Quincy Jones Dead at 91: Music Producer Worked With Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson

Legendary musician Quincy Jones died on Sunday, Nov. 3. He was 91.

Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, told the Associated Press that he had died at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” Jones’ family said in a statement to Variety. “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,” the statement continued. “Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”

Born in Chicago, Ill. on March 14, 1933, Jones ran away at age 14 to join the National Guard. He would find success in the music world first as a trumpet player for jazz artists like Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, kicking off a prodigious career not only as a musician but as a producer and arranger for fellow legends including Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and more.

Jackson became Jones’ greatest collaborator, as he produced three of the King of Pop’s albums – 1979’s Off the Wall, 1982’s Thriller and 1987’s Bad. Thriller soon became the biggest-selling album of all time, turning Jackson into a household name.

Jones was a force to be reckoned with, establishing his own label, Qwest Records, in 1980, and signing musicians like Sinatra, New Order, George Benson and Patti Austin.

As an artist, Jones also composed the soundtracks for Roots and In the Heat of the Night, in addition to the theme songs for Sanford and Son and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Jones also composed the score for the 1985 film The Color Purple, which was nominated for an Oscar.

Jones was also a lifelong activist, supporting Martin Luther King Jr., organizing President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration, and overseeing the recording of 1985’s “We Are the World,” a charity record for famine relief in Africa featuring the voices of Jackson, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.

“I think I was chosen to produce ‘We Are the World’ because I had produced an album for Donna Summer a couple of years earlier,” Jones said in a 2015 interview with Yahoo Music. “On that album was a track called ‘State of Independence’ that needed a choir. I wanted the best choir I could get, so about a third of the artists on ‘We Are the World’ were on that track. So I was on familiar ground.”

He added, “I know and believe in the power of music to bring people together for the betterment of mankind, and there may be no better example of this than the collective that was ‘We Are the World.’ That’s why it resonated around the world the way it did, and still does.”

Jones is survived by seven children – The musician is survived by seven children: Rashida Jones, Kidada Jones, Kenya Kinski-Jones, Quincy Jones III, Jolie Jones Levine, Martina Jones, and Rachel Jones. He is also survived by grandchildren Isaiah Jones Koenig, Quincy Renzo Delight Jones IV and Nea Jones.