Quincy Jones, who revolutionized the art of music production over the course of a singular, 70-plus-year career, died yesterday (Nov. 3) at his home in Bel Air, Ca., at the age of 91. No cause has been announced.
From breathing new creative life into Frank Sinatra and Count Basie’s careers in the 1960s, making Michael Jackson a solo star with Off the Wall and Thriller and becoming one of the first major black composers of film scores, Jones was a towering figure in the modern music industry. His acumen was recently on display in the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, which chronicled the development and recording of the iconic, Jones-produced 1985 charity single “We Are the World.”
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“With full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” his family said in a statement. “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. He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created. Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”
Born March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Jones was raised in Seattle and befriended fellow future legend Ray Charles as a teenager. He studied at Berklee School of Music, which led to a European tour with Lionel Hampton and a gig as musical director for Dizzy Gillespie. In 1959, he produced and arranged Charles’ The Genius of Ray Charles, which exemplified his talent for orchestration.
Jones became further entrenched in the business side of the industry after being named VP of Mercury Records, the highest major-label position for an African-American person to date. His 1962 album Big Band Bossa Nova incorporated horn-driven jazz with the emerging Brazilian genre, with its song “Soul Bossa Nova” eventually serving as the theme song to the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The following year, he struck pop gold with Lesley Gore’s feminist hits “You Don’t Own Me” and “It’s My Party,” and in 1964, he arranged Frank Sinatra’s Count Basie-backed album It Might As Well Be Swing.
That same year, Jones scored Sidney Lumet’s film The Pawnbroker, the first of numerous movie projects that included In the Heat of the Night, The Wiz and The Color Purple. He continued to release solo music throughout the ’70s, including influential albums such as Body Heat and Sounds … and Stuff Like That !!, even as he was constantly busy as a producer for acts such as Aretha Franklin, James Ingram, George Benson and Lena Horne.
Jones was in his mid-40s when he reached a new level of mainstream visibility with Jackson’s Off the Wall, which established the latter as a bonafide multi-genre solo star. Their collaboration hit new heights with 1982’s Thriller, which spawned seven top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is acknowledged as the top-selling album of all time. Jones also ran his own label, Qwest, to which he signed acts as diverse as Sinatra, New Order and Patti Austin. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
A 28-time Grammy winner, Jones was married three times and had seven children, one of whom, his daughter Rashida, shepherded a 2018 Netflix documentary about him, Quincy.
“Quincy Jones excelled at every role he took on,” the Rock Hall wrote on social media. “Producer, arranger, trumpeter, executive, and more, Jones won 28 Grammy awards and guided historic sessions with such giants as Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Michael Jackson. In addition to his groundbreaking work in film and television. Jones established the standard for innovation; accomplished and successful in every facet of the music industry, he set the model for the modern music mogul.”
“I woke up today to the terrible news that we lost Quincy Jones,” Ice T wrote on social media. “Genius is a description loosely used but rarely deserved. Point blank, Quincy was the MAN. I won my first Grammy with Quincy and I live with his wisdom daily.”
“It’s so sad to hear about Quincy Jones,” former New Order bassist Peter Hook said. “When he signed us to his label, he made us feel so welcome — inviting us to dinner at his home every time we were in town. He made us big in America. He was so humble and sweet that you immediately fell in love with him.”
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
