Like so many other major events surrounding someone’s familiar name, they were on my mind beforehand. Such as with now, Quincy Jones had been on my mind frequently between talking points in regard to Music Producers with real merit (I was comparing him and Barry White not long ago- knowing who had the bigger body of work but they were both brilliant), and I asked myself a couple weeks ago if he was still here with us in regard to the passing of Aretha Franklin and much of his music peers, alongside other Black legends that have died in recent times.
At the time, not only was I writing an eerie list of celebrity deaths and the pattern of
the months that they tend to pass away, but as it was also Black History Month (last month in UK) I was considering mentioning him in a new poem of mine. The point is that his
name came up alot, and coincidentally I was wondering to myself why he popped
into my mind while I have been stressing away on my complicated yet wonderful
Wizard of Oz food project that I have embarked upon, and of course today I realise
that it was because of his work on The Wiz! Having come to this recollected
realisation of the few things that he and I have in common (including our passion for
entertainment and media production), it has further encouraged me to get past the
sweat and vexation, and just focus on the my art as opposed to my labour.
Only around 12pm GMT today did I find out that he died lastnight. As sad as it was
and is to hear, considering his age of 91 and him being in my thoughts of late, I
wasn’t surprised. Yet another magnificent legend who has touched many of our lives
(entertainment-wise), has gained their wings to leave us, spiritually speaking. The
past two months have been on some madness in this regard, as mentioned in my
unfinished poem.
Seeing all the footage of Quincy (I’m not just going to refer to him in the formal
manner of “Jones” as that’s far too common of a name which takes away from his
individualism in my opinion) of his incredible career and long life, leaves me stunned
at the resemblance he has to legendary Footballer Cyril Regis. My mother has
always pointed this out which I never really noticed until I watched the Quincy
documentary on Netflix a couple of years ago.
Only from writing this extended piece that was meant to just be a minimal amount of
time given to post a tribute on my IG a few hours prior, and having looked up
pictures of them in order to prove my point, I can’t help but think of how that green-eyed
Actor from CSI (Vegas), also resembles Quincy. Specifically when they smile,
due to their dimples, complexions and coy expressions. Both he and Cyril could
easily pass for his sons or have portrayed a younger him in a biopic. Larenz Tate
had no business trying to pass for Quincy Jones in the film Ray! I don’t care how
likeable he is, only his size made that almost comprehensible.
In regard to the documentary, it was also a pleasure to have seen him get to tell his
story, in his words, from his perspective, while he was still alive, as opposed to
having to witness a questionable unauthorised biopic or documentary narrated
through speculation, which tends to happen after one is deceased. I also love that
Quincy got his well-deserved star on the Walk of Fame when they were still given out
to "real stars," who paid their dues with artistic impact and longevity. Considering all
the arguable late inductees such as the honourable Cher this year, I am more so glad that he got
inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame a little earlier.
There was a beautiful picture that I came across today of him posing alongside Dr
Dre, Snoop Dogg and a former MBA Player whose name I keep forgetting, when he
did his hand printing ceremony into the concrete of the famed Chinese Theatre. An
unexpected group, who I am unsure if they were there all to support him or if they
were also getting their handprints cemented? The picture was joyful, unanimously
harmonious and a great freeze frame in time (all the laughs, pride and big smiles).
Additionally, I found another picture of Eddie Murphy, Ice Cube, John Singleton and
Quincy Jones that was taken about three decades ago. Looking at it was bittersweet
and made me sigh, as not only has Singleton died (one of my favourite Director’s as
I am sure I have mentioned on here and elsewhere), but Gregory Hines was in the
background watching them, looking like he felt left-out of their picture or the fun
altogether so it seemed. Both passed away some years ago and were both much younger than
Quincy but now he’s joined them. I would have sworn that they were at Cannes Film
Festival or other, where Singleton was promoting Boyz N the Hood. Again, a great
freeze frame of a beautiful moment in time, featuring legends no less. So heartbreaking
yet heart-warming at the same time.
