Quincy Jones, legendary music producer, dies at 91

Jones rose from running with gangs in Chicago to the heights of show business as a multi-talented music titan.

Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic Thriller album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.

Jones’s publicist, Arnold Robinson, said he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles in the United States, surrounded by his family.

“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. “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.”

Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalogue that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.

Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for Roots and In the Heat of the Night, organised US President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of We Are the World, the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.