Quincy Jones, the music legend who worked with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles, dies aged 91

4 November 2024, 08:18 | Updated: 4 November 2024, 13:02

The music producer and composer died at home surrounded by his family.

Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91.

The music legend, who worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles, died at home surrounded by his family, his publicist confirmed.

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In a statement, his family said: "Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones' passing.

"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."

With a career that spanned seven decades, Quincy worked with some of the biggest names in music.

His producing credits included records with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as overseeing the recording of the 1985 charity record 'We Are The World'.

'We Are The World' was co-written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, the artist with whom Quincy Jones is most closely associated.

Together with the performer himself, Jones produced Jackson's peerless trilogy of albums that made him a superstar – Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad.

Quincy | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

Born in 1933 in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Jones first rose to fame in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor, working on albums by Ray Charles among others.

He would go on to work on pop music and film scores, and became the first African American to get a Best Original Song nod at the Academy Awards for 'The Eyes of Love' from Banning.

Quincy's first major score was for Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker in 1964, and he also scored two of the biggest films of 1967 – In the Heat of the Night and Truman Copote’s In Cold Blood.

His 1962 track 'Soul Bossa Nova' enjoyed a second life when it was heavily used in the Austin Powers movies.

Jones's production on pop hits included classics like Lesley Gore's 'It's My Party', and albums by everyone from Aretha Franklin, Rufus & Chaka, Billy Preston, Little Richard, Donna Summer and countless others.

Quincy was nominated for 80 Grammy Awards across his 70-year career, winning a massive 28.

In his personal life, Quincy had seven children with five different women and was married three times.

He was married first to Jeri Caldwell between 1957 and 1966, with whom he had one daughter, Jolie.

Jones then wed Swedish star Ulla Anderson in 1967, with whom he had a daughter Martina and son named Quincy.

The day after Quincy and Ulla divorced, he married actress Peggy Lipton, with whom he already had a daughter Kidada. They had another daughter, Rashida, before divorcing in 1990.

Quincy later cohabited with German actress Nastassja Kinski from 1991 to 1995, and they had a daughter, Kenya, together.

Since news of his passing broke, tributes have flown in to Jones across social media from fans of music, film and the wider world of entertainment.