Legendary music producer Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91, his family said.
The US music titan, who worked with huge artists including Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, passed away on Sunday night at in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, his publicist, Arnold Robinson said. He was surrounded by his family, who said in a statement: "Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones' passing.
"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." Mr Jones, who won 28 Grammys during his career, produced multi-platinum albums for Michael Jackson including the best-selling album of all time, "Thriller".
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WireImage)With a career spanning more than six decades, Mr Jones he had a reported net worth of $500million (£385million), according to Celebrity Net Worth. The producer rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalogue that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song.
For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him. He kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders.
He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for "Roots" and "In the Heat of the Night," organized President Bill Clinton's first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of "We Are the World", the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa. Lionel Richie, who co-wrote "We Are the World" and was among the featured singers, would call Mr Jones "the master orchestrator."
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WireImage)In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honours likely go to his productions with Jackson: "Off the Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad" were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. His versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the "King of Pop". On such classic tracks as "Billie Jean" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", Mr Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants.
For "Thriller", some of the most memorable touches originated with Mr Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing "Beat It" and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track. "Thriller" sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles' "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" among others as the best-selling album of all time.
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WireImage)"If an album doesn't do well, everyone says 'it was the producer's fault'; so if it does well, it should be your 'fault', too," Mr Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. "The tracks don't just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion."
The list of his honours and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography "Q", including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for "Roots". He also received France's Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, "Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones" and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
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