Quincy Jones, Legendary Music Producer Behind Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, Passes Away
Quincy Jones, the legendary music produce, who was simply known as “Q”, passed away at the age of 91, his publicist confirmed.
His family broke the news with a heart-breaking post,
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing”.
Working for musicians like Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones had a significant impact on the American music scene. His great support in reshaping American pop music would remain unforgettable just the artists themselves.
Who was Quincy Jones?
On March 14, 1933, Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was born. His home was in Chicago where he dreamed of being a gangster as he used to live in a rough neighbourhood.
He was merely seven years old when his mother was taken for treatment in a mental institution. His father, who was a carpenter at that time, remarried and took the family to move to Bremerton, Washington. It seemed as if Quincy was bound to follow a life of petty crimes in Bremerton, just like his childhood dreams.
But this was not what fate had written for him. His interest in music developed in the same Bremerton. He met some friends who knew how to play the piano. He used to sneak in their community during segregated wartime. In their housing project, where the community resided, he was able to make his musical interest bloom.
In school, he kept on experimenting with new instruments and did not want to confine himself to piano. He wanted to explore music in all dimensions and soon settled on trumpet.
He was 13 when he started playing jazz, the famous music form mostly played in nightclubs with rhythm and blues. The very next year, he met Ray Charles, who was only 16 years old himself and not famous as yet, and taught him to make music arrangements and compose some of it on his own.
Later, he received mentoring from American jazz pianist Count Basie and trumpeter Clark Terry, who helped him secure a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee School of Music.
Jones decided to move on with Lionel Hampton after giving up on the scholarship offer. He began to gain a reputation in the early 1950s as a teenage trumpet player.
Jones wrote in his autobiography,
“Music was the one thing I could control. It was the one world that offered me freedom … I didn’t have to search for answers. The answers lay no further than the bell of my trumpet and my scrawled, penciled scores. Music made me full, strong, popular, self-reliant and cool”.
Jones’ tours and further advancements in the music arena
During the late 1950s, government-sponsored tours opened a new world to him. The band organised by bebop jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie was one of the first few ones to glide him through the world tours.
Afterwards, he made his own band in Europe. Unfortunately, he was in deep debt till the 1960s. He was one of the first Black executives in a white-owned firm when he was forced to accept a position at Mercury Records in New York.
It’s My Party was his first venture there which enabled him to make first official footprints for producing his first hit single. It was a Lesley Gore song that topped the US charts in 1964.
Jones started his own music record company with the name Qwest as well as a magazine named Vibe. The magazine covered all the news and happenings of the hip-hop world. The mag also opened new horizons for humanitarian projects and several music foundations.
He did not stop launching his new projects, even after the death of Michael Jackson in 2009 and receiving $9.4 million by a Los Angeles jury in 2017.
When he was 84 years old in 2018, he told GQ magazine that he had never been so busy in his life due to the launch of upcoming projects.
Quincy Jones’ achievements
Quincy Jones had all the talent one could think of. He won 27 Grammy Awards and worked as a band leader, composer, producer, arranger, and trumpet player.
He was a famous workaholic and was good with managing ‘star egos’ smoothly. He had an in-built mastery of handling the stars that helped him get along with them straightforwardly.
Some of the renowned stars for whom he produced jazz music and other pop variations include Miles Davis, Sinatra and the superstar ensemble recorded in 1985 for a fund-raiser We Are The World. It became the biggest hit song of his era.
Quincy Jones’ achievements are not restricted to the music industry. In the 1990s, he helped co-produce the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the film The Colour Purple. He was also a prolific writer for motion pictures. It was also his dexterity that gave a career launch to Will Smith.
Some of his most notable achievements were with Michael Jackson
Jones’ one of the most memorable achievements enlist those with Michael Jackson as three highlighted albums were given by this legendary music producer. The albums are Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).
Six of the nine singles of the album Thriller became the top 10 singles on the music charts of that time. The album also sold more than 70 million copies, which was a success made by leaps and bounds.
Quincy Jones’ friends
Since he had a circle of star friends, he had good terms with best-known figures like Pablo Picasso, Pope John Paul II, and Nelson Mandela whose 90th birthday became a special celebration along with Marlon Brando’s South Pacific island retreat that helped him recover from a breakdown.
Why the hype?
Q always gave a special character to the music he produced that gave his universal stamp with an undeniable hipness.
That’s why, U2’s lead vocal singer said he was “the coolest person I’ve ever met”.
Jones’ personal life
Jones got married three times. His first wife was his high school sweetheart, Jeri Caldwell. He had one daughter with her.
His second wife was a model from Sweden, Ulla Andersson. He had two children with her.
His third wife was actress Peggy Lipton from Mod Squad. He had two daughters with her. One of them was Rashida Jones, the famous actress.
Outside marriages he had two more children and one of them is the popular actress Nastassja Kinski.
FAQs
1. Who was Quincy Jones?
Quincy Delight Jones Jr., commonly known as “Q,” was a legendary music producer, composer, and arranger. He significantly influenced American pop, jazz, and hip-hop music and worked with iconic artists such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, and Ray Charles. He was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, and passed away at the age of 91.
2. How did Quincy Jones get into music?
Jones discovered his love for music in Bremerton, Washington, where he moved with his family. Starting with the piano, he soon experimented with various instruments and ultimately focused on the trumpet. By age 13, he was playing jazz and later met Ray Charles, who taught him music arrangement.
3. What were Quincy Jones’ major achievements in music?
Jones won 27 Grammy Awards and produced some of the most famous albums in music history, including Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. He also produced the charity single “We Are the World” and was instrumental in shaping the careers of several artists.
4. Did Quincy Jones work in fields outside of music?
Yes, Jones made notable contributions to film and television. He co-produced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched Will Smith’s career, and co-produced The Color Purple. He also founded Vibe magazine, which focused on hip-hop culture and social issues.
5. What was Quincy Jones’ connection with Michael Jackson?
Jones produced three of Michael Jackson’s best-known albums: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). Thriller became one of the highest-selling albums of all time, with six singles reaching the top 10 on the charts.
