Quincy Jones, the legendary record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose contributions to contemporary music spanned more than seven decades and multiple genres such as jazz, pop and hip-hop, has died at the age of 91.
“Tonight, with a full but broken heart, we must share the news of the passing of our father and brother Quincy Jones,” the Jones family said in a statement. “And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Jones was one of the music industry's most famous icons, earning a record 80 Grammy nominations and 28 wins, including three Producer of the Year awards and two awards each for Album of the Year and Song of the Year. His most recent victory came in 2019 when quincythe semi-autobiographical documentary written and co-directed by his daughter Rashida Jones, took home the award for Best Musical Film.
As a producer and arranger, Jones was responsible for some of the most definitive records of the 20th century. It produced Michael Jackson's smash hit in 1982. Suspensewhich remains the best-selling album of all time, as well as its successful 1987 successor, Bad. He collaborated with top talent of each era, including Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Rufus & Chaka Khan and Al Jarreau, and also helmed cross-genre hit singles like Lesley Gore's “It's My Party,” the rendition by Frank Sinatra from “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” and “Strawberry Letter 23” by The Brothers Johnson.
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 14, 1933. He began learning the piano at a young age and eventually took up the trumpet after his family moved to Seattle. He left Boston's Berklee College of Music after a year to tour with jazz band leader Lionel Hampton and subsequently moved to New York City, where he became a freelance arranger for artists such as Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella. Fitzgerald and more.
He released his first album in 1956 with This is how I feel about jazzbut it achieved greater notoriety with successive releases such as the one in 1962. Big Band Bossa Nova and 1971 Jack of Smackwater. He continued to explore genres beyond jazz and big band music in his solo output with 1973. You have it bad girl1974 body heatand 1981 The guy. Jones' 1989 masterpiece, back to the blockit fused all mainstream sensibilities, including the burgeoning hip-hop style, and won seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
In 1985, Jones assembled a group of top musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, to record the single “We Are the World” for the nonprofit USA for Africa. The song, written by Jackson and Lionel Richie, went on to raise $75 million for humanitarian aid in Africa and received three Grammy Awards, including Song and Record of the Year. Jones led the recording sessions with more than 45 musicians and posted a warning at the entrance that read, “Please check your egos at the door.”
Jones was just as innovative in the entertainment industry, becoming the first African-American to be nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for “The Eyes of Love” in 1967. Prohibition. As a film composer, Jones wrote memorable scores for In the heat of the night, Italian workand The color purpleand served as music supervisor on Sidney Lumet's 1978 musical. The magicianwhich introduced him to Michael Jackson and led to their partnership in 1979. off the wall. On television, he composed indelible musical themes for Sanford and son and iron sideand later ran his own production company, Quincy Jones Entertainment, which produced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and crazy television.
Among many accolades, Jones received the Grammy Legend Award in 1992, John F. Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2011, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 as the winner of the Ahmet Ertegun Prize. He earned EGOT status in 2016 as producer of the Tony Award-winning stage adaptation of The color purple. In addition to his numerous Grammy Awards, Jones won the Emmy for Best Musical Composition for Roots in 1977 and was honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Oscars in 1994.
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