Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic Thriller album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for Roots and In the Heat of the Night, organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of We Are the World, the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote We Are the World and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
