Wave Staff and Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES — Tributes from politicians and entertainers continued to pour in this week for Quincy Jones, a musical legend who worked with everybody from Frank Sinatra and Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Charles and Michael Jackson.
The multi-Grammy-winning producer, arranger, composer and entrepreneur died Nov. 3 at his Bel Air home at age 91, his publicist, Arnold Robinson, said in a statement. “Mr. Jones was surrounded by his children, his siblings, and close family at the time of his death.”
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement released through Robinson.
“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.”
No word on funeral services has been released. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to The Jazz Foundation of America — jazzfoundation.org.
Flowers were placed on Jones’ star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Nov. 4. His star was dedicated on March 14, 1980, and is at 1500 Vine St. near Sunset Boulevard.
President Joe Biden issued a statement calling Jones a “musical genius who transformed the soul of America — one beat, one rhythm and one rhyme at a time.”
“His God-given talent earned him countless awards and honors in music, film, and television,” Biden said. “He was one of few Americans to earn an EGOT and received 28 Grammy Awards — among the most of all time. In only a way he could, Quincy Jones solidified Black culture as American culture.
“He was a great unifier, who believed deeply in the healing power of music to restore hope and uplift those suffering from hunger, poverty, and violence, in America and the continent of Africa.”
Jones won 28 Grammy Awards, two honorable Academy Awards, an Emmy Award for “Roots” and France’s Legion d’Honneur. He was honored with the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture.
He was a best-selling author, the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones.
He was born in Chicago in 1933 and won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Jones worked as a freelance composer, conductor, arranger and producer. As a teenager, he backed Billie Holiday and by his mid-20s, he was touring with his own band.
He became vice president at Mercury Records in the early 1960s, breaking racial barriers pursuing a career as a music executive. He became the first Black music director for the Academy Awards ceremony in 1971. “The Color Purple,” the first movie he produced, received 11 Oscar nominations in 1986, but didn’t win any awards. He created Quincy Jones Entertainment in a partnership with Time Warner. It included pop-culture magazine Vibe and Qwest Broadcasting. The company was sold in 1999 for $270 million.
He worked with Sinatra on “Fly Me to the Moon” and Ray Charles on “In the Heat of the Night.”
He also worked with jazz giants (Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington), rappers (Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J), crooners (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), pop singers (Lesley Gore) and rhythm and blues stars (Chaka Khan, rapper and singer Queen Latifah).
He was one of the producers on “We are the World” and worked with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen.
He co-wrote hits for Jackson — “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)” — and Donna Summer — “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” — and had songs sampled by Tupac Shakur, Kanye West and other rappers. In addition, he composed the theme song for the sitcom “Sanford and Son.”
He is credited with launching the acting careers of Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg. He gave Smith a key break in the hit TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which Jones produced. Winfrey and Goldberg had breakthrough roles in “The Color Purple.”
He worked as an activist supporting HIV and AIDS campaigns, educating children and providing for the poor around the world. He founded the Quincy Jones Listen Up! Foundation to connect young people with music, culture and technology.
Snoop Dogg posted a video of some of Jones’ work on his Instagram page, writing, “RIP. Thanks for the brotherhood and love u gave me.”
Will Smith wrote, “Quincy Jones is the true definition of a mentor, a father and a friend. He pointed me toward the greatest parts of myself. 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.”
Winfrey said it was Jones who “discovered” her for the 1985 film “The Color Purple.”
“My life changed forever for the better after meeting him,” Winfrey wrote. “I had never experienced, nor have since, anyone who’s 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.”
Jones was previously scheduled to receive an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Honorary Award on Nov. 17. The award honors “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences of any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
In 1994, he received the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was nominated for seven Oscars in his career, for films including “In Cold Blood,” “The Wiz” and “The Color Purple.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement saying, “A titan of music, culture, and philanthropy, Quincy Jones brought the world endless joy with his optimistic spirit and colossal imagination. Not a day goes by without hearing a masterpiece that Quincy produced or hearing about the good he created with his generous heart.”
“Quincy Jones brought laughter, celebration, happiness and joy into the homes of millions,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “As a musician, composer, producer and arranger, he changed our culture, and he changed our world. Mr. Jones broke barriers in an industry that had long worked to exclude artists that looked like him.
“He has provided a soundtrack to the best moments of so many lives — and to the deepest movements of change in this country,” she added. “Our city is forever bettered by his gifts. We celebrate his life, and we mourn this loss.”
Nancy and Tina Sinatra also issued a statement, calling him “Our brother from another mother.”
“Quincy was an ever-present force in our lives — in good times and bad — constant and loving. We were blessed to know him. We love you, Q — from here to eternity. Hug Pop and save us a seat at the bar.”
Motown founder Berry Gordy was saddened to hear of Jones’ death.
“His body of work is incomparable,” Gordy said. “He had the ability to move seamlessly over seven decades — from music genre to genre, artists young to old — and was a master with them all.
“Quincy was a true man of music who knew its unique and powerful ability to unite us all. He will be missed but will live on through his incredible body of work.
Singer Dionne Warwick also paid tribute to Jones.
“My dear friend and mentor is now a part of that great orchestra in heaven,” she said. “Quincy meant a lot to me and I will certainly miss him as will so many others. His presence will continue to be felt through the many musical talents he produced over the years.”
Jones is survived by daughters Rashida Jones, Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Kidada Jones and Kenya Kinski-Jones; son Quincy Jones III; brother Richard Jones and sisters Theresa Frank and Margie Jay.
