Legendary music titan Quincy Jones has died at 91.
Arnold Robinson, the 28-time Grammy winner’s publicist, said the music icon died Sunday night surrounded by family at his Los Angeles home.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” Robinson 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.”
The music icon’s final Instagram post, shared Saturday, featured a photo of him and his daughter, Martina, alongside a loving caption in honor of her 58th birthday.
“Happy Birthday to my Tina Beena @martinafotos1!! 🎉. So proud to be yo papa! Big hug, I love you eternally 🫶🏾💜,” he wrote.
Quincy Jones has died at 91. Drew Gurian/Invision/APJones was arguably the most multifaceted musician of the 20th century.
During his glittering career, Jones produced Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album, wrote prize-winning film and TV scores, and collaborated with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald.
His trophy cabinet reflected his unparalleled success.
Jones is the third-most-decorated Grammy winner, with 28 awards to his name.
His success was not limited to music. He founded the film and TV company Quincy Jones Entertainment in 1990.
Jones was also a fountain of colorful stories and wild anecdotes. After Sinatra’s death, he told GQ that the crooner left Jones his family crest ring, and Jones still wore it. “Frank was always trying to hook me up with Marilyn Monroe, but Marilyn Monroe had a chest that looked like pears, man,” he recalled.
About his carousing, he said, “You know, I came up with the two wildest motherf–kers on the planet. Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra. Come on. They were good-looking guys, they had all the girls they wanted, and they showed you how to deal with it.”
Michael Jackson and Jones in 1984 at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Getty ImagesJones also had few qualms about being brutally honest.
During a 2021 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Jones said that Elvis Presley was one of the few legends he wouldn’t work with.
“I was writing for [orchestra leader] Tommy Dorsey, oh God, back then in the ’50s. And Elvis came in, and Tommy said, ‘I don’t want to play with him.’ He was a racist mother — I’m going to shut up now,” Jones claimed about Presley. “But every time I saw Elvis, he was being coached by [songwriter] Otis Blackwell, telling him how to sing.”
In a 2018 interview with New York magazine, he discussed his first impressions of the Beatles too — calling them “the worst musicians in the world.”
“Paul [McCartney] was the worst bass player I ever heard,” he said in 2018. “And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it.”
He told the outlet that Marlon Brando would also “f–k anything.”
Jones’ long and dynamic life saw him intersecting with various historical events. He narrowly avoided getting killed by Charles Manson’s cult in 1969, as he had planned to attend a dinner party at Sharon Tate’s home, the night of the murders.
During his glittering career, Jones produced Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album. AP“Life is a trip,” Jones said about the near-miss.
Bono also invited Jones to come along to the Vatican in 1999 to meet Pope John Paul. “All the guys in the Vatican had these Vatican black shoes,” Jones recalled to GQ, but not the pope.
“He had on some burgundy wingtips, man, with thin tan rib socks, man. We had to go and kiss his hand before we left. And when I kissed his hand, I looked down and saw those shoes and it just fell out of my mouth. I said, ‘Oh, my man’s got some pimp shoes on.’ And he heard me.”
Jones went on to produce “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which ran for 148 episodes and launched Will Smith’s career. Additionally, Jones’ company oversaw shows like the LL Cool J sitcom “In the House” as well as the long-running sketch comedy show “MadTV.”
Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of showbiz, becoming one of the first black executives among the Hollywood elite.
“The ’30s in Chicago, man. Whew. No joke,” Jones reflected to GQ.
Bono, Jones and model Naomi Campbell at the NAACP Image Awards in 2007 in Los Angeles. Getty Images for NAACP“As a young kid … my brother and I, we saw dead bodies every day,” he explained of his upbringing. “Guys hanging off of telephone poles with ice picks in their necks, man. Tommy guns and stogies, stacks of wine and liquor, big piles of money in back rooms, that’s all I ever saw. Just wanted to be that.”
At 14, Jones began playing in a band with 16-year-old Ray Charles. The duo performed in various Seattle clubs at the time. He went on to study music at Seattle University, before transferring east to continue in Boston. Eventually, Jones moved to the Big Apple, where he was rehired by the jazz bandleader Lionel Hampton.
During his early days in NYC, Jones played trumpet in Elvis Presley’s band, which led him to meet stars such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
He went on to tour with Count Basie and Hampton, before arranging records for Sinatra and Fitzgerald.
Jones and Dionne Warwick at the 1980 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Getty ImagesIn 1958, Jones was hired to conduct and arrange for Sinatra and his band by Grace Kelly, princess consort of Monaco, for a charity event.
Soon enough, he composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” and even organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration.
He and the “My Way” crooner continued collaborating until Sinatra’s final album, “LA Is My Lady,” in 1984.
