Quincy Jones, legendary composer, producer and arranger in music history, has died at the age of 91. Jones died at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, surrounded by his family, as reported by his publicist, Arnold Robinson, and reported by Billboard.
Jones has been one of the most important producers in the history of music, and is remembered above all for his work with Michael Jackson, with which he produced ‘Thriller’ (1982), the best-selling album in history.
Winner of 28 Grammys, Jones began his career as a jazz arranger, working with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and his childhood friend, Ray Charles, and then moved on to producing pop hits such as ‘It’s My Party’. ‘ (1963) and ‘You Don’t Own Me’ (1964) by Lesley Gore. Jones also released solo albums, for example ‘Big Band Bossa Nova’ (1962), and had a commercial success with his cover of Chaz Jankel’s ‘Ai No Corrida’ from 1981.
Along with Michael Jackson, Jones produced the three multi-platinum albums ‘Off the Wall’ (1979), ‘Thriller’ (1982) and ‘Bad’ (1987). Jackson and Jones met during the filming of ‘The Wiz’ (1978), the remake of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ starring Jackson and Diana Ross, and their musical collaboration began when Jones offered to produce ‘Off the Wall’, Jackson’s debut as an adult solo artist. In 1985, Jones recorded the charity single ‘We Are the World’ on a historic night, in which 46 vocalists participated, including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross and Cyndi Lauper.
Jones also worked prominently in cinema, producing films or composing soundtracks such as ‘The Color Purple’ (1985), nominated for 11 Oscars. Jones never won the statuette despite his 7 nominations, but he broke racial barriers, for example, becoming the first African-American to be nominated for Best Score at the Academy Awards.
Early in his career, Jones suffered from the racism of the time. As he recounts in his autobiography, ’12 Notes on Life and Creativity’, in which The Weeknd wrote the foreword, “on stage we were stars, but when we got off it, we were just black people.” In 1964, Jones became the first African-American to hold a top executive position at a record label, at Mercury Records. In 1990, the series ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, produced by Jones, and which launched Will Smith to fame, became a cultural reference and contributed to the representation of the African-American family on American television.
In recent years, Jones had made headlines for his controversial statements about artists like Taylor Swift and the Beatles. Jones leaves behind seven children, including actress Rashida Jones; Quincy was therefore the father-in-law of Ezra Koenig, singer of Vampire Weekend.
