John WIlliams, Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones during the re-recording session of Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn in 2023
Quincy Jones, the musical giant who did it all as a record producer, film composer, multi-genre artist, entertainment executive and humanitarian, has died. He was 91.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, said that he died Sunday night at his Bel-Air home surrounded by his family.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” his 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 received the Motion Picture Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, the Grammy Legend Award in 1991 and 28 Grammys from an all-time best 80 nominations. He was to be presented with an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards on Nov. 17.
Survivors include one of his seven children, actress Rashida Jones.
In a phenomenal career that spanned more than 60 years, Jones produced Michael Jackson’s best-selling albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad; obtained the rights to the novel The Color Purple, cast a young Oprah Winfrey in the Steven Spielberg 1985 film adaptation and received three Oscar nominations for his work; helmed the historic recording sessions for the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” the best-selling single of all time; and produced Lesley Gore’s 1963 chart-topping hit “It’s My Party.”