Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson producer and legendary music and TV pioneer, dies at 91

Jones will be recognized with an honorary Oscar later this month.

Quincy Jones, the songwriter and music producer best known for manning the boards on Michael Jackson’s biggest hits, has died. He was 91 years old.

His publicist, Arnold Robinson, shared that Jones died in his Bel Air home Sunday night with family by his side, Associated Press reports. Jones will be recognized by the Academy Awards later this month with an honorary Oscar. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to reps for Jones.

Jones was born in Chicago, but his family moved around and eventually settled in Seattle, where he went to high school and developed a love for jazz (his instrument was the trumpet). He scored a scholarship to Seattle University and then another to Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left without his degree to tour with legendary bandleader Lionel Hampton in 1952.

Jones toured constantly throughout the rest of the ‘50s, briefly setting up shop in Paris and serving as the music director of French record label Barclay Disques. Jones later returned to America to take a job as the vice president of Mercury Records, though that job was short-lived when Jones’ score for the movie The Pawnbroker became a smash. That sent him to Los Angeles, where he focused on composing for the film world. His critically-acclaimed credits include the music for In The Heat of the Night, The Italian Job, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and The Getaway. He also remained an in-demand arranger for the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

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But Jones is almost certainly best known as a producer. He helmed all of Lesley Gore’s biggest hits (including “It’s My Party” and “You Don’t Own Me”), and later went on an unprecedented run with Michael Jackson. Jones produced Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad, some of the most critically and commercially successful pop albums in the history of the medium (and in the case of Thriller, the best-selling album of all time). The pair had met while making The Wiz, and their creative partnership proved incredibly fruitful. “To this day, the music we created together on Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all...talent, grace, professionalism and dedication,” Jones said when Jackson passed away in 2009. “He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever.”

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Jones — who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 — was also an active television and film producer. Quincy Jones Entertainment produced such TV hits as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and MadTV.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Jones was an active agent for social change: He produced “We Are the World” in support of the victims of famine in Ethiopia, and founded a number of programs and organizations to provide outreach to at-risk youth.

Jones was married three times and is survived by his seven children: Quincy Jones III; Kidada Jones; Parks and Recreation actress Rashida Jones; Kenya Kinski-Jones; Jolie Jones Levine; Martina Jones; and Rachel Jones.

Jones III shared a photo with his father on Monday, accompanied by multiple emojis, including a purple heart.

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