Quincy Jones net worth in 2023 Career & Relationship

Estimated value:	€160 million
Age:	89
Born:	03/14/1933
Country of origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	Singer
Last updated:	2021

Short introduction

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. can look back on an impressive musical career: not only has he written numerous mega hits as a composer, but he has also made a name for himself as a trumpeter and bandleader. However, Jones is best known for being a producer: he was the producer of Michael Jackson and produced legendary albums such as “Thriller”, “Bad” or “Off The Wall” for the King Of Pop.

early life

Quincy Jones was born and raised in Chicago with his younger brother, the son of a semi-professional baseball player. His mother often sang religious songs to him and he constantly listened to his neighbor’s piano music, these were the first musical points of contact for the man who would later become one of the most influential musicians in the world. After his parents separated, Quincy moved to Seattle (Washington) with his father and his new wife, where he met Ray Charles as a teenager, who greatly inspired him musically. He continued to develop his musical skills as a trumpeter and arranger, and at the age of 17 won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. He only stayed there for a year, then the famous Lionel Hampton brought him into his band as a trumpeter, which was the beginning of Quincy Jones’ professional career. He moved to New York and early on made a name for himself as an arranger.

Career

After Quincy Jones became better and better known for his remarkable arrangements for Count Basie and Sarah Vaughn, among others, the great Dizzy Gillespie brought him into his band as orchestra leader. In 1957 Jones received his first record deal with the ABC Paramount label and recorded the long player This I How I Feel About Jazz. In 1957 he went to France and lived in Paris where he not only honed his musical skills but also conducted the orchestra for Frank Sinatra at a gala concert in Monaco. This marked the beginning of decades of intense collaboration between Quincy Jones and Frankie-Boy Sinatra. Jones also made a name for himself as a bandleader and spent years touring the world’s major concert halls with his own big band.

In 1961 he was finally appointed artistic director of the Mercury label. That was all the more important because he was the first African-American to work in the executive ranks of a major label.

Career highlights

He won his first Grammy in 1963 for an arrangement for Count Basie. He had finally arrived in the musical upper class. A total of 27 other Grammies were to follow this Grammy. While working for Mercury, he not only produced jazz music, but also many soundtracks and more and more pop music, and worked with artists such as Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. In the late 1970s he met Michael Jackson. This started a great collaboration. Jones produced the big MJ albums like “Bad” or “Thriller”, which has the title of the best-selling album of all time with over 100 million units sold. After these three albums, the successful collaboration between the two exceptional artists ended.
In the years that followed, Quincy Jones produced many more successful albums, composed film scores such as “The Color Purple”, which was nominated for an Oscar, and released his own albums. In 1985, he achieved another musical milestone when he produced the song “We Are the World,” which grossed over $50 million for a charity fund for Africa and became one of the most successful songs in music history.

He also worked with Miles Davis. The two legends shared the same stage for the first and only time at the Montreux Festival, just months before Miles Davis died.

With 28 Grammy awards, Quincy Jones is second only to Sir Georg Solti on the all-time list of Grammy legends. He was inducted into the Dance Music Hall Of Fame and also received an honorary Oscar for his musical work in the field of film music.

Famous quotes

Quincy Jones has been a hard and disciplined musician all his life, following his father’s motto which was “Once a task is just begun, never leave until it’s done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all”. This motto gave him the strength to do his musical work with absolute dedication and to create such a multitude of musical masterpieces. His quote about the making of good music is also legendary: “You can study orchestration, you can learn harmony and music theory and everything else … but melodies come directly from God!”

Amazing Facts

In 1974, Quincy Jones was diagnosed with brain aneurysms and had a very poor life prognosis. It was so bad that his friends and family were already holding a dress rehearsal for his memorial service. Although he was in very poor physical condition, he took part in it himself.

And although Jones was an ardent admirer of Michael Jackson, he hated his animal collection and zoo. Jackson had a habit of bringing his giant snake into the studio and letting it crawl freely – much to the producer’s discomfort.

Estimated value:	€160 million