Music producer and Ahmet Ertegun Award recipient Quincy Jones attends the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 Inductees announcement at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 11, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Legendary producer and musician Quincy Jones was born 80 years ago today. Jones, known as “The Dude” or sometimes simply as “Q,” is an American music impresario. He brought black music to the forefront of popular culture through his long career as a conductor, producer, arranger, composer and performer.
Jones’ career began in 1956, when he toured as a trumpeter for the Dizzy Gillespie Band. For years, he dedicated his energies to performing jazz. His work as a film composer began in 1964, when he scored his first of 33 motion pictures. He would go on to compose scores for films like The Color Purple, The Wiz and In the Heat of the Night.
His work has spanned media platforms as the composer of TV themes like Sanford and Son, producer of shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the founder of VIBE magazine. Jones has won an astonishing 27 Grammy Awards in his career and shows no signs of slowing down.
article by Donovan X. Ramsey via thegrio.com
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