The music world is mourning a true music legend. The legendary Hall of Fame songwriter, record producer and performer Quincy Jones has passed away at the age of 91.
The 28-time Grammy winner passed away Sunday at his home in Bel Air, California.
“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,” the Jones family said in the statement. “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.”
Jones Worked With and Knew Everybody!
Jones has a long and varied list of credits which 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.”
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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 teenage 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.
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“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 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.
Before Music, Quincy First Wanted to be a Gangster
“Look where we’ve come,” he said in a 2017 interview with GQ Magazine. “From wanting to be a gangster to…all the other stuff.”
Jones spent his early years on the South Side of Chicago. His mother was taken away when he was 7—”to a mental home,” he says, “for dementia praecox.” His father, also called Quincy Jones, worked as a carpenter for, as his son now puts it, “the most notorious gangsters on the planet, the Jones boys.” It was rough and scary, and the only promising option that a young boy living within it could envision was becoming a gangster himself: “The ’30s in Chicago, man. Whew. No joke. If you think today’s bad… As a young kid, after my mother was taken away, my brother and I, we saw dead bodies every day. Guys hanging off of telephone poles with ice picks in their necks, man. Tommy guns and stogies, stacks of wine and liquor, big piles of money in back rooms, that’s all I ever saw. Just wanted to be that.”
“F–ing South Side of Chicago, they don’t play, man. Harlem and Compton don’t mean shit after Chicago in the ’30s—they look like Boys Town to me. Chicago is tough. There’s something in the water, man.”
Quincy’s Bout with Diabetes
I stopped drinking two years ago. Because I had Type 2 diabetes. And it’s the best thing I ever did. My mind’s so clear now, you know. And the curiosity’s at an all-time high.”
“I came up with Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, man. I didn’t have a chance. Seven double Jack Daniel’s an hour. Get out of here. Ray Charles, Frank—those guys could party. Sinatra and Ray Charles, them motherfuckers invented partying.”
Jones Nearly Lost His Life to TWO Brain Aneurysms
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.
“I actually had two brain aneurysms,” explains Jones. “So I guess I would classify as having some experience with trauma to the brain. Also, my mother suffered from mental illness. She was a brilliant woman who spoke several languages and had degrees from several colleges, but she had this condition that debilitated her, which today could’ve been controlled with medication. But at the time, during the Great Depression, they simply would commit you.”
Jones also suffered from depression in the mid-1980s that led him to have a nervous breakdown, all of which he turned to music to assist in his healing process. “I am curious about everything, man. But particularly how music affects the mind, body and soul, which I know it does,” says Jones. “Music is the only art form that can evoke a visceral and spiritual emotion in a person.”
“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.”
Brain Aneurysm Facts You Need To Know:
Unruptured brain aneurysms are typically completely asymptomatic. These aneurysms are typically small in size, usually less than one half inch in diameter. However, large unruptured aneurysms can occasionally press on the brain or the nerves stemming out of the brain and may result in various neurological symptoms.
Any individual experiencing some or all of the following symptoms, regardless of age, should undergo immediate and careful evaluation by a physician.
- Localized headache
- Dilated pupils
- Blurred or double vision
- Pain above and behind eyes
- Weakness and numbness
- Difficulty speaking
Quincy’s Last Words Before His Death
Even when facing death, Quincy continued to show love for his children until the very end.
In the legendary producer’s final Instagram post on Saturday, which was shared one day before his death, he wished a happy 58th birthday to his daughter Martina. “So proud to be yo papa!” he wrote alongside a photo of the two of them together. “Big hug, I love you eternally.”
