From
CNN…
Quincy
Jones, musical titan and entertainment icon, dead at 91
By Lisa Respers
France, CNN
(CNN) — Musical
titan Quincy Jones, the composer and producer who added his tasteful polish to
recordings by everyone from Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson,
has died, according to his representatives. He was 91.
Jones died
Sunday night at his home in Bel Air, California, surrounded by his children,
siblings and other family members, his publicist told CNN in a statement.
“Tonight, with
full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy
Jones’ passing,” the Jones family said in the 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.”
A renowned jazz
and pop musician, Jones was also a prolific cross-genre arranger, conductor,
record label executive and civil rights advocate. His talent and drive led to
an almost unparalleled career in entertainment.
His long and
varied list of credits include composing the score for the Oscar-winning film,
“In the Heat of the Night,” producing Michael Jackson’s blockbuster “Thriller”
album and gathering dozens of pop and rock stars to record the 1985 charity
single “We Are the World.”
Born in Chicago
to a carpenter father and a mother who suffered from mental illness, Jones
developed a love of music early on and took up the piano.
His family
eventually moved to Seattle, Washington, where Jones began taking lessons from
famed horn player Clark Terry.
He also met and
became close friends with a then-unknown pianist named Ray Charles. The pair
would enjoy a lifelong friendship.
A teenaged
Jones began performing with jazz bands, and his talent at composing and
arranging music drew the attention of bandleader Lionel Hampton.
Jones was only
15 when Hampton invited him to tour with the group, something Hampton’s wife,
Gladys, put a stop to right away.
“I got on the
band bus right away, and Gladys got on and said, “Hamp, what’s that child doing
on the bus?” Jones recalled in an interview with the National Endowment for the
Arts. “And I was so upset. And she said, ‘Get him off here. Make him go back to
school. We’ll call him later when he gets his schooling.’”
Jones heeded
her advice, finished school and earned a scholarship to Schillinger House (now
known as Berklee College of Music) in Boston, from which he graduated in 1951.
After
graduation, he headed out on tour with Hampton and his band.
Thus began a
storied a career which found Jones soon arranging and recording for such
legends as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and his friend Ray
Charles. Bandleader Lionel Hampton, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and other giants
also tapped the young Jones for their European tours.
In 1961, Jones
was hired by Mercury Records as their artists-and-repertoire director. He made
history three years later when he was promoted to vice president, making him
the first African-American man to hold such a position within a white owned
record label.
He had his
first pop hit with Leslie Gore’s 1963 single “It’s My Party,” which shot to No.
1. Jones also worked with the likes of Sinatra and Peggy Lee during his time
with the label.
That same year
found him scoring what would be the first of many Grammys, with the initial one
being for the arrangement the Count Basie Band song “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
The 1960s also
began Jones composing film soundtracks, including “In The Heat of the Night”
and “In Cold Blood.”
He worked with
A&M Records from 1969 to 1981 and formed his own record label, Qwest.
In 1982. Jones
had one of his most famous collaboration when he produced Jackson’s
best-selling album “Thriller.”
Three years
later, he called on Jackson and a host of other stars for the charity single
“We Are the World.” That same year he found success on the big screen with
producing the Steven Spielberg-directed film “The Color Purple.”
Jones also had
a hit on the small screen with and the television series “The Fresh Prince of
Bel-Air,” which starred his mentee Will Smith.
Jones delved
into the world of publication in 1993, when he founded the music/cultural
magazine Vibe, which he sold in 2006.
A brain
aneurysm in 1974 caused Jones to temporarily lighten his workload. He reflected
on his health scare years later in a social media post.
“While
operating for 7.5 hours, my doctors discovered a second aneurysm that was ready
to blow, so they had to schedule a second operation. During this time, it
didn’t look too promising, so my friends planned a memorial service for me at
The Shrine in LA, & I basically attended my own funeral,” Jones wrote.
“Man, everyone was there…Sidney Poitier, Sarah Vaughan, you name it. It was
special to see so many people there to celebrate what would’ve been my 41 years
of life.”
Over the years,
he had three marriages and seven children.
Jones was
married to his high school sweetheart Jeri Caldwell from 1957 to 1966, and the
couple had had one daughter, Jolie.
In 1967, he
married Swedish model Ulla Andersson, and they had two children, Martina and
Quincy Jones III, before divorcing in 1974.
That same year
Jones married actress Peggy Lipton, a union which lasted until 1990, and
produced two daughters, actresses Rashida Jones and Kidada Jones.
He also had a
daughter, Rachel, with dancer Carol Reynolds, and a daughter – fashion model
Kenya Kinski-Jones – with actress Nastassja Kinski.
Jones didn’t
slow down personally or professionally in his later years. In 2014, he produced
the documentary “Keep on Keepin’ On” about his mentor, jazz trumpeter Clark
Terry.
Reflecting on
his own career that year, Jones told Rolling Stone, “I never thought about it
until I hit 80, but I have been blessed to work with every major music star in
the history of America — including Louie Armstrong.”
“You can’t plan
that,” Jones said. “You can’t say, ‘Mr. Sinatra, I want to work with you.’ No.
You have to wait until he calls you.”
In his 2022
book, “12 Notes On Life and Creativity,” Jones reflected on the essence of his
life’s work.
“Creativity is one of the most beautiful gifts
we possess,” Jones wrote. “If utilized properly, not only does it serve as an
outlet, but it also holds the power to transform heartache into something
beyond a singular sentiment.”
