The producer, composer and trumpeter Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91 at his home in Bel Air in Los Angeles, as announced by his family. His vast legacy spans from the production of the historic album Thriller from Michael Jackson to writing award-winning soundtracks for film and television and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists. “Tonight, with a full but broken heart, we must share the news of the passing of our father and brother Quincy Jones,” the family announced in a statement. “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.”
Quincy Jones was born in Chicago on March 14, 1933 and had a very hard childhood, in which, as he confessed in Q, autobiography of Quincy Jones, He even had to eat rats to survive. A precocious genius, he began taking trumpet classes at school and at the age of thirteen he already made arrangements for trumpeter Clark Terry; Two years later he aroused the interest of pianist Lionel Hampton.
In his history of creations, well-known names appear such as the aforementioned Charles and Sinatra, but also Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie. His extensive career also extended to cinema, where he worked with Steven Spielberg and actor Will Smith on the soundtracks of films such as The lender, In cold blood, In the heat of the night o The color purple. On television, he was the producer of the famous series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. and made musical themes for countless series such as El show de Bill Cosby. Throughout his long career, he has won 27 Grammy Awards and an Oscar, among other awards. Furthermore, he was a doctor for the sake of honor by a dozen universities.
In an interview with this newspaper in 2009, when asked if there was a rivalry with Michael Jackson (whom he produced Thriller, the best-selling album of all time), he said: “I have worked with Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole , Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and, above all, Ray Charles… Do you think you could be jealous of Michael Jackson? Michael wasn’t that talented. He was great, but he didn’t play in the league I just mentioned. I have had seven children and participated in 40 films. “I don’t have time to waste on nonsense.”