Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American musician, master trumpeter, arranger, producer, film score composer, and entertainment organizer. He has devoted more than fifty years to the American music and entertainment industry. Throughout this extraordinary career, he has received more than seventy Grammy Award nominations, won twenty-six Grammy Awards, and was honored with the Grammy Living Legend Award at the 1991 ceremony. Jones is the producer of two of the best-selling albums in world history: Thriller by Michael Jackson, which reached 104 million copies in sales, and the global charity single We Are the World, created to support impoverished communities in Africa.

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Known to those close to him simply as “Q,” Jones moved at the age of ten with his father and stepmother to Bremerton, a small suburb of Seattle, Washington. His deep connection to music began in elementary school with the trumpet. Although he experimented with many instruments, he ultimately committed himself to the trumpet. By the age of twelve, he was reading verses from the Bible while developing his instrumental skills, and during this time he befriended a pianist and singer only three years older than himself, Ray Charles. The two young musicians began performing together in small clubs and at wedding events.

In 1951, at the age of eighteen, Jones received a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Despite continuing his education at this prestigious institution, he made the sudden decision to leave school when legendary bandleader Lionel Hampton invited him to join his orchestra as a trumpeter on tour. During this period, Jones’s innovative arrangements attracted attention, and he continued working with Hampton as a freelance arranger.

By the mid-1950s, Jones relocated to New York, where he began arranging music for major artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Cannonball Adderley, and his longtime friend Ray Charles. By this stage, Jones had become a highly sought-after and respected musician.

In 1956, Jones joined Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra as trumpeter and music director on a Middle East and South America tour sponsored by the United States Department of State. Upon returning, he signed with ABC Paramount Records, became conductor of his own orchestra, and began recording his first albums. The following year, he married Jeri Caldwell and moved to Paris to continue his musical education. There, he studied composition and theory under legendary teachers such as Nadia Boulanger, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland. At the same time, he served as music director for Barclay Disques, the French distributor of Mercury Records, producing recordings for artists including Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, Henri Salvador, and Andy Williams.

During his years in Paris, Jones conducted numerous European jazz orchestras and served as musical director for Harold Arlen’s jazz production Free and Easy. In 1960, he completed a highly successful tour that concluded at the Paris Olympic Stadium. However, in 1961, after organizing a North American and European tour with his own eighteen-piece orchestra, financial difficulties emerged despite artistic success. Jones was rescued from financial collapse by Irving Green, president of Mercury Records, who not only provided financial support but appointed Jones as Vice President and Director of Music for Mercury’s New York operations. This marked the first time an African American held such a senior executive position at a major record label.

That same year, Jones broke another social barrier by entering the film music industry, a field largely closed to African Americans at the time. At the invitation of director Sidney Lumet, he composed the iconic score for The Pawnbroker, the first and most famous of his thirty-three film soundtracks. Following the film’s success, Jones left Mercury and moved to Los Angeles, continuing his work as a film composer. After scoring The Slender Thread starring Sidney Poitier, he became one of the most in-demand composers in Hollywood.

Throughout the 1960s, Jones composed scores for numerous films, including Walk, Don’t Run, In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Cactus Flower, The Getaway, The Color Purple, and The Wiz. He also composed music for television, including theme scores for Ironside, Sanford and Son, and The Bill Cosby Show, earning Emmy Awards for his work.

In 1964, Jones won his first Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his arrangement of “I Can’t Stop Loving You” for Count Basie. After divorcing Jeri Caldwell in 1966, he spent three years as arranger and conductor for Frank Sinatra and worked with artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Dinah Washington. In 1967, he married Ulla Andersson and reunited with Count Basie to arrange the legendary “Fly Me to the Moon,” which was famously played when Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon in 1969.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Jones was deeply involved in social responsibility initiatives, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Operation Breadbasket. After King’s assassination, he continued this work through Jesse Jackson’s organization, PUSH. Jones also supported the Institute for Black American Music (IBAM) and was among the founders of Chicago’s annual Black Arts Festival.

Between 1969 and 1981, Jones produced numerous Grammy-winning albums and shifted toward R&B and soul music infused with strong jazz foundations. Albums such as Walking in Space, Gula Matari, Smackwater Jack, and Ndeda reflected this era. His 1973 album You’ve Got It Bad, Girl showcased his vocal talents, while Body Heat (1974) achieved global success, selling over one million copies. That same year, Jones suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm, undergoing two major surgeries before making a full recovery.

In 1978, while composing the music for The Wiz, Jones met Michael Jackson and agreed to produce his first solo album. This collaboration resulted in Off the Wall, which sold over thirty million copies and launched Jackson’s global solo career. Their partnership reached historic heights with Thriller (1982), the best-selling album of all time, followed by the charity anthem We Are the World, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. In 1987, Jones produced Jackson’s final solo collaboration with him, Bad, which sold over thirty million copies.

Jones also expanded into film production, serving as associate producer on The Color Purple (1985), directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from Alice Walker’s novel. The film earned eleven Academy Award nominations and solidified Jones’s reputation as a powerful force beyond music.

In the 1990s, Jones founded major entertainment ventures, including Quincy Jones Entertainment (QJE) and Qwest Records & Broadcasting. He produced influential television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched Will Smith’s acting career, as well as In the House and MADtv. He also published magazines including Vibe, Spin, and Blaze.

In 2001, Jones published his autobiography Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. Through his Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, he supported global humanitarian efforts, including housing initiatives linked to Nelson Mandela and the large-scale charity concert We Are the Future, held in Rome in 2004.

Over his lifetime, Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. has become the most Grammy-nominated artist in history, with seventy-seven nominations and twenty-six wins. He has also received an Emmy Award, seven Academy Award nominations, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and numerous honorary doctorates from institutions including Harvard, Seattle, New York, and Connecticut universities. He has seven children, six daughters and one son, and continues to be an enduring cultural icon whose influence spans music, film, television, and global humanitarian work.

Source: Biyografiler.com