LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Music legend Quincy Jones has died at his Bel Air home at age 91.
The multi-Grammy-winning producer, arranger, composer and entrepreneur — who worked with talents as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson – – “passed away peacefully” Sunday, 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,” Robinson said.
“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 further details will be released at this time, the statement said.
“Mr. Jones’ family is grateful for the outpouring of condolences from his friends and fans from around the world and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning,” the statement said.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to The Jazz Foundation of America — jazzfoundation.org.
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.
“Life is like a dream, the Spanish poet and philosopher Federico Garcia Lorca said,” Jones wrote in his memoir. “Mine’s been in Technicolor, with full Dolby sound through THX amplification before they knew what these systems were.”
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.
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