Quincy Jones

Jones has been married three times: Jeri Caldwell (1957-1966) and the couple has a daughter together - Jolie Jones; Ulla Andersson (1967-1974) and they have two children together - Martina and Quincy Jones III; and Peggy Lipton (1974-1990) and has two daughters - Kidada and Rashida Jones.

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago to Quincy Delight Jones, Sr. and Sarah Frances. His father was a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter and mother was a bank officer and apartment complex manager.

When Jones was young, his mother suffered from schizophrenia and was admitted to mental hospital, which is why his father took a divorce from her and remarried. The whole family moved to Washington after that.

He attended the Garfield High School in Seattle and was involved in music all through his high school. He formed a band with his fellow schoolmates and won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, Boston in 1951.

He left studies in between and set off on a tour with a band as a trumpeter and from there on his professional musical career started. He moved to New York City and started doing freelance.

Throughout the 1950s, Jones arranged and played trumpet for Lionel Hampton and then became a freelance arranger for jazz sessions. Later, he became the musical director for Dizzy Gillespie’s overseas band tour and moved to Paris and worked for Barclay Records.

In 1959, he got his first big international opportunity when he led a band for the European production of Harold Arlen’s blues opera, ‘Free and Easy’. He returned to New York to work as an executive with Mercury Records.

By mid-1960s, Jones became proficient in his art and started to produce his own pop records and composed for films and television, which helped African-American music gain more and more popularity in Hollywood.

He composed for films like: ‘Walk, Don’t Run (1966)’, ‘In Cold Blood (1967)’, ‘The Lost Man (1969)’, ‘The Italian Job (1969)’, ‘Cactus Flower (1969)’, ‘In the Heat of the Night (1968)’; TV shows like: ‘Ironside’, ‘Now You See It’, etc.

He continued as an arranger for some of the most acclaimed artists like: Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, etc. His solos were also becoming a rage— Walking in Space, Gula Matari, Smackwater Jack,etc.

The work that Jones did under Qwest Productions and Quincy Jones Entertainment is considered to be the most important part of his career. Under his label, he has worked with major stars like, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Frank, etc.