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Quincy Delight Jones, Jr., b. Chicago, Mar.
14, 1933, is a prolific pop-soul composer, arranger, conductor,
instrumentalist, and producer. He began (1950s) as a trumpeter
with Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, then briefly toured
(1960-61) with his own band, the Free and Easy Musicians.
After his band failed financially, Jones joined (1961) Mercury
Records as a musical director, soon becoming (1964) vice-president
and the first black to hold a high executive position in a
white-owned record company. Jones broke another color barrier
when he scored the music for a major Hollywood film, The Pawnbroker
(1964); he has since scored more than 50 films, including
In Cold Blood (1967), The Wiz (1978), and The Color Purple
(1985), a film which he also produced. He has also written
themes for numerous television shows, such as "Ironside,"
"Sanford and Son," and "Roots" (1977).
Jones produced Michael Jackson's Off the Wall (1978), and
coproduced Jackson's 1982 album Thriller, which became the
top-selling album of all time. In 1985, he produced the American
hunger-relief anthem "We Are the World," sung by
the all-star group USA for Africa, which raised millions of
dollars for famine relief in Africa. Jones has won dozens
of Grammy Awards, including 8 for his 1990 all-star album,
Back on the Block.
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