I have mentioned Cyril on my blog before, at the time of his death. Someone I can
comfortably refer to by first name since I knew him personally as he was a
family friend. Being a child when I met him, I had no idea that he was a celebrity nor
athlete as I could care less for football but as I got older, more exposed to the world,
my local history and local pride of successful individuals that came from my borough
(London Borough of Brent), as well as the many documentaries about Black British
Footballers, I came to learn and appreciate his greatness and fame. Before, I just
always thought of him as a nice man that was kind to me, not many adults
acknowledged or were particular nice towards children when I was growing up,
therefore I valued that about him.
Additionally, despite being good-looking and successful, he was far too humble to
take seriously as a “celebrity,” even after confronting the fact. The impact of Cyril’s
death in the football industry thus across England, did take me by surprise and bring
me to tears even though I didn’t spend a significant amount of time with him. Thus all
the footage behind the news of Quincy’s death today, is bringing back those sentiments.
I have been locked into all the breaking news stories for the past few hours while
multi-tasking and I just love that much of the video clips on YouTube by the likes of
ABC, Good Morning America, The Hollywood Reporter, ITV News and so on, often
begin by referring to him as “A Titan of Music…” Indeed he was.
Out of all the video news reports that I have watched, only Carson Daly (former TRL
Host) and Joe Levy (Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone magazine), mentioned the
important fact that Quincy Jones headed the ever impactful VIBE magazine (a staple
in Hip Hop)! No one else felt the need to mention this important fact to enlighten the
public. Even I could not believe my eyes when I was reading VIBE magazine about
15yrs ago, and saw his name as either the Founder or Editor-in-Chief, it
nearly knocked me out because that was so "unfounded” and “off brand,” but I was
impressed nonetheless. It showed his business acumen, as well as what I saw to be
some sort of appreciation for the genre/culture, outside of the instant financial
opportunity.
I relished at this eventual acknowledgement because it was a big deal, him getting
into publishing and supporting Hip Hop. Yes he was a big wig in Pop (popular music
of the 80’s and prior), Jazz (including his solo albums), and did ground-breaking film
score’s for the likes of Italian Job, the iconic TV series Roots, The Wiz of course,
my favourite being Austin Powers (the theme song that he produced beforehand as
part of a previous compilation, that later got featured in the film’s opening credits).
However, he expanded his repertoire and I think it gets undermined in mainstream
news because of the “non-VIBE mag demographic” news outlets, are likely to be
much more familiar and captivated by his blockbuster work on Michael Jackson
albums, various film work and Grammy Awards (and for the life of me I don’t
understand how Kanye West can possibly have around the same amount, as if their
careers were on par). Therefore, only people directly from the world of music such as
Daley and Levy, are likely to know or show interest and take it seriously enough to
mention in their commentary. It’s all politically annoying.
This almost upsets me as much as the two interviews I watched and read this past
year; one being an online article about Salma Hayek’s career and one video
recorded interview of Vivica A. Fox celebrating her career having turned 60 this year.
On both so called researched pieces by huge media outlets, the Writer’s and
Interviewer’s conveniently left out or disconcertingly reduced their accomplishments
as Film Producers and Founders of their own production companies!! What on earth
are these Journalists thinking?! To praise and promote someone’s career in a
feature, is to not be selective about their success and multi-faceted body of work,
thus you must mention every relevant success that got them to where they are dammit.
I was left aghast to learn that Quincy not only did the music for the original The
Colour Purple but it was him and NOT my wonderful Spielberg, who bought the film
rights to the book’s adaptation in the first place!! This finding, mentioned a few times
on the news today although the focus was more on the score itself as opposed to his
corporate ownership on the project, was reminiscent of finding out that it was Debbie
Allen who first began the development of Amistad as an interested party turned
Producer of the project, who then brought the idea to Spielberg who naturally got all
the credit KMBT. I wonder if Quincy’s musical genius was involved in Oprah
Winfrey’s recent remake, or how he felt about the overall film if he did not participate
this time around….? Controversies aside of course. I have yet to see it myself to
comment further.
