Quincy Jones turns 1933-2024
Record producer, actor, conductor, arranger, composer, musician, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, entertainment company executive, and humanitarian, Quincy Jones was one of the most powerful and acclaimed figures of music and showbiz. He passed away on November 3rd at age 91
Quincy Jones turns 1933-2024
Record producer, actor, conductor, arranger, composer, musician, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, entertainment company executive, and humanitarian, Quincy Jones was one of the most powerful and acclaimed figures of music and showbiz. He was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, raised in Seattle, Washington, Jones developed an interest in music at an early age, and attended the Berklee College of Music. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor, before moving on to work prolifically in pop music and film scores. In 1968, Jones and his songwriting partner, Bob Russell, became the first African Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for “The Eyes of Love” from the Universal Pictures film Banning. That same year, Jones was the first African American to be nominated twice in the same year, as he was also nominated for his work on the 1967 film In Cold Blood for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. In 1971, Jones was the first African American to be the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. Though an acclaimed jazz musician and conductor, perhaps Jones most famous side is as producer, in particular with Michael Jackson, with whom he produced the hit albums “Off the Wall” (1979), “Thriller” (1982), and “Bad” (1987), as well as the producer and conductor of the 1985 charity song “We Are the World” which raised funds for victims of destitution in Ethiopia. Another side of Quincy Jones (less known) was activism. Jones’s social activism began in the 1960’s with his support of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jones was one of the founders of the Institute for Black American Music (IBAM), whose events aim to raise enough funds for the creation of a national library of African American art and music. Throughout his life he enrolled in many other causes mostly for African Americans. In 2013, Jones was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as the winner, alongside Lou Adler, of the Ahmet Ertegun Award. He passed away at age 91 on November 3rd, 2024. RIP.
Watch the trailer for Netflix’s documentary “Quincy”
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