Tributes are pouring in for music titan Quincy Jones, who died at the age of 91, leaving behind a legacy that fans say will live on forever.
The Michael Jackson Thriller album producer died Sunday evening surrounded by his family at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, but no cause of death has yet been given.
Jones’ family, including his actress daughter Rashida Jones, who played Karen Filippelli on The Office, said in a statement: “Tonight, it is with complete but broken hearts that we share the news of the passing of our father and brother Quincy Jones.
“And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the amazing life he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Now, fans around the world have flooded social media with their personal tributes to Jones, who left an incredible legacy in the music industry.
Tributes are pouring in for Quincy Jones who died Sunday evening surrounded by family at his Los Angeles home. Pictured: Jones attends Byron Allen’s Fourth Annual Oscar Gala for Benefit Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, on February 9, 2020
Michael Jackson with Quincy Jones at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February 1984. Jones died Sunday evening at his home at the age of 91.
Quincy Jones collaborates with Michael Jackson and Steven Spielberg on the ET soundtrack in 1982
Jones with Frank Sinatra at the 21st Annual Scopus Awards on January 13, 1991 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California
One devastated fan wrote: ‘Farewell to Quincy Jones, the architect behind Thriller. His work with Michael Jackson redefined pop music and shaped generations. Your legacy lives on. Rest in peace, Quincy.
Another said: ‘RIP Quincy Jones. Thank you for everything you have brought to the music world. Your legacy will live on forever.
‘RIP Quincy Jones. Now let’s talk about legends here. The ultimate music producer, writer and composer. The BIGGEST! There will never be enough room here for a tribute to his career and achievements, this guy shaped modern music and his legacy will be there forever and ever,” wrote a third.
A fan shared on X/Twitter a 1983 song produced by Jones and performed by James Ingram and Patti Austin, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing.”
‘My tribute to one of the greatest songwriters, arrangers and producers, Quincy Jones, who has passed away at the age of 91. This song was released in 1982 on Qwest Records, produced by Quincy from the movie Best Friends. Such a beautiful song,” they wrote.
Author of The History of Jazz and Delta Blues Ted Gioia also shared a heartfelt message following Jones’ death.
“RIP Quincy Jones, who leaves us at the age of 91,” he said.
‘No musician of his generation moved so effortlessly and brilliantly between styles and settings – collaborating with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson to Miles Davis. What a remarkable career!’
X/Twitter users flooded the platform with their tributes to the late music producer
According to one heartbroken fan, the producer was called a ‘titan’ of the industry
One fan said Jones’ legacy will ‘be there forever and ever’
Another social media user shared a 1982 song produced by Jones
Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones during the ‘We Are The World 25 Years for Haiti’ recording session at Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood in February 2010
President Barack Obama presents a National Medal of Arts to Quincy Jones at the White House in March 2011
Quincy Jones at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards in New York in February 1991
‘RIP Quincy Jones When he wasn’t making groundbreaking albums with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, he was scoring films. In the Heat of the Night, The Italian Job, The Getaway and this, 1962’s Soul Bossa Nova that Austin Powers inherited. A legend is over,” the BAFTA award-winning TV and film editor tells The Sting.
Added another: “RIP Quincy Jones, who defined the highest level of musical genius for five generations.
‘Perhaps the greatest producer and soundtrack composer of all time. The most quotable, the coolest, who created everything from Thriller to Vibe to the Fresh Prince. Who has done it all, better than anyone else’.
The music sensation rose to the top of show business when he became one of the first black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amass an extraordinary musical catalog.
He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and composed soundtracks for Roots and In The Heat Of The Night.
Jones organized then-President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of We Are The World in 1985 for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote We Are the World and was one of the singers on the charity record, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
He will probably be best remembered for his productions with Jackson, where his versatility and imagination showcased the singer’s talents as he transformed from child star to the ‘King of Pop’.
For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches came from Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-melting “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a creepy voiceover on the title track.
Author of The History of Jazz and Delta Blues Ted Gioia called Jones’ career “remarkable”
BAFTA award-winning TV editor The Sting paid tribute to the ‘legend’ on X
Jones “did it all, better than anyone,” said one fan
Quincy Jones and his wife Peggy Lipton hold Jones’ star, which was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in March 1980
Sir Elton John and Quincy Jones at the singer’s AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in West Hollywood in February 2019
Quincy Jones and Eddie Murphy at San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood in October 2019
Quincy Jones and Naomi Campbell at the American Icon Awards Gala in Los Angeles in May 2019
‘Thriller’ sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and competed with the Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits 1971-1975’ as the best-selling album of all time.
‘If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producer’s fault’; so if it goes well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in a 2016 interview with the Library of Congress.
‘The numbers don’t just appear all at once. The producer must have the skills, experience and ability to see the vision through to completion.”
As a music manager, Jones overcame racial barriers in the early 1960s to become vice president at Mercury Records.
In 1971, he became the first black music director at the Academy Awards.
The first film he produced, ‘The Color Purple’, received eleven Oscar nominations in 1986, but to his great disappointment no wins.
He has worked with jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, rappers such as Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J, crooners such as Sinatra and Tony Bennett, pop singers such as Lesley Gore, rhythm and blues stars such as Chaka Khan, and rapper and singer Queen Latifah.
Jones was also an enabler and creator of stars. He gave Will Smith a major break in the hit TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which Jones produced, and introduced Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg to moviegoers through “The Color Purple.”
From the 1960s onwards he composed more than 35 film scores, including for ‘The Pawnbroker’, ‘In the Heat of the Night’ and ‘In Cold Blood’.
The list of awards and accolades spans 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q,” including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.”