Quincy Jones, Legendary Music Producer Who Worked with Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, Dies at 91

Mar. 15, 2025

Legendary musicianQuincy Joneshas died. He was 91.

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

“He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we 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. Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”

Quincy Jones.Brad Barket/Getty

Quincy Jones at the 1982 Grammy Awards.CBS via Getty

CBS via Getty

He escaped death in 1974 when he was just 41 years old. The music extraordinaire had a brain aneurysm and underwent brain surgery but was told soon after that he had a second aneurysm ready to explode. He underwent surgery again. At the time, he was told he had a one-in-a-hundred chance of surviving.

“It was scary,” he toldGQin 2018. “Like somebody blew my brains out. The main artery to your brain explodes, you know.”

Quincy Jones circa 1970.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Born on March 14, 1933, the Chicago native first rose to prominence as a trumpet player in bands for jazz music greats including Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie.

During this time, he and a group of friends were heading to a rodeo in Yakima when a bus hit them. He said everybody in the car died except him — the scene was gruesome and left him traumatized. He attempted to take driving lessons a few years later but he “just couldn’t do it” and never drove again.

Quincy Jones in 1959.Bob Parent/Getty

Bob Parent/Getty

His credits were vast and his accomplishments enormous. As a producer and arranger, Jones was partially behind the success of several music giants includingFrank Sinatra,Michael Jackson,Paul Simon,Aretha Franklinand more.

He produced “It’s My Party” for Lesley Gore, who was only 16 at the time. The single went to No. 1 and made Gore one of the youngest singers to reach that zenith. Jones also produced three 1963 Top 5 follow-ups for Gore: “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” “She’s a Fool” and “You Don’t Own Me.”

Michael Jackson (left) and Quincy Jones at the 1984 Grammy Awards.Chris Walter/WireImage

Chris Walter/WireImage

Jones would enjoy his greatest success as a producer in collaboration with Michael Jackson. He produced three of his seminal solo albums — 1979’sOff the Wall, 1982’sThrillerand 1987’sBad.Thrillerwould become the biggest-selling album of all time and turned Michael Jackson into a global superstar.

In a 2018 interview withVulture, Jones assessed his decades of innovation: “Everything was something to be proud of — absolutely. It’s been an amazing contrast of genres. Since I was very young, I’ve played all kinds of music: bar mitzvah music, Sousa marches, strip-club music, jazz, pop. Everything. I didn’t have to learn a thing to do Michael Jackson.”

Talking toGQ, he elaborated on what made Jackson special. “He had a perspective on details that was unmatched. His idols are Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, James Brown, all of that. And he paid attention, and that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s the only way you can be great, you know, is pay attention to the best guys who ever did it.”

Quincy Jones (center) and fellow “We Are the World” contributors (from left) Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie at the 1986 Grammys.Bettmann/Getty

Bettmann/Getty

“I think I was chosen to produce ‘We Are the World’ because I had produced an album for Donna Summer a couple of years earlier,” Jones said in an interview with Yahoo Music, perudiscovermusic.“On that album was a track called ‘State of Independence’ that needed a choir. I wanted the best choir I could get, so about a third of the artists on ‘We Are the World’ were on that track. So I was on familiar ground.”

He added, “I know and believe in the power of music to bring people together for the betterment of mankind, and there may be no better example of this than the collective that was ‘We Are the World.' That’s why it resonated around the world the way it did, and still does.”

Quincy Jones in 2010.Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

He also composed the theme music for the sitcomsSanford and SonandThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which would beginWill Smith’s ascent from rapper to major Hollywood star.

As an artist, he composed the score for the 1985 filmThe Color Purple, which was nominated for an Oscar. Jones' 1974 albumBody Heatpeaked at No. 6 on theBillboard200 chart. He also recorded a string of albums on which he used an assortment of star vocalists, including James Ingram, Ray Charles and Chaka Khan.

Quincy Jones was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2001, alongside (clockwise from top left, Van Cliburn, Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarotti and Julie Andrews.POOL/Getty Images

He went platinum with 1978’sSounds…and Stuff Like That!!, 1981’sThe Dudeand 1989’sBack on the Block, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. They all spawned Top 40 singles.

From left: Kidada Jones, Quincy Jones and Rashida Jones.Donato Sardella/WireImage

Jones was married three times, to Jeri Caldwell from 1957 to 1966, to Ulla Anderson, a Swedish actress, from 1967 to 1974, and, from 1974 to 1990, toThe Mod Squadactress Peggy Lipton, with whom he shared daughters Rashida and Kidada. From 1991 to 1995, he was in a relationship with actress Nastassja Kinski, with whom he shared daughter Kenya, a model.

Although his output slowed in later years, Jones, a lifelong activist and supporter of Martin Luther King Jr., continued to contribute to charitable causes and worked on the soundtrack to the 2024 filmLola.

As far as retirement, in 2018, he toldGQthat he was only getting warmed up. “I feel like a child, man,” he said. “I’m just starting.”

source: people.com