Quincy Jones died exactly two weeks before he was expected to receive an honorary Oscar at the 15th Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Governor's Awards on Sunday, November 17. On June 12, when the award was announced, Academy President Janet Young said in a statement: “Quincy Jones' artistic genius and relentless creativity have made him one of the most influential musical figures of all time.”
This will be the second honorary Oscar for Jones, who was 91 when he died. Voted Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award 1994. Jones accepted this award at the 1995 Oscars telecast by his longtime friend Oprah Winfrey. He said in part, “This moment, this evening, this spot where I stand tonight was not my destination when I was young and full of vinegar. I didn't plan this trip. To tell you the truth, I don't think I could even see this far. And now that I'm older and full of wonder, I can see that maybe other forces were at the helm.”
Jones – who won 28 Grammys, a Primetime Emmy and a Tony – wrote many history awards. He is the only person to win Grammy Awards in six consecutive decades. He won his first Grammy in 1964 – Best Instrumental Arrangement for Count Basie's recording of Ray Charles' smash “I Can't Stop Loving You”. He won four Grammys in the 1970s, 14 in the 1980s, seven in the 1990s and one each in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2002 he won Best Spoken Word album Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones and best musical film in 2019 for Quincy.
In 2001 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, along with Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Jack Nicholson and Luciano Pavarotti. In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in the non-performer category) by Winfrey.
Here are 10 times Quincy Jones made awards history.
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1968
Jones became the first black songwriter to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for “The Eyes of Love” by Ban. (His partner, Bob Russell, was the first black songwriter to be nominated.) That same year, Jones became only the third black songwriter to be nominated in a music category, for In Cold Blood. (The first two black composers to get the nod were Duke Ellington Paris Bluesand Calvin Jackson, for The unsinkable Molly Brown).
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1971
Jones was the first black musician to be hired as music director for the annual Academy Awards telecast.
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1977
Jones won a Primetime Emmy for composing music for the landmark 1977 miniseries Roots. He collaborated with Gerald Fried on the score for the miniseries, which won Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (dramatic emphasis). Jones' album from the show, released on A&M Records, reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and went gold.
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1984
Jones won four Grammys, all with Michael Jackson. Awards were handed out for Record of the Year (“Beat It”), album of the Year (Impressive work), best recording for children (ET The Extra-Terrestrial) and producer of the year, non-classical. It was Jones' second non-classic producer of the year win. He had won for the first time in 1982. He was the first two-time winner in the class (and would go on to become the first three-time winner. Keep reading.)
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1986
Jones won the US production of the year record for Africa's “We Are the World,” two years after winning that category for co-producing Jackson's “Beat It” with Jackson. Jones was the first to win two Grammys for record of the year for producing two different performances. Simon & Garfunkel and Roy Halee previously won two awards for producing Simon & Garfunkel's hits. Joel Dorn had won two awards for producing Roberta Flack's hits.
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1986
Jones received three personal Oscar nominations, all for his work The Color Purple. He was nominated for Best Picture as one of the film's producers (along with Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall), Best Original Score, and Best Original Song, for Miss Celie's Blues (Sister). (Rod Temperton was among of his collaborators in the two music categories.) Jones is, to date, the only Black songwriter with three nods in the scoring categories. He is one of two Black songwriters with three nods for Best Original Song. The other is Lionel Richie. the third partner in “Miss Celie's Blues (Sister).”
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1991
Jones had his biggest night at the Grammys, with six wins including album of the year Back to the block and producer of the year (non-classical). He was the first three-time winner in the second division. David Foster, Babyface, Pharrell Williams and Jack Antonoff then tied Q's record. Babyface surpassed it with his fourth win in 1998.
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1991
Jones received a Grammy legend award, along with Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin and Billy Joel. The award came two years after he received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. Jones was the first person to receive both of these honors. The Bee Gees, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand have since won both awards.
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2016
Jones won a Tony Award for serving as producer of its revival The Color Purple. Other producers of the series were Jones' friend Oprah Winfrey and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer. The show won its revivals Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me and Spring awakening to get the best revival of a musical.
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2019
Jones became the first person to receive 80 career Grammy nominations. His set has since been eclipsed by Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Paul McCartney, but Jones got there first.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/quincy-jones-awards-show-history-10-times/
