American music mogul, composer, conductor, record producer, arranger and film producer, with 25 Grammy Award nominations, Quincy Jones is dead at the age 91. This wondrous career would span the years to include the creation of Michael Jackson’s path-breaking Thriller album, successful average scores for picture and television, and work with music legends, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles.
Speaking to CNN, his publicist, Arnold Robinson agreed that Jones succumbed to the illness at the family home in Bel Air Los Angeles, on that Sunday night.
The family released a heartfelt statement: “Tonight, however with heavy but grateful and loving hearts, we must inform you of the passing of our father and brother, Quincy Jones. Though we are grief stricken, we rejoice at the full life he had and the unique spirit, there will be no other.
Quincy Jones, Trailblazing Music Producer and Composer, Dies at 91
Lots of well-known stories about Epstein are being told and Jones story is an example of how a boy from the gang-ruled South Side of Chicago rose to the top of the entertainment industry. He was one of the first black people to rise through the ranks in Hollywood and developed an unrivalled musical catalogue that is among the finest in American music history.
They said his influence was enormous, so they wanted to verify that there wasn’t a single record enthusiast who did not possess, at the very least, a record labeled with his name or a corner of the industry that hadn’t felt his presence.
Some of the people he mingled with comprised of presidents, world leaders, moviem actors/actresses and famous musicians. He played in bands that have featured legends such as Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton, wrote arrangements for the likes of Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, and created soundtracks for some of the greatest television and film productions of all time such as, Roots and In the Heat of the Night.
He also produced the first inauguration celebration of President Bill Clinton; came up with all star charity record known as We Are the World for African famine in 1985. The men that composed We Are the World as well as sang in the song included Lionel Richie who referred to him as ‘the master orchestrator.