He was one of the rare producers whose name was known to the public: Quincy Delight Jones Jr, known as Quincy Jones, died on Sunday November 3, 2024 in Los Angeles, according to a press release from his loved ones relayed by the Associated Press agency. .
He owed his fame in particular to his collaborations with Michael Jackson, a pop icon for whom he produced, among other albums, the cult Thriller (1982). However, his career as a musician – he was an accomplished pianist and trumpeter – began in the 1950s.
Le Monde thus recalls that Quincy Jones had “grown up” with Jazz, a genre which had allowed him, through experiences in the composition, arrangement and direction of film Music and show credits and other television programs (The Iron Manthe Bill Cosby Show etc), to master the Art of musical production.
An experience forged by multiple encounters
After playing with the great trumpeter and conductor Dizzy Gillespie and the composer Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible, Starsky et Hutch etc), Quincy Jones had passed through Paris where, at just 24 years old, he had worked for artists like Henri Salvador, Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel…
Victim of a ruptured aneurysm in August 1974, he had to temporarily interrupt all professional activity… before meeting the young Michael Jackson, for whom he then produced Off the Wall (1979), premier album solo de l’ex-Jackson Five.
Success and global recognition
But the apotheosis comes with Thriller (1982), second solo album by the “little prince of pop” whose sonic signature Jones “created” and which remains, to this day, the best-selling album of all time (with more than 60 million copies ).
Since then, Quincy Jones has continued to add his highly prized “signature” to numerous albums, film scores and musical events (such as organizing the recording of We Are the World [1984]humanitarian song against famine in Ethiopia).
Our “Music” folder
The disappearance of this sacred monster of modern music, author of more than thirty albums in his own name, plunges into mourning his numerous family (he had been married three times and had become the father of seven children) and his no less numerous admirers by the world.
