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    ‘We Are the World’, ‘Thriller’, more hits

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    Quincy Jones once said that his main criteria when working with an artist were compassion and excellence.

    “If they love what they do, they work hard. We came from the school where we didn’t think about money or fame, just being a great musician,” Jones said.

    The legendary producer, who played trumpet in his younger years, toured the world with the renowned Lionel Hampton and began composing film scores in 1964, achieved unparalleled output from both sides of the recording booth.

    Jones, who died Sunday at the age of 91, also broke racial boundaries in music and film and is one of the most respected music producers in music history. His skilled work and unique sound put him in the room with greats like Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, while his knack for making hits and working with Michael Jackson will forever keep him in the spotlight. wrote the pop music record books.

    Jones’ influence cannot be overstated. The most recent of his 28 Grammy Awards came in 2023, when he took into account Harry Styles’ win for ‘Harry’s House’ as album of the year. Styles’ album track “Daydreaming” contained a sample of Brothers Johnson’s 1978 song “Ain’t We Funkin’ Now”, which Jones co-wrote.

    “Never give up. And also keep the humility with the creativity. And grace with the success,” Jones told USA TODAY in 2018. “Because just because you’re behind a No. 1 record doesn’t make you better than anyone.”

    Here are some of Jones’ best-known hits.

    ‘Off the Wall’ songs ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ and ‘Rock with You’

    Jones met the eventual King of Pop when he scored the 1978 musical film “The Wiz,” starring Jackson and Diana Ross. Jones went on to produce Jackson’s album “Off the Wall” in 1979, including hit singles “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Rock with You,” “Off the Wall” and “She’s Out of My Life.” making the singer the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album reach the Top 10 list of Billboard Hot 100.

    The success of “Off the Wall” also includes songwriting contributions from Heatwave’s Rod Temperton, who invited Jones to contribute to the title track and “Rock with You.” Temperton and Jones would collaborate again on the title track and other songs on “Thriller”.

    Music titan Quincy Jones, Legendary producer of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ dies at 91

    Best-selling ‘Thriller’ with Michael Jackson

    The best-selling album of all time, 1982’s ‘Thriller’, cemented Jackson and Jones as a hit-making duo. With its groundbreaking blend of funk, pop, disco and rock – Jones recruited guitar superstar Eddie Van Halen to add the screeching solo in “Beat It” – “Thriller” re-set the bar for pop music.

    The album contained seven unprecedented hits from its nine songs (“Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “The Girl is Mine” with Paul McCartney and “PYT (Pretty Young Thing)”, which Jones co-wrote with singer/songwriter. Below them James Ingram) and remains the magnum opus of Jones and Jackson.

    Even the creepy spoken word interlude on “Thriller” from the tough horror film Vincent Price was a touch generated by Jones.

    ‘A genius has left us’: Gloria Estefan, Colman Domingo and more honor icon Quincy Jones

    Blockbuster charity single ‘We Are the World’

    Jones and Jackson’s powerful pop music partnership can also be credited to the star-studded charity anthem “We Are the World,” which earned Jones three Grammys (a fourth was awarded for Best Music Video, Short Form). The 1985 single, co-written by Jackson and Lionel Richie and co-produced by Jones and Michael Omartian, sold 20 million physical copies and is one of the best-selling singles of all time. The single, America’s answer to Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, was created to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s.

    The song featured vocal performances from dozens of singers, including Richie, Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles.

    A Netflix documentary earlier this year revealed the tick-tock of music’s most magical night, a historic gathering called “The Greatest Night in Pop.”

    Jones, who insisted that the 46 assembled music stars took their assignment seriously, posted a handwritten sign above the studio doorway, Ted Lasso-style: “Check your egos at the door.”

    Star power of ‘We are the world’ remains unparalleled: Inside the dramatic 1-night recording

    Michael Jackson’s Sharp ‘Bad’ and ‘Man in the Mirror’

    The duo’s third and final collaboration, 1987’s ‘Bad’, featured even more record-breaking songs. The sharp title track, the pop ballad ‘Man in the Mirror’, the compelling R&B hit ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’, the rock-inspired anthem ‘Dirty Diana’ and the groovy single ‘Smooth Criminal’ continued the success of the Jackson -Jones team. success. It was one of the first albums to utilize the then-new technology of digital synthesizers and lyrically delved deeper into Jackson’s escalating paranoia about the media and his dedication to world peace.

    “Bad” charted as the best-selling album worldwide in 1987 and 1988 with 17 million copies moved and led to a 123-date worldwide tour, which became the second-highest-grossing tour of the 1980s, behind Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason. .

    ‘Fly Me To the Moon’ with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie

    Jones arranged Frank Sinatra’s 1964 Count Basie-assisted album “It Might as Well Be Swing,” which included the big band singer’s version of “Fly Me To the Moon.” The single is closely associated with NASA’s Apollo space program, played during the Apollo 10 mission in lunar orbit and on Apollo 11 before the first moon landing.

    Lesley Gore’s hit ‘It’s My Party’

    Jones produced Lesley Gore’s 1963 debut album, ‘I’ll Cry If I Want To’, including the lead single and her first hit, ‘It’s My Party’. Jones was instrumental in the melodic handclapper becoming a hit when he emailed it to radio programmers across the country asking them to play. Jones and Gore forged a pleasant partnership when he produced her 1964 follow-up albums “Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts,” “Boys, Boys, Boys” and “Girl Talk” and “My Town, My Guy & Me.” “from 1965.

    ‘ET Phone Home’ from Spielberg’s ‘ET the Extra-Terrestrial’

    Jones is not only known for the production of pop and jazz music. The hitmaker was also often called upon as a film composer and producer of film soundtracks, with Sidney Lumet’s ‘The Pawnbroker’ his first in 1964. Jones’ film credits include the storybook album for Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic ‘ET the Extra-Terrestrial’, where Jones appeared as producer served while John Williams composed and wrote original music and Jackson narrated. The album contains the famous recording “ET Phone Home”.

    ‘Ease On Down The Road’ from cult classic ‘The Wiz’

    The soundtrack to “The Wizard of Oz,” the reimagined version of “The Wiz,” was actually more successful than the 1978 cult classic, a film adaptation of the 1975 play. “Ease On Down The Road” is an original from the play, by Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross, but was produced by Jones and sung by Ross and Jackson in the film.

    The single, which marked one of the first collaborations between Jackson and Jones, earned Jackson his first solo Grammy nomination – without his family band, The Jacksons – with Ross.

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