Quincy Jones is a renowned American singer and music producer. After spending six decades in the entertainment industry, it’s safe to say Quincy Jones has seen it all. Q , as he is affectionately called by his friends and colleagues, has been nominated for the Grammys for a record 80 times, of which he has won 28 of those nominations. In 1992, he received the Grammy Legend Award, which gave him a huge contribution to the music industry.
His long career in music has seen him work with other artists such as Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, the Johnson Brothers, Karina Pasian, Lesley Gore, etc.
After a long career in music, Jones was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. He was later named by Times Magazine as the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century in September 2014. .
Biography of Quincy Jones
Jones was born on March 14, 1933 to a professional baseball player, Quincy Delight Jones Snr. and his wife, Sarah Frances, who was a bank officer and apartment manager. He was born and raised in Chicago.
Jones had a troubled childhood. His mother suffered from schizophrenic depression when he was still very young, which eventually led to his parents’ separation. After the divorce, he stayed with his father and they moved around a lot, first to Bremerton, Washington, then to Seattle after the war. It was in Seattle that Jones attended Garfield High School and later gained admission to Seattle University on a scholarship. He didn’t spend much time there before moving to Berklee College of Music, Boston, for another scholarship. However, in order to pursue his musical career, he dropped out of college and agreed to turn pro.
His first influence in music was his mother and his neighbor, Lucy Jackson. However, he admitted that his important musical influences were Bunny Campbell and Preston Sandiford. Quincy Jones was crazy enough about music to drop out of school for it. He toured with Lionel Hampton when he was 19. It gave him the visibility he needed as a musician, but also a new perspective on racism.
He continued to collaborate and tour with other musicians until 1960, when he decided to captain his own ship. He then formed his own group “The Jones Boys”, which had 18 members. The band got a lot of feedback and great reviews from their tours in North America and Europe. However, the earnings were not enough to sustain the band. So the band broke up. This put Jones in a very bad financial state.
The tide changed for Quincy Jones when he became the first African American to be promoted to Vice President of Mercury. This allowed him to write songs for films. He composed soundtracks for over 40 films including The Pawnbroker (1964), In Cold Blood (1967), Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970), The Roots (1977), The Color Purple (1985).
During his long career, he produced Michael Jackson’s album, On the Wall, in 1979. The album made Jones a very famous producer at the time, selling over 20 million copies. The duo continued their partnership which resulted in Thriller (the best-selling album of all time, with 110 million copies sold), and Evil (selling over 45 million copies). The partnership died naturally because of Jones’ schedule.
What is his net worth?
During his years as a singer, producer, composer, song arranger, and bandleader, he amassed a net worth of $400 million. He is also involved in numerous charitable and philanthropic activities. He produced and directed the 1985 charity song, We Are the World, which raised money for famine victims in Ethiopia.
Relationships: husband or wife and children
Quincy Jones has had his fair share of being married many times. He had also been involved in two non-marital relationships.
He married his first wife, Jeri Caldwell, in 1957. The marriage only lasted nine years and they divorced in 1966. Soon after the divorce, Jones was romantically involved with Carol Reynolds. However, they only spent a few months together.
A year after divorcing Jeri, he walked down the aisle with a beautiful Swedish actress and model, Ulla Anderson. It took only seven years for his union with Ulla to separate.
Shortly after his second divorce, he met Peggy Lipton. The marriage took the same path with the first two but lasted a bit longer.
After the third divorce, he had an affair with an actress, Nastassja Kinski. They dated for 4 years (between 1991 and 1995).
Quincy Jones has seven children from five wives. Jeri gave birth to a daughter, Jolie Levine (who married American record producer Stewart Levine). Carol gave birth to Rachel Jones. Ulla gave birth to a daughter, Martina Jones, and a son, Quincy Jones III. Peggy had two daughters, Kidada and Rashida Jones (both of whom took after their mother as actresses). Nastassja had a daughter for Jones, Kenya Jones.
