Quincy Jones… the World Mourns…

Yinka Olatunbosun

Fifty years ago, the music genius Quincy Jones was prepared to die. He barely survived a brain aneurysm in 1974. Having been informed of only a one percent chance of surviving his surgery, he attended his own memorial service in the company of his neurologist at The Shrine in Los Angeles, USA, that year alongside Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, and Sydney Poitier. Jones had two brain surgeries, and after the second was warned to never play the trumpet again.

Fast-forward to 2024, November 3, and the news of the death of this legendary record producer, songwriter, composer, and arranger, film and television producer, Quincy Jones Jr., swarmed the internet, thus ending five decades of suspense.

Jones, who died at his home in Bel-Air Home in Los Angeles at the age of 91, was an influential figure in popular culture whose innovative ideas and artistry helped to shape music and breed a generation of musicians who set records in history.

He was introduced to music by his mother, who always sang religious songs, and next-door neighbour Lucy Jackson. In his twilight, he boasted of a decorated career spanned over 70 years, with 28 Grammy Awards won out of 80 nominations, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1992. He is listed as the third person to have the most Grammy wins in history after Jay-Z and Beyonce, who hold the second and first positions, respectively.

He is famed for producing three of the most successful albums by pop icon Michael Jackson, namely Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). Thriller, which is Jackson’s sixth studio album, would later become the world’s best-selling album of all time, having sold 70 million copies worldwide.

In 1985, he produced and conducted the charity song “We Are the World,” which helped to raise funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia. He worked with A-list musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, and Celine Dion.

His publicist, Arnold Robinson, remarked in a press statement: “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’s passing,” the family’s statement said. “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.”

His impact will remain indelible in black history. In 1971, Jones was named as the first African American to be the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards. In 1995, he was the first African American to receive the academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the second most Oscar-nominated African American, with seven nominations each. In 2013, Jones was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category.He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time.

Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before working on pop music and film scores. He moved easily between genres, producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including “It’s My Party”) and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between the jazz artists Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. In 1968, Jones became the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “The Eyes of Love” from the film Banning. Jones was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the 1967 film ‘In Cold Blood,’ making him the first African American to be nominated twice in the same year. Jones wrote the score for “The Streetbeater,” which is the theme song for the 1970s sitcom ‘Sanford and Son.’ 

In the 1960s, Jones worked as an arranger for Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Peggy Lee, Nana Mouskouri, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington. His solo recordings included Walking in Space, Gula Matari, Smackwater Jack, You’ve Got It Bad Girl, Body Heat, Mellow Madness, and I Heard That‼

In 1975, Jones founded Qwest Productions, for which he arranged and produced successful albums by Frank Sinatra and others. In 1978, he produced the soundtrack for The Wiz, the musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, which starred Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. In 1982, he produced Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ the best-selling album in music history. 

His 1981 album ‘The Dude’ yielded the hits “Ai No Corrida” (a remake of a song by Chaz Jankel), “Just Once,” and “One Hundred Ways,” both sung by James Ingram. 

Marking Jones’s debut as a film producer, 1985’s The Color Purple received 11 Oscar nominations that year, including one for Jones’s score. Jones, Thomas Newman, and Alan Silvestri are the only composers besides John Williams to have written scores for a Steven Spielberg-directed theatrical feature film. Additionally, through this picture, Jones is credited with introducing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to film audiences around the world.

Jones was married three times and has seven children with five different women. His personal life was put under scrutiny in the biographical documentary on Netflix titled ‘Quincy.’

 In the wake of his death, music stars and entertainers have expressed their grief in heartfelt social media posts.

 “The one and only Quincy Jones ‘discovered’ me for The Color Purple movie in 1985,” Oprah Winfrey wrote. “My life changed forever for the better after meeting him. I had never experienced, nor have I since, anyone whose heart was so filled with love.

“He walked around with his heart wide open, and he treated everybody as if they were the most important person he’d ever met. He was the light. No shadows. 

He was love lived out loud in human form, and he was the first person I ever loved unconditionally. That’s how we signed all our notes to each other, “Unconditionally…”

Lisa Stansfield, the singer best known for the late 80s pop classic Been Around the World, wrote: “He has been an incredible inspiration to myself, my husband, and so many other aspiring musicians all over the world and will continue to spread joy through the beautiful music he’s given us. We were lucky enough to have met him once in New York City and share some time together. He was so charming and had us in fits of laughter.” 

For Will Smith, Jones was ‘the true definition of a mentor, a father, and a friend.’ Quincy Jones was one of the producers of the hit television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which served as a launchpad for Smith’s acting career.

“He pointed me toward the greatest parts of myself,” Smith wrote in a tribute to Jones. “He defended me. He nurtured me. He encouraged me. He inspired me. He checked me when he needed to. He let me use his wings until mine were strong enough to fly.”

 Grammy-winning Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo extolled the legacies of the music genius.

 “Your friendship and your constant support changed my life! You were one of the first musicians to show the beauty of true African music to the world! Such a beautiful, funny, and inspiring soul. I’m sending much love your way.”