Jones and Oprah Winfrey at the premiere of his new album, “Q’s Jook Joint,” at the Roseland Ballroom in 1995. FREELANCEJones also earned his stripes in the music world for his work with Jackson. He worked with the late King of Pop on “Thriller” and tracks such as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and is widely regarded as the best-selling album of all time.
In addition to Jones’ 28 Grammys, he boasted two honorary Academy Awards, and an Emmy Award for “Roots.”
He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture.
His success was highlighted in a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones,” as well as a 2018 film made by his famous daughter, actress Rashida Jones.
He was even a best-selling author thanks to his 2001 memoir.
Jones and Frank Sinatra. WireImageOscar-winning actor Michael Caine, who boasted a longstanding friendship with Jones, paid heartfelt tribute on social media to the late star Monday.
“My Celestial twin Quincy was a titan in the musical world. He was a wonderful and unique human being, lucky to have known him,” Caine wrote on X.
Whoopi Goldberg, 68, meanwhile, gave an emotional tribute on “The View.”
“I can’t even explain what’s happening in my head right now,” Goldberg said. “We just lost the extraordinary Quincy Jones, songwriter, composer, producer, he worked with everybody.”
She recalled meeting him when he composed her 1985 movie “The Color Purple.”
“What I can tell you is, in three words, is that I had no better friend, he never left, when other people were flocking away, Q stayed, and he always told me to stand my ground.”
The “Sister Act” star continued, “I do, and always will. I also want to tell people that he’s going to be receiving an honorary Oscar this year, and the last thing I’ll tell you, he’s such a prolific composer. He composed stuff you probably didn’t even know was his.”
Jones and daughter Rashida Jones at the “Celeste and Jesse Forever” dinner in 2012 in Park City, Utah. Getty Images for AcuraAs an example, she cited Jones’ 1962 composition “Soul Bossa Nova,” which Mike Myers re-popularized in the 1997 film “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.”
Actor Colman Domingo wrote on social media, “He asked, where are you from? Philly I replied, his eyes twinkled and he talked about the Uptown Theater. I was so thrilled to meet Mr. American Music himself. I literally kneeled because he was a King. Thank you Mr. Quincy Jones for giving us all the sound.”
“We have lost one of the all-time greats. The world will miss Quincy Jones. Rest my friend,” Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker wrote on X.
Jones’ long life was something of a miracle, because in 2008, he told the Hollywood Reporter that he nearly died after having two aneurysms in 1974. He even attended his own memorial service.
“I had one aneurysm that erupted and it didn’t look like I’d make it, so my friends planned a memorial service. Well, I made it, but they had the concert anyway,” he explained.
“The doctor said, ‘The good news is you lived through the first one, but you have another, and we have to go back in two months.’ He said I could go to the concert, but I couldn’t get excited. How do I not get excited looking at Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye and Billy Eckstine and Cannonball Adderley?”
The service took place at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. “The neurologist sat with me to make sure I didn’t get into trouble. I still have a great picture of Sidney Poitier and me hugging each other that night,” Jones recalled.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in Bel Air surrounded by his family. Getty Images for Entertainment StudiosQuincy Jones Productions President Adam Fell told the outlet, “This is a guy who has gotten up every time he has fallen. He just never gives up. And that, of course, leads us to continue fighting for projects that he’s passionate about doing.”
Jones was married three times, first to his high school girlfriend Jeri Caldwell. The pair divorced in 1966 and have daughter Jolie.
He then tied the knot with Ulla Andersson in 1967. The pair had a son, Quincy III, and daughter, Martina, before divorcing in 1974.
Jones went on to marry “Twin Peaks” actress Peggy Lipton.
They had two daughters: Kidada, and “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office” star Rashida. They divorced in 1989.
Jones’ final Instagram post featured a photo of him and his daughter Martina. @quincyjones/Instagram“I was married three times, man. Was told not to marry actresses or singers. I ended up with two actresses, Peggy Lipton and Nastassja Kinski. and a superstar model. I didn’t listen to all the advice,” Jones told GQ in 2018. At the time, he also told the outlet, “I got 22 girlfriends.”
Jones went on to have two more children, daughter Rachel with dancer Carol Reynolds and daughter Kenya with actress Kinski.
“When you’ve been a dog all your life, God gives you beautiful daughters and you have to suffer,” he told GQ. “I love ’em so much. They’re here all the time.”
While he never remarried, he continued to date a string of much younger women.
“I don’t regret s–t,” he told the outlet, when asked about his dating life.
Jones is survived by his seven children.
“Through it all, the greatest reward has been my seven children. They kick your ass — especially between 13 and 19, when they know everything and you don’t know anything. But you make it through,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2008. “It’s an amazing process and a great reward.”






