Quincy Jones, the legendary musican, producer and composer, has died at the age of 91.
Jones’ publicist confirmed that he passed yesterday (November 3) at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, while surrounded by family. No cause of death was disclosed.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” his family said in a 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.”
Recognised as one of the all-time greats of 20th century music, Jones’ influence was far-reaching, stretching across pop, R&B, jazz, rock, hip hop and disco music. He produced some of Michael Jackson’s best-loved albums, Thriller, Off The Wall and Bad, having a hand in hit singles such as ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Rock With You’, ‘Man In The Mirror’ and ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, among many others.
Born in Chicago in 1933, Quincy Delight Jones Jr. played trumpet in school and later formed a band with friend Ray Charles while they were in their teens. After attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music, he took up a career as a touring musician and led a band of his own. He also released a number of jazz albums under his own name through the 1950s before beginning to incorporate synthesisers into his work having attended early electronic music events in Paris in the 1950s.
In the 1960s, Jones took up a role as vice president of Mercury Records, while continuing to release his own music via solo albums such as Body Heat and The Dude. He also started scoring films and TV shows at around this time and worked on a number of projects in the years that followed, including producing the soundtrack for 1969 film The Italian Job.
It was while working on the Sidney Lumet-directed musical The Wiz in 1977 that he met a young Michael Jackson, leading to a fruitful collaborative run that birthed the albums Thriller, Off The Wall and Bad through the 1980s. Among the other artists with whom Jones worked across his career are Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Donna Summer, Herbie Hancock and Aretha Franklin.
Jones remained active moving into the 21st century, and even appeared in spoken word form on The Weeknd’s 2022 album Dawn FM. Most recently, he produced music for the 2024 film Lola.
“He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly,” Jones’ family’s statement said. “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.”
