Music Legend Quincy Jones, Who Once Recorded Live Rose Bowl Album, Dead at 91

Funeral services were pending today for music legend Quincy Jones, who worked for artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson.

Jones died on Sunday surrounded by his family.

Jones won 28 Grammy Awards, two honorable Academy Awards, an Emmy Award for “Roots” and France’s Legion d’Honneur. He was honored with the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture.

He was a best-selling author, the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by his daughter Rashida Jones.

During the 1982 Superfest at the Rose Bowl, Jones recorded “Quincy Jones and Friends,” which included performances legendary musicians Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.

Copies of the album were selling for over $30 on Ebay on Monday.

“Mr. Jones was surrounded by his children, his siblings, and close family at the time of his death,” His publicist Arnold Robinson said. “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing.

“And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him. He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created.”

“Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”

No further details will be released at this time, the statement said.

Jones was born in Chicago in 1933 and won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Jones worked as a freelance composer, conductor, arranger and producer. As a teenager, he backed Billie Holiday and by his mid-20s, he was touring with his own band.

He became vice president at Mercury Records in the early 1960s, breaking racial barriers pursuing a career as a music executive.

He became the first Black music director for the Academy Awards ceremony in 1971. “The Color Purple,” the first movie he produced, received 11 Oscar nominations in 1986, but didn’t win any awards. He created Quincy Jones Entertainment in a partnership with Time Warner. It included pop-culture magazine Vibe and Qwest Broadcasting. The company was sold in 1999 for $270 million.

He worked as an activist supporting HIV and AIDS campaigns, educating children and providing for the poor around the world. He founded the Quincy Jones Listen Up! Foundation to connect young people with music, culture and technology.

“Life is like a dream, the Spanish poet and philosopher Federico Garcia Lorca said,” Jones wrote in his memoir. “Mine’s been in Technicolor, with full Dolby sound through THX amplification before they knew what these systems were.”

“Mr. Jones’ family is grateful for the outpouring of condolences from his friends and fans from around the world and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning,” the statement said.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to The Jazz Foundation of America — jazzfoundation.org.

Flowers will be placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for Jones on Monday at 1 p.m. Jones’ star was dedicated on March 14, 1980, and is at 1500 Vine St. near Sunset Boulevard.

Jones was previously scheduled to receive an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Honorary Award on Nov. 17.

The award honors “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences of any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.” In 1994, he received the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was nominated for seven Oscars in his career, for films including “In Cold Blood,” “The Wiz” and “The Color Purple.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement saying, “A titan of music, culture, and philanthropy, Quincy Jones brought the world endless joy with his optimistic spirit and colossal imagination. Not a day goes by without hearing a masterpiece that Quincy produced or hearing about the good he created with his generous heart.”

Jones is survived by daughters Rashida Jones, Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Kidada Jones and Kenya Kinski-Jones; son Quincy Jones III; brother Richard Jones and sisters Theresa Frank and Margie Jay.