Quincy Jones, musical titan and entertainment icon, dead at 91
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.”
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.
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.
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