On November 3rd, Quincy Jones, a monumental figure in music and pop culture for the past several decades, passed away at the age of 91.

Quincy was born on March 14th, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. When Quincy was young, his parents divorced, which caused a schizophrenic break in his mother. This ended in him and his brother getting sent to live with his grandmother.  At age 11, breaking into a recreation center and seeing a piano turned him from a life of crime to music. He started off touring, playing the trumpet with Lionel Hampton’s band. He then worked several odd jobs such as a freelance arranger, a musical director, and a beginning composer.

Jones began his composing career in the 60’s. Composing Count Basie’s I Can’t Stop Loving You earned him his first Grammy. Biography says, “At the time, he was working at Mercury Records as the label’s first Black vice president while simultaneously producing his own increasingly pop-oriented records.” Quincy went on to produce over 50 movie scores and hit pieces like Thriller and We Are The World.

In terms of Grammys, Quincy was one of the most nominated.  He won 28/80 of them, ranking 3rd in winners. After producing Aretha Franklin’s 1973 album Hey Now Hey, Quincy started his own record label, Qwest Productions. Qwest Productions eventually turned into Qwest Records, a result of a combined venture with Warner Bros. Records.

Throughout his life, he married 3 women and had 7 children. Clearly, Quincy had lots of love to share: “I encourage you all to please grow with me & keep on keepin’ on. Love, an 85-year-old bow-legged man who is still learning from his mistakes.”