Michael Jackson's music producer was 91

Quincy Jones, who distinguished himself as an artist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer over the course of his 70-year music career, has died. He was 91.

According to a statement shared with, Jones died Sunday evening at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles diversity by his representative Arnold Robinson. A cause of death was not announced.

“Tonight it is with full but broken hearts that we must bear the news of the passing of our father and brother Quincy Jones. And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life he lived and know there will never be another like him,” the Jones family's statement said. “He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him greatly; It is a source of comfort and great pride to us to know that the love and joy that was the essence of his being was shared with the world through everything he created. Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”

Jones' reputation in the entertainment industry was such that he only used one letter: “Q.”

Jones came from the world of jazz and became one of the most impressive figures in popular music. He received six of his 28 Grammy Awards for his 1990 album Back on the Block and was named Producer of the Year three times.

To many, he is probably best known for his production collaborations with Michael Jackson, which began with the singer's groundbreaking 1979 solo album Off the Wall, which sold an estimated 20 million copies internationally.

His chart-topping follow-up, Thriller (1982) – for which Jones received Album of the Year honors as well as the Record of the Year trophy for the track “Billie Jean” – remains the best-selling album of all time, with estimated worldwide sales above 110 million. Jones then worked with Jackson on his 1987 number one release “Bad.”

In 1985, Jones made international headlines as producer of the single “We Are the World,” dedicated to the famine in Africa; Jackson co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie and led the all-star vocal cast.

Jones was the first African American to score a major motion picture, “The Pawnbroker” (1964), and went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Song. In 1995, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from AMPAS, another first for a black artist.

He made a name for himself on television as executive producer of the 1990s NBC sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which launched rapper Will “Fresh Prince” Smith as an actor. In addition to the 2022 revival of “Bel-Air,” he later served as executive producer of the comedy series “In the House” and “MadTV.” the 10-hour 1995 documentary “The History of Rock 'N' Roll”; the 2014 documentary “Keep on Keepin' On”; and the 2023 adaptation of “The Color Purple,” directed by Blitz Bazawule.

Jones received a Tony Award nomination in 2006 as producer of the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple.”

In the publishing world, he founded the respected hip-hop magazine Vibe, which spawned a TV spinoff in 1997.

In recognition of the variety of causes to which he has contributed, Jones was named diversitywas named Philanthropist of the Year in 2014.

He was born Quincy Delight Jones Jr. in Chicago. As a boy he learned to play the trumpet, his main instrument. At age 10, his family moved to Seattle; There, as a 14-year-old beginner, he met 17-year-old Ray Charles.

At 18, after studying at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Jones toured with Lionel Hampton's big band in a trumpet group that also included Art Farmer and Clifford Brown. In the early '50s he honed his skills as an arranger, writing charts for trumpeter Clark Terry (an important early mentor), Count Basie, Dinah Washington and many others. He made his debut as a leader in 1953 in an octet co-led by drummer Roy Haynes.

After serving as band director for Dizzy Gillespie's State Department-sponsored big band and stints at ABC-Paramount and the French label Barclay Records, Jones assembled an in-house orchestra at Mercury Records. Although a later touring group collapsed financially, the club led to an A&R position at Mercury; In 1964, Jones was vice president of the label, where he produced pop singer Leslie Gore's greatest hits.

In 1959-60 he arranged two of Charles' best albums, The Genius of Ray Charles and Genius + Soul Jazz. He received his first Grammy in 1964 for his arrangement of “I Can't Stop Loving You,” Charles' hit version of Don Gibson's country song.

Jones was commissioned by Sidney Lumet to write the music for his 1964 drama “The Pawnbroker.” This commission – the first for a black musician – led to prestigious composition commissions for features such as “In Cold Blood”, “In the Heat of the Night” (with a theme song by Ray Charles), “The Italian Job” and “The Italian Job”. “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice” and “The Getaway.”

