the Heat of the Night, as well as orchestrating the monumental celebration for President Bill Clinton’s inaugural gala and steering the legendary charity hit We Are the World for African famine relief in 1985 — lauded by Lionel Richie himself as a feat of “the master orchestrator.” Beginning in the era of 78 rpm vinyl records, perhaps his crowning achievements were the peerless productions with Michael Jackson: Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad transcended time, genre and geography.
Together, Mr Jones and Jackson wove an irresistibly global tapestry from threads of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B, jazz, and even African rhythms, propelling tracks like Billie Jean and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough into a realm untouched by others, and cementing Jackson’s title as the definitive King of Pop.
Quincy Jones was the mastermind behind some of the most iconic elements of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. He enlisted Eddie Van Halen for a show-stopping guitar solo on Beat It and convinced Vincent Price to lend his eerie voice to the title track.
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Released in 1983, Thriller went on to sell over 20 million copies, cementing its status as one of the best-selling albums of all time, rivaling the Eagles’ Greatest Hits 1971-1975. In a 2016 interview with the Library of Congress, Jones noted, “If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producer’s fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too… The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”
Jones’ impressive resume boasts 28 Grammy Awards, two honorary Academy Awards, an Emmy for Roots, and a slew of international honors, including France’s Legion d’Honneur and the Rudolph Valentino Award from Italy.
He has also been celebrated in two documentaries, Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990) and a 2018 film directed by his daughter Rashida Jones, and became a best-selling author with his 2001 memoir Q.
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