Quincy Jones fortune

Short introduction

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. can look back on an impressive musical career: He not only wrote numerous mega hits as a composer, but also made a name for himself as a trumpeter and band leader. The greatest fame, however, stems from Jones’ activity as a producer: he was the producer of Michael Jackson and produced for the King Of Pop his legendary albums such as “Thriller”, “Bad” or “Off The Wall”.

Early life

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago and grew up there with his younger brother as the son of a semi-professional baseball player. His mother often sang religious songs to him and he constantly listened to the piano music of his neighbor, these were the first points of musical contact for the man who later became one of the most influential musicians in the world. After the separation of the parents, Quincy moved with his father and his new wife to Seattle (Washington), where he also met Ray Charles as a teenager, who inspired him musically. He developed his musical skills as a trumpeter and arranger and at the age of 17 won a scholarship for the Berklee College of Music. He stayed there for only a year, however, when the famous Lionel Hampton brought him into his band as a trumpeter, which started Quincy Jones’ professional career. He moved to New York and made a name for himself early as an arranger.

Career

After Quincy Jones became better known for his remarkable arrangements for Count Basie or Sarah Vaughn, among others, the great Dizzy Gillespie brought him into his band as conductor. In 1957 Jones received his first record deal with the label ABC Paramount and recorded the long player “This I How I Feel About Jazz”. In 1957 he went to France and lived in Paris, where he not only improved his musical skills, but also conducted the orchestra for Frank Sinatra at a gala concert in Monaco. This was the beginning of a decades-long intensive collaboration between Quincy Jones and Frankie-Boy Sinatra. Jones also made a name for himself as a band leader and toured the world with his own big band for years.

In 1961 he was finally appointed artistic director of the Mercury label. This was all the more important since he was the first African-American to work in the management of one of the big labels.

Career highlights

He won his first Grammy in 1963 for an arrangement for Count Basie. He had finally arrived in the top musical class. In total, 27 more Grammies should follow this Grammy. While working for Mercury, he not only produced jazz music, but also many soundtracks and more and more pop music, and worked with artists such as Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. In the late 1970s he met Michael Jackson. This started a great collaboration. Jones produced MJ’s major albums such as “Bad” or “Thriller”, which, with over 100 million units sold, is the best-selling album of all time. After these three albums, the successful collaboration between the two exceptional artists ended.
In the years that followed, Quincy Jones produced many more successful albums, composed film scores such as “The Color Purple”, which was nominated for an Oscar, and released his own albums. In 1985 he reached another musical milestone when he produced the song “We are the world”, which grossed over $ 50 million for an aid fund for Africa and became one of the most successful songs in music history.

He also worked with Miles Davis. At the Montreux Festival, the two legends stood together on the stage for the first and only time, just months before Miles Davis died.

With 28 Grammy Awards, Quincy Jones ranks second on the all-time list of Grammy legends behind Sir Georg Solti. He was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame and also received an honorary Oscar for his musical work in the field of film music.

Famous quotes

Quincy Jones has been a hard and disciplined musician all his life, following his father’s motto, “Once a task is just begun, never leave until it’s done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all ”. This motto gave him the strength to do his musical work with absolute dedication and to create such a variety of musical masterpieces. His quote about the creation of good music is also legendary: “You can study orchestration, you can learn harmony and music theory and everything else… but melodies come directly from God!”

Amazing facts

In 1974, Quincy Jones was diagnosed with brain aneurysms and had a very poor life forecast. It was so bad that his friends and family were already holding a dress rehearsal for his memorial service. Even though he was in very bad physical shape, he took part himself.

And although Jones was a fervent admirer of Michael Jackson, he hated his animal collection and zoo. Jackson had the habit of bringing his giant snake into the studio and letting it crawl freely – much to the uneasiness of the producer.