Quincy Jones produced the three albums that transformed Michael Jackson from a boy band idol to a superstar. From "Off the Wall" in 1979 to "Bad" in 1987, with "Thriller" in between in 1982, the best-selling album in music history, with 70 million copies.
A nearly unimaginable career highlight for a poor boy from southern Chicago whose music career began as a jazz trumpeter in his teens.
Arranger
But the young Quincy had an enormous drive. After joining band leader Lionel Hampton's orchestra as an 18-year-old in 1951, Quincy Jones soon grew tired of "just" playing. He began arranging and writing music for himself and others, then started his own orchestra, which toured successfully – not least in Sweden.
Quincy Jones arranged songs for Frank Sinatra, was Oscar-nominated for his film music, and was constantly driven forward in his desire to blend genres. Jazz was too narrow a costume. He explored soul and later also hip-hop.
In the late 1970s, he met Michael Jackson and guided him from his time as a boy band idol in the Jackson Five to the king of pop.
The large network of contacts from a life in the service of music also came in handy when Quincy Jones put together the giant group of superstars who sang "We Are the World" for the benefit of Ethiopia's starving in 1985.
Toured in Sweden
Quincy Jones had always had a soft spot for Sweden. Not just because of his second marriage to Swedish Ulla Andersson, which gave him children Quincy III and Martina, but also because of the reception he received here in 1953.
As a black jazz musician from the USA, he was not used to being treated as an equal and was overwhelmed when he came to Sweden and, among other things, met trumpet colleague Bengt-Arne Wallin.
We had a blast. My first meeting with Sweden was loving. With Bengt-Arne Wallin and all the fantastic people, Quincy Jones tells in the SVT documentary "When Jazz Legends Came to Sweden".
With, among others, Barbro "Lill-Babs" Svensson and musicians like Harry Arnold, Arne Domnérus, and Lars Gullin from the Swedish jazz elite, lifelong friendships were formed for the trumpeter from Chicago. For several years, Quincy Jones returned to record music.
Coming to Sweden is like coming home. Every time it feels like I've always lived here, Quincy Jones explained to TT in connection with receiving the Polar Prize in 1994.
Born: 1933 in Chicago.
Family: Seven children, was previously married to, among others, Ulla Andersson, 1967–1974. Son Quincy Jones III is a music and film producer and has, among other things, sat on the Swedish "Idol" jury.
Awards: 28 Grammy Awards, an Emmy, a Tony, and an honorary Oscar. Received the Polar Prize in 1994.
