by Mick the Ram

Quincy Jones, the iconic music producer who helped shape the careers of the likes of Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, has died at the age of 91.

His publicist, Arnold Robinson, announced that he had “passed away peacefully” on Sunday 3 November at his home in Los Angeles.

During a remarkable career spanning more than 75 years, he won 28 Grammy awards and was named as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century.

He produced massive hits for the New York singer Lesley Gore in the mid-60s, including the US number one It’s My Party, and later embraced funk and disco, producing hit singles including George Benson’s Give Me the Night and Patti Austin and James Ingram’s Baby Come to Me.

Jones also composed the soundtrack to more than 50 films and TV programmes and produced the hugely successful film: The Color Purple.

Family statement

The family released a statement in which they confirmed their “incredible loss” but also wanted to celebrate the “great life that he lived” adding that they know “there will never be another like him.”

They called him “one of a kind” and said they believe that “his heart will beat for eternity”.

Additionally they stressed that they could “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.”

East coast move

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago to a half-white father who had been born to a Welsh slave owner and one of his female slaves. After his parents divorced he moved with his father to Washington state, where he learned to play the drums and a host of brass instruments in his high-school band.

He joined a band playing in the Seattle clubs alongside a 16-year-old Ray Charles. He moved east to initially Boston and then New York where one of his early gigs was playing trumpet in Elvis Presley’s band for his first TV appearances.

Transformed the greats

His work with Sinatra began in 1958 when he was hired to conduct and arrange for him and continued to create for “Ol’ Blue Eyes” until the mid-eighties.

He first produced Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall album which sold 20 million copies and they went on to work together on the massive Thriller and Bad albums.

Influenced the stars

For many, Quincy Jones was the most versatile pop cultural figure of the 20th century not only massively influencing Sinatra and Jackson, but also arranging for the likes of: Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee and Sammy Davis Jr.

Master of his art

In 1985, it was Jones who assembled 46 of America’s most popular singers of the time, including Jackson, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen to record We Are the World, the song he co-wrote to raise money for those suffering from a devastating famine in Ethiopia – a track that reached number one in the US and the UK and was performed at Live Aid.

Lionel Richie, who was the co-writer of the song called Jones “the master orchestrator”.

Tribute from a movie legend

He also composed the soundtrack to the 1969 British film, The Italian Job, and its star, Michael Caine, paid tribute describing Jones as: “a titan in the musical world” and added that he was “a wonderful and unique human being” expressing how lucky he was to have known him.

Lucky escape

Quincy escaped with his life when in 1969, he was due to visit Sharon Tate’s home on the night of the Charles Mansion cult murders, but fortunately forgot the appointment.

He also survived a brain aneurysm in 1974, but it prevented him from playing the trumpet again with fears that the exertion could cause further harm.

He was married three times and had seven children.