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Quincy Jones, the legendary record producer and 28-time Grammy winner, has died aged 91. His publicist confirmed he passed away on November 3 at his home in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles surrounded by his family.
Throughout his decades-long career, Jones earned the title of one of the most celebrated musicians and producers in history, namely for his collaborations with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles.
In fact, it was his first meeting with Jackson that would later establish Jones as one of the most successful music producers in the world. Not only did Jones produce Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, but his composing credits also include the scores for 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple. Jones led an illustrious career in television as well, serving as an executive producer for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched actor Will Smith into stardom.
From record sales and royalties to multimedia companies and real estate, Jones’s seven children – including his actor daughter Rashida Jones – are set to inherit a staggering fortune following his death.
After spending much of his early career touring in jazz bands, he received his big break from Mercury Records president Irving Green, who offered Jones a personal loan and a job as vice president of Mercury, making him the first Black person to ever hold the position.
It was in 1958 that Jones first worked with legendary crooner Frank Sinatra, a professional relationship that would later transform into a close friendship. Upon his death in 1998, the “Fly Me To The Moon” singer even left Jones a ring emblazoned with his family’s crest. In a Facebook post shared on March 9, 2016, Jones shared a black and white photo of the oval-shaped ring, which he wore on his pinky.
“This right here is the ring that bears Frank Sinatra’s family crest from Sicily,” Jones captioned the post. “Francis wore it for 40 years, before leaving it to me when he passed, and I wear it every single day. It’s one of my most prized possessions, because it has and will continue to represent our everlasting friendship.”
Earlier this year, a similar gold ring gifted to Tony Bennett by Sinatra sold for $63,500 at auction. According to Julien’s Auctions, Sinatra commissioned 12 copies of his own gold pinky ring featuring the Sinatra family crest – a crowned rampant lion with three stars – to give to close friends and family members.
Jones went on to score several films throughout the 1960s, including In Cold Blood, for which he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. Following its premiere in 1967, In Cold Blood earned an estimated $13m in the US – approximately $122.54m today.
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The Eighties saw one of the most successful periods of Jones’s career. He had approached filmmaker Steven Spielberg after receiving the adaptation rights to Alice Walker’s 1982 novel The Color Purple and convinced Spielberg to direct the film, with himself serving as co-producer and composer. The Color Purple grossed an estimated $98.47m in the United States and Canada following its theatrical release and earned 11 Oscar nominations in 1986.
Jones also played a hand in the 2023 movie musical adaptation of The Color Purple, once again serving as producer alongside Spielberg. However, the second adaptation of the novel performed considerably less at the box office, grossing $67.5m despite having an estimated $100m budget.
While working on the 1978 film The Wiz, Jones embarked on his first collaboration with Jackson for his album Off the Wall, which was released the following year. Off the Wall has since sold over 20 million copies worldwide, only to be trumped by the duo’s second collaboration, Thriller. In just one year, Jackson’s 1982 album sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time. Since its November 1982 release, Thriller has sold an estimated 70 million copies worldwide.
However, Jones’s illustrious career producing some of Jackson’s biggest hits also led to a legal dispute following the King of Pop’s 2009 death. In July 2017, Jones won a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate for $9.4m in damages for unpaid royalties. In 2020, Jones lost on appeal and had to return $6.8m.
Much of Jones’s financial success later came through his accomplishments as an entrepreneur. In partnership with Warner Bros Records, Jones founded the music label Qwest Records in 1980. 10 years later, he established his own multimedia company with Time Warner, called Quincy Jones Entertainment – which included a wide range of programming and publishing endeavors.
While serving as chairman and CEO of Quincy Jones Entertainment, he produced the beloved sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired on NBC from September 1990 to May 1996. Jones also ventured into publishing as the founder of hip-hop magazine Vibe in 1993, and published SPIN and Blaze magazines.
Through his broadcast company Qwest Broadcasting, Jones acquired TV stations in Atlanta and New Orleans for $167m, effectively making it the largest minority-owned broadcasting company in the US at the time.
According to the AP, Quincy Jones Entertainment was sold for $270m in 1999. In 2001, Qwest Records shuttered after Warner Music Group reportedly bought out Jones’s 50 percent stake in the label for an estimated $10m. Meanwhile, Vibe magazine ceased publishing after 16 years after it was sold to a venture capital firm, Wicks Capital, in 2009 for an estimated $35m. SpinMedia later acquired Vibe in 2013 for an undisclosed amount.
Jones has been a longtime resident of the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 2005, the music mogul sold his former Bel Air home for close to its $5.4m asking price. According to the Los Angeles Times, Jones moved to a 25,000-square-foot compound he built on the west side of Los Angeles.
Jones was married three times, first to his high school girlfriend Jeri Caldwell – with whom he shared his first child, Jolie – for nine years until 1966. He had a son and a daughter with his second wife Ulla Andersson, to whom he was married for seven years until divorcing her to marry Twin Peaks star Peggy Lipton. They had two daughters, including actor Rashida Jones, before divorcing in 1989.
Jones did not remarry again but had two other children, Rachel and Kenya, with dancer Carol Reynolds and actor Nastassja Kinski, respectively.
