On November 3, legendary music producer Quincy Jones passed away at 91 years old.
Jones’ impact on the music, film, and art world can not be overstated.
Across seven decades, Jones produced some of the world’s most popular records and composed over 35 film scores. He worked with countless icons in the industry including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Lesley Gore, and Michael Jackson.
He broke records throughout his life, not just as a best-selling music producer but as an activist. In 1995, he became the first African American to receive the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Jones’ career as an activist and humanitarian extends back to the Civil Rights era, and he often cited Martin Luther King Jr. as an inspiration.
“I had the tremendous honor of meeting Martin Luther King Jr. at Jackie Robinson's house in 1955, and from then on, my life was never the same,” Jones wrote on his Facebook page in 2019.
“Civil rights work and political involvement was no longer an activity to do on the side,” he continued. “It became an essential part of life and humanity.”
At the height of the George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, Jones maintained his position as an activist against racism and oppression, saying that hatred could not go ignored.
“People have been turning their heads the other way, but it’s all the same to me — misogyny, racism,” Jones told the Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “You have to be taught how to hate somebody. It doesn’t come naturally, I don’t think.”
Jones’ strong sense of justice and equality led him to pursue a number of charitable efforts.
In 1985, Jones produced and conducted the charity single “We Are the World,” a celebrity-stuffed spectacle that raised over $80 million for famine relief and humanitarian causes throughout Africa — and continues raising money today.
In 2010, on the 25th anniversary of the song’s release, Jones re-recorded “We Are the World” with a new ensemble to raise funds for earthquake relief in Haiti.
A year later in 2011, Jones then worked with the Jazz Foundation of America to financially support elderly jazz musicians who had been injured and displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Throughout his life, Jones championed a number of nonprofits and foundations that were close to his heart: We Are The Future, NAACP, GLAAD, and Healthcorps.
Jones was also a vocal proponent of inclusion and advocacy for all children, regardless of race, disability, background, or income.
In the 1970s, Jones formed the Quincy Jones Workshops to provide free music education and songwriting lessons to inner-city youth.
In 2001, he created the Listen Up Foundation to connect kids in underserved communities to music and STEM programs and built more than 100 homes in remote regions of South Africa.
As his nonprofit grew, he was particularly fascinated by the way that music therapy could benefit children who were neurodivergent.
“Music always engages the left and right sides of the brain,” Jones told Ability Magazine in 2011. “You’ve got emotion and intellect at work at all times, and that makes it easy to learn everything else. I’m a strong advocate of having music connected to your life. It’ll turn you upside-down. I see people with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder (ADD) benefiting from it.”
One of Jones’ most consistent philanthropic ties was his work in Down syndrome advocacy.
After his friend’s granddaughter was born with Down syndrome, he served as a spokesperson for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome — the latter of which was the first institute of its kind to provide research and care for people with Down syndrome.
In 2008, the institute established the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award as a nod to Jones’ humanitarian efforts.
“I believe from the bottom of my heart that every child on this planet has something to offer mankind,” Jones said when receiving his award. “And they can soar to the highest mountain tops if they are given the opportunity to do so.”
Since his passing, friends, family, and colleagues reached out to pay tribute to the star, speaking to his generosity and spirit.
“Quincy Jones was so much more than just a musical genius,” actress and activist Lee Grant wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He was a raconteur, film artist, and a good man. We were very lucky to have had him.”
“An icon, a legend, but most of all a beautiful spirit. It’s too many stories to share but I will cherish them forever,” Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds wrote on Instagram. “Rest easy my friend.”
“He gave so much to the world,” Barbra Streisand wrote on Instagram, beneath a picture of her and Jones embracing. “I will miss you so much my dear friend.”
Header image via Los Angeles Times (CC BY 4.0)
