Quincy Jones’ cause of death has been revealed 10 days after the music icon’s passing aged 91.
Super producer Jones died from pancreatic cancer, per his death certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and obtained by TMZ.
There were no other contributory factors to his death. It is not known how long Jones had been battling cancer for.
Jones produced Michael Jackson‘s Thriller album and collaborated with artists including Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles.
His publicist Arnold Robinson confirmed he passed away surrounded by his family at his home in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, California on November 3.
Jones’s family – which includes his actress-daughter Rashida Jones, who played Karen Filippelli in The Office – said in a statement: ‘Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing.
Quincy Jones’ cause of death has been revealed 10 days after the music icon’s passing aged 91 – pictured 2006
Super producer Jones’ died from pancreatic cancer, per his death certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and obtained by TMZ – pictured 1991
Jones’s final Instagram post two days before his death wished his daughter Martina ‘Tina’ a happy birthday, and featured a photograph of the two smiling together. It said: ‘Happy Birthday to my Tina Beena! So proud to be yo papa! Big hug, I love you eternally.’
‘And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.’
Along with Rashida, Jones – known to friends as ‘Q’ – is survived by daughters Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Kidada Jones and Kenya Kinski-Jones; son Quincy Jones III; brother Richard Jones and sisters Theresa Frank and Margie Jay.
Jones’s final Instagram post yesterday wished his daughter Martina ‘Tina’ a happy birthday, and featured a photograph of the two smiling together. It said: ‘Happy Birthday to my Tina Beena! So proud to be yo papa! Big hug, I love you eternally.’
He had previously suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm in 1974 and underwent two brain surgeries – the latter of which saw him advised to never play a trumpet again.
Jones rose to the top of showbusiness as he became one of the first black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassed an extraordinary musical catalogue.
He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and composed soundtracks for Roots and In The Heat Of The Night.
Jones organized then-president Bill Clinton‘s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of We Are The World in 1985 for famine relief in Africa.
Michael Jackson with Quincy Jones at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February 1984
Quincy was a dad of seven children including actress Rashida Jones – pictured in 2020
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote We Are the World and was among the featured singers on the charity record, would call Jones ‘the master orchestrator’.
He will likely be best remembered for his productions with Jackson, with his versatility and imagination helping set off the singer’s talents as he transformed from child star to the ‘King of Pop.’
On such classic tracks as ‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants.
For ‘Thriller,’ some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing ‘Beat It’ and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
‘Thriller’ sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits 1971-1975’ among others as the best-selling album of all time.