Quincy Jones: The Unseen Hand

Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Sir Paul McCartney, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin all have one thing in common: they were produced by Quincy Jones, who has sadly passed away at 91, leaving behind a legacy filled with enough accomplishments to fill multiple lifetimes.

Born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Quincy Jones initially aspired to be a gangster, influenced by his rough neighborhood and the challenges he faced after his mother was institutionalized. After moving to Bremerton, Washington, he discovered his passion for music while sneaking into a community center for food and coming across a piano.

By age 13, he was playing jazz and rhythm-and-blues in nightclubs, where he would be discovered and mentored by music legends. As a young man surrounded by the legends of his time, Jones remarked that he would “sit down, shut up, and listen,” quietly taking in invaluable lessons that he knew he couldn’t find elsewhere. Although he received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, he chose to tour with Lionel Hampton’s jazz band instead.

Reflecting on his life’s journey, Jones wrote, “Music was the one thing I could control… It was the one world that offered me freedom.” Quincy Jones eventually became one of the first Black executives at a white-owned record company when he joined Mercury Records in the early 1960s.

U2 frontman Bono would call Jones “the coolest person I’ve ever met.”

Later, Jones found his footing in the television and film industry, composing theme music for “The Bill Cosby Show” and writing scores for films like “In the Heat of the Night,” among others.

However, one could argue it was his work with Michael Jackson that immortalized Jones in music history. “Everybody said, ‘You can’t make Michael any bigger than he was in the Jackson 5,’” Jones recalled. “I said, ‘We’ll see.’” Their first collaboration, Off the Wall, was a record breaker, featuring hit singles like “Rock With You” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” and it won three Grammys.

The follow-up? Thriller.

Tributes are flowing in, with Sir Paul McCartney stating on Instagram, “We always had fun in his presence, and his legend will continue through the years, but it is those private moments we were lucky enough to have with the great man that I will always remember fondly.”

The Weeknd, who credited Jones’s work as a major influence and collaborated with him on 2019’s “A Tale By Quincy,” posted a heartfelt message on Twitter that spanned two full pages, thanking Jones for being “the fabric of my music.”

Michael Jackson’s Estate has as well commented, saying, “What [their] decade-long partnership produced is unmatched and includes the biggest selling album of all time.”