In the mid-'60s, Jones developed a working relationship with Frank Sinatra. He arranged two albums with the singer and Count Basie's orchestra: “It Might As Well Be Swing” (1964) and the live album “Sinatra at the Sands” (1966).

In 1969, Jones began a successful collaboration as an artist with A&M Records, for which he recorded nine studio albums. He received three Grammys for his jazz-pop work on the label; In 1974, the A&M album “Body Heat” reached the highest chart position of his career at number 8. In 1977, he released an album on the label containing his soundtrack for the top-rated ABC miniseries “Roots.” ; it reached number 21 on the pop album charts.

While Jones worked as a producer over the years for artists such as Aretha Franklin, the Brothers Johnson, George Benson and Chaka Khan, it was his work with Michael Jackson that elevated him to the music industry's most select echelon.

In 1978, Jones worked as music supervisor on director Lumet's adaptation of the Broadway hit The Wiz, starring Jackson as the Scarecrow. While the film was in production, Jackson – then signed to Epic Records as a solo artist – sought Jones' advice about potential producers for his upcoming album. After Jones presented the singer with a list of interested parties, Jackson hired him for the job.

The phenomenal, decade-long Jones-Jackson partnership resulted in three multiplatinum albums (including the unprecedented and still unmatched global hit “Thriller”), 18 Top 10 pop hits (including 10 No. 1 singles) and four Grammy Awards for Jones.

At the height of Jackson's popularity in January 1985, Jones recorded “We Are the World” with a line-up of soloists that included Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross and Ray Charles. The benefit single sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide and added three Grammys to Jones' resume, including one for Record of the Year.

In 1980, Jones founded Qwest Records, a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records. The label released the Jones-penned soundtrack to Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple and signed artists such as George Benson, Tevin Campbell, New Order and, briefly, Sinatra (whose 1984 album LA Is My Lady was arranged by Jones). But his chief executive officer became his most outstanding official act.

Jones' 1989 Qwest album Back on the Block – an all-star affair that saw Jones work with legends like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Ray Charles, and youngsters like Ice-T and Big Daddy Kane worked together – won a lot of Grammys and reached number 9 on the US album charts.

In 1993, Warner Bros. released “Miles and Quincy Live at Montreux”, a live set by trumpeters Davis and Jones from 1991 at the titular jazz festival in Switzerland, in which Davis reinterpreted compositions originally written in the '50s by Gil Evans had been arranged. It was the jazz legend's last recording and received a Grammy in 1994.

Jones' most recent solo releases were “Q's Jook Joint” (1995) and “Q Soul Bossa Nostra” (2010). The former featured a number of seasoned R&B and jazz veterans, young hip-hop stars and even a guest appearance from Marlon Brando. The latter album, which features new recordings of Jones-related material, includes appearances by artists as diverse as Jennifer Hudson, Amy Winehouse, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean and Three 6 Mafia. In addition to appearing on The Weeknd's 2022 album Dawn FM and in the music video for Travis Scott and Young Thug's song “Out West,” Jones has only sporadically produced or performed as an artist. Following the release of his 2018 self-titled documentary, Jones worked with producer Mark Ronson and singer Chaka Khan on the accompanying single “Keep Reachin'.”

His Global Gumbo Orchestra performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 2011 and at the Playboy Jazz Festival there in 2012. The group released “Tomorrow”, a charity single featuring stars from several Arab countries, co-produced by Jones and RedOne, in late 2011. After appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in 2017 to perform selections from his A&M years, Jones celebrated in July 2023 celebrated his 90th birthday with a two-day celebration at the venue featuring past and current artists he has worked with, from singer Patti Austin to songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier.

Jones received the Recording Academy's Legend Award in 1991 and the Trustees Award in 1989. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama in 2011. In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the winner of the Ahmet Ertegun Award along with Lou Adler.

Jones published his autobiography “Q” in 2001; An audio version of the book won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 2002.

He has been married and divorced three times and is survived by a brother, two sisters, six daughters, including actress Rashida Jones, and a son.