60 Fun Facts About Quincy Jones

In which city was Quincy Jones born in 1933?

His family later moved to Bremerton and then Seattle, where he took up the trumpet.

How many Grammy Awards did Quincy Jones win over his career?

He also won a Primetime Emmy and a Tony, and was nominated for seven Oscars.

Which three Michael Jackson albums did Quincy Jones produce?

Bad, which sold 35 million copies, was the last time they worked together.

Jones and Michael Jackson first worked together on which 1978 musical film?

Jackson asked Jones to recommend a producer for his solo album, and Jones offered himself.

Roughly how many copies did Thriller sell, making it the best-selling album of all time?

Off the Wall sold about 20 million and Bad about 35 million.

Which 1985 charity single did Jones produce and conduct for Ethiopian famine relief?

He taped a sign on the studio door reading "Check Your Ego at the Door".

What sign did Jones tape to the studio entrance for the "We Are the World" session?

He also insisted nobody wear a tuxedo to "make a hunger record".

Who wrote "We Are the World"?

They finished it the night before the January 28, 1985 recording session.

Which activist-entertainer's idea for an American Band Aid led to 'We Are the World'?

Manager Ken Kragen then enlisted Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers.

Whose 1963 hit "It's My Party" gave Jones his first No. 1 record as a producer?

He produced all four of her million-selling singles, including "You Don't Own Me".

In 1961 Jones became the first African American vice-president of which record label?

Its boss Irving Green had bailed him out with a loan after his big band went broke.

Which bandleader's orchestra took the 20-year-old Jones on a European tour in 1953?

He said seeing Europe's own ethnic conflicts changed his view of American racism.

With which two composers did Jones study in Paris in 1957?

He also became music director at the French label Barclay.

Jones played in the studio band for whose first six television appearances in 1956?

The show was CBS's Stage Show hosted by the Dorsey brothers.

Which then-unknown 16-year-old pianist did the teenage Jones befriend in Seattle?

Charles was then performing as R.C. Robinson.

Which Seattle high school did Jones attend?

His classmate Charles Taylor's band backed Billie Holiday and Billy Eckstine.

Jones arranged and conducted Frank Sinatra's 1964 album with Count Basie. What was it called?

He first worked with Sinatra in 1958 at a Monaco benefit arranged by Princess Grace.

What did Frank Sinatra leave Jones when he died in 1998?

Jones joked that in Sicily he needed no passport, just the ring.

Which 1964 Sidney Lumet film was the first of Jones's nearly 40 movie scores?

He then moved to Los Angeles and was in constant demand as a composer.

Jones composed "The Streetbeater", the theme to which sitcom starring his friend Redd Foxx?

He also wrote themes for Ironside and The Bill Cosby Show.

Jones's 1962 tune "Soul Bossa Nova" was later used as the theme for which 1997 comedy?

He cameoed as himself in Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002.

For which 1977 miniseries did Jones win his Primetime Emmy for music composition?

He wrote the theme for the opening episode.

Which 1985 film marked Jones's debut as a film producer?

He is credited with bringing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey to film audiences through it.

Jones's 1985 Spielberg score broke the director's unbroken run with which regular composer?

Jones, Thomas Newman and Alan Silvestri are the only others to score a Spielberg feature.

Jones's 1981 album The Dude yielded "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways", both sung by whom?

"Ai No Corrida", a Chaz Jankel remake, was the album's other hit.

Which 1989 Jones album won the 1991 Grammy for Album of the Year?

It won seven Grammys in all, including a rap award shared with Ice-T and Big Daddy Kane.

Which sitcom, Will Smith's first acting credit, was produced by Quincy Jones Entertainment from 1990?

The company also produced In the House and Fox's Mad TV.

Which sketch show did Jones produce for Fox from 1995 to 2009?

It ran for 14 seasons.

Jones persuaded which trumpeter to revisit his 1950s Gil Evans material at Montreux in 1991?

Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux was Davis's last album.

Jones hosted an episode of which sketch show in February 1990 with a record ten musical guests?

He impersonated Washington mayor Marion Barry in a sketch.

What was the title of Jones's 2001 autobiography?

He also released a video podcast from 2007 sharing industry knowledge.

Which George Gershwin piece did Jones introduce on screen in Disney's Fantasia 2000?

Other celebrity hosts included Steve Martin and Bette Midler.

On which 2022 album by the Weeknd does Jones deliver a spoken monologue, "A Tale by Quincy"?

He also appeared in Travis Scott's "Out West" video in 2020.

Which piano-teaching software company did Jones co-found in 2010?

Harry Connick Jr. is among its video instructors.

Jones launched Qwest TV in 2017 as the world's first subscription video service devoted to what?

He founded it with French producer Reza Ackbaraly.

Which of Jones's daughters, both actresses, did he have with Peggy Lipton?

Kidada was dating Tupac Shakur at the time of his death.

Jones lived with which German actress from 1991 to 1995, fathering his daughter Kenya?

Kenya became a fashion model.

Why did Quincy Jones never learn to drive?

He tried lessons a few years later but "just couldn't do it".

What life-threatening condition led Jones to attend his own planned memorial service in 1974?

Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye and Sidney Poitier were among the entertainers.

After his second brain surgery, doctors warned Jones that playing which instrument could kill him?

He ignored them, toured Japan, and the metal clip in his head nearly came loose.

At what age did Quincy Jones die in November 2024?

The cause was later revealed to be pancreatic cancer.

Where is Quincy Jones interred?

He died at his home in Bel Air.

Which posthumous honour was Jones given in 2025?

He had received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award back in 1995.

What was the name of the 18-piece big band he formed from the musicians of the show Free and Easy?

It played to rave reviews but went broke, teaching him the difference between music and the music business.

A DNA test for African American Lives traced Jones's maternal line to which Cameroonian people?

The test also found 34% European ancestry, including Welsh on his father's side.

Jones discovered he was descended from a sister of which US president?

Elizabeth Washington Lewis was among his ancestors on the Lanier side.

Which school gave the 18-year-old Jones a scholarship in 1951 before he transferred to Berklee?

He lasted one semester before heading to Boston.

What was the name of the production company Jones founded in 1975?

Qwest later spawned Qwest Records, Qwest Home Video and Qwest TV.

What was the name of the non-profit he founded that built more than 100 homes in South Africa?

He worked closely with Bono of U2 on philanthropic causes for many years.

Jones said which musician introduced him to heroin at age 15?

He said he stopped using it after five months.

Jones claimed to know the truth of the JFK assassination and blamed which mobster?

He also said he once dated Ivanka Trump.

Which lifetime honour, presented in Washington, did Jones receive in 2001?

The National Medal of Arts followed in 2011.

For which 2016 Broadway revival did Jones win a Tony Award as a producer?

It won Best Revival of a Musical.

"We Are the World" raised more than how much for humanitarian aid?

It sold over 20 million physical copies, the eighth-best-selling single ever.

Which label released "We Are the World" on March 7, 1985?

It became the first single ever certified multi-platinum.

Where did its two songwriters write "We Are the World"?

They worked every night for a week in Jackson's bedroom.

Jones conducted a 1965 St. Louis benefit with Sinatra, Davis, Martin and Carson for what?

The fundraiser was broadcast to movie theaters around the country.

Jones became a mentor to which British multi-instrumentalist known for YouTube covers?

Jones appeared on Collier's cover of "P.Y.T.".

Jones's 1968 Oscar nod for Best Original Song, a first for an African American, was for a song in which film?

The song was 'The Eyes of Love', and the same year he was also nominated for Best Original Score.

Which trumpeter friend of Jones is the subject of the 2014 documentary Keep on Keepin' On?

In the film the trumpeter introduces Jones to his protégé Justin Kauflin, whom Jones signs to his band and label.