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    “We Are the World”, “Thriller”, other hits

    Pabio Posted on

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    Quincy Jones said once his most important criteria for working with an artist were compassion and excellence.

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

    The legendary producerwho played the trumpet in his early years, toured the world with the famous Lionel Hampton and began composing film scores in 1964, achieved unrivaled results on both sides of the recording booth.

    Jones, who died Sunday at age 91, also broke racial boundaries in music and film and is one of most revered music producers in music history. His skillful work and unique sound place him among the greatest, including Frank SinatraDizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, while his hitmaking prowess and partnership with Michael Jackson forever etched him in the pop music record books.

    Jones’ influence cannot be overstated. The most recent of his 28 Grammy Awards arrived in 2023, when it took into account Harry Stylesalbum of the year for “Harry’s House”. Styles’ album track “Daydreaming” contained a sample of the 1978 Brothers Johnson song. "Aren’t we having fun now," which Jones co-wrote.

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

    Here are some of Jones’ best-known hits.

    “Off the Wall” follows “Don’t Stop “Til You Get Enough” and “Rock with You”

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

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

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

    Hit “Thriller” with Michael Jackson

    The best-selling album of all time, 1982’s “Thriller” solidified Jackson and Jones as a successful duo. With his pioneering blend of funk, pop, disco and rock, Jones recruited guitar superstar Eddie Van Halen to add the screaming solo of “Beat It” – “Thriller” raised the bar for pop music.

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

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

    “A genius has left us”: Gloria Estefan, Colman Domingo and other icons honor Quincy Jones

    Charity hit single “We Are the World”

    The powerful pop music partnership between Jones and Jackson can also be credited for the hit charity song “We Are the World”, which earned Jones three Grammys (a fourth went to 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 “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” » by Band Aid, was designed to raise money for the famine of the 1980s in Ethiopia.

    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 ticking of music’s most magical night, a historic gathering dubbed “Pop’s Greatest Night.”

    Jones, who insisted that the 46 assembled music stars take their mission seriously, plastered a handwritten sign above the studio door, Ted Lasso style: “Check your ego at the door.”

    The star power of “We Are the World” Remains Unmatched: Inside One Night’s Drama Recording

    Michael Jackson’s “Bad” and “Man in the Mirror”

    The duo’s third and final collaboration, 1987’s “Bad,” featured even more record-breaking tracks. The avant-garde, pop ballad “Man in the Mirror,” the slamming R&B hit “The Way You Make Me Feel,” the rock-inspired anthem “Dirty Diana” and the groovy single “Smooth Criminal” continued the work of the Jackson-Jones team. success. It was one of the first albums to utilize the new technology of digital synthesizers and lyrically delve deeper into Jackson’s growing paranoia about the media as well as his commitment to world peace.

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

    “Fly Me To the Moon” with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie

    Jones arranged Frank SinatraThe 1964 Count Basie-assisted album “It Might as Well Be Swing” included the big band singer’s version of “Fly Me To the Moon.” The single is closely linked to NASA’s Apollo space program, played on the Apollo 10 mission orbiting the Moon 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 her first single and hit, “It’s My Party.” Jones was instrumental in the success of the melodic handclap when he mailed it to radio programmers across the country asking them to consider playing it. Jones and Gore forged a favorable partnership as he produced her subsequent albums “Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts”, “Boys, Boys, Boys” and “Girl Talk” in 1964, and “My Town, My Guy & Me” in 1965.

    “ET Phone Home” from Spielberg’s “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”

    Jones is not only known for his production of pop and jazz music. The hitmaker was also frequently in demand as a film composer and producer of film soundtracks, with Sidney Lumet’s “The Pawnbroker” his first in 1964. Among Jones’ film credits is the storybook album for the Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”, where Jones served as producer with John Williams composing and writing the original music and Jackson narrating. The album includes the famous recording “ET Phone Home”.

    “Ease On Down The Road” from the cult classic “The Wiz”

    The soundtrack to the “Wizard of Oz” remake “The Wiz” was actually more successful than the cult classic 1978 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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