Composer and Music Producer Quincy Jones Dead at 91

The family of legendary American music icon Quincy Jones announced his death at the age of 91 over the weekend. 

According to Jones’s publicist, Arnold Robinson, he died Sunday night (Nov. 3) at his Los Angeles home in the presence of his family. 

“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the Jones 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.”

Successful Black Musician

The musician has collaborated with musicians from Aretha Franklin to Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles to Michael Jackson. The Associated Press reported that he also won awards for several film and TV scores, including an honorary Oscar after being nominated in the Academy Awards seven times in the past 55 years. 

He was also known for producing several Michael Jackson hits like “Thriller” as well as being involved in the production of the 1985 charity hit “We Are the World” alongside Jackson and Lionel Richie. 

Jones was born Quincy Delight Jones Jr. in Chicago in 1933 and had to live a hard childhood after his mother was institutionalized and his father, Quincy Sr., remarried. He claimed that music became his way out of poverty and meaninglessness. 

He was one of the trailblazers in making the African American community an integral part of American music when he became a music executive at Mercury Records in the early 1960s and the first Black musical director for the Oscars in 1971. He eventually created Quincy Jones Entertainment, which he sold in 1999 for $270 million. He wrote an autobiography two years later.

Jones’s career was also marred with controversy after he sued Jackson’s estate in 2013 for the latter’s alleged non-payment of royalties, which was valued in the millions. 

Doting Father

Jones was survived by his second wife Ulla Andersson and his seven children, including Quincy III, Kidada, Rashida, and Kenya. 

It is understood that his final Instagram post before dying was dedicated to his daughter Martina on the occasion of her 58th birthday. 

“Happy Birthday to my Tina Beena!!” his caption wrote. “So proud to be yo papa! Big hug, I love you eternally.”

Martina is Jones’s daughter with Andersson and a sister to Quincy III.