It interests me a great deal knowing that Quincy’s love of where he began his artistic
expression (with Swing and Jazz) would always be his first love however, in his
unique way he loves Hip Hop without being an overt Hip Hop/Rap fan for obvious
reasons considering his generation. On the same hand, it took him seeing the
potential of a young Rap star in the making (Will Smith) and taking his youthful
energy, charisma and commercial music appeal of reaching a wide audience, along
with the storyline influenced by Benny Medina, to create The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
under his entertainment company. It was only years after re-watching the show in the
early 2000’s, as an unbeknownst soon to be Media student that I realised from the
closing credits of where they would show the logos of the production and distribution
companies involved, that it read Quincy Jones Entertainment proving that he was
indeed producing for film and TV.
Although it was commonplace (and extremely exciting back then) for sitcoms to
feature the odd celebrity cameo most of which were Musicians, I personally think that
it was Quincy’s clout and connections in the music world that made it more inevitable
for all the cameos in Fresh Prince e.g. Boys II Men, Tom Jones, Al B. Sure, Heavy
D, Bill Bev DeVoe, Tevin Campbell etc. I grew up in SUCH A GREAT ERA (blissful
smile emoji).
From all the tributes that I am hearing today, as well as all the positive mentions I
have heard his industry peers (young and old) speak of in his regard over the years,
I really loved that Quincy seemed to always show younger Musicians love and
encouragement, regardless of their creative and cultural differences which is rare
between generations. Many of them have said how he always stopped to make time
for them, show love, respect or mentorship.
I also like how many people, including Whoopie Goldberg, stated that he was just
“always there.” As in there for her to talk to and would not rush away at a moment in
passing as he was a conversationalist, and cared to interact properly. I know these
claims to be true because even an acquaintance that I met in Johannesburg, told me
a funny story about the celebrities that he met on first class flights as an international
businessman (he volunteered this information as I didn’t ask), and how much Quincy
Jones stood out to him because he had so much to say despite that my friend didn’t
understand his accent much lol. Ahhh Quincy, undoubtedly was a very social and
personable man.
Another point in regard to his love for people, aspiring creatives and close association with Hip Hop, is
the way that he personally came to know my beloved Tupac Shakur. Which started
off as a beef (on Tupac’s end of course), then a confrontation, to respect and
admiration, to then almost becoming his father-in-law since one of his youngest
daughters was engaged to Tupac- the biggest Rap star ever! That’s kind of like
Michael Jackson’s jaw dropping engagement to Lisa Presley, I mean the music
royalty of it all! I'm sure that Tupac’s wedding to his daughter would have been a
huge, high security, amazing affair that would have had me crying my eyes out being
that I would have wanted to marry him myself- at the time of naïve infatuation!
Anyway, I always loved the way that Quincy spoke of Tupac, the love and respect
felt real to me.
And I also loved Quincy’s genuine love for music across genres and his personal
versatility. The man’s professional ascension is absolutely astonishing. Like any
other successful Black person from his era he broke barriers, but unlike anyone I've
ever seen he crossed and broke unforeseen barriers and bridges. Much like some of
the other people that I have written about including David Bowie, Aretha Franklin and
so on, he really is the epitome of an icon without that word being used loosely.
The few new things that I have surprisingly learned today from all the reports and
tributes, about this unique, sweet soul and creative genius, just makes me adore him
more and makes my heart break further for the loss. I can’t imagine how his loved
ones must feel, my condolences.
Quincy Jones has done his time here, he seemingly lived his life to the fullest, given
all he could give artistically and this is even after his aneurysms my word! Quincy
became a family man, as well as an exceedingly accomplished Musician and
Businessman, and all with very little scandal. I don't see how he could have given
anymore as he was of a very old age with health problems, and only from seeing his
cover of Ebony magazine from the 70’s that they posted on IG today, that I knew of
his brain surgeries. In only the way that he would, he still managed to persevere
against the odds, remain fully coherent, humble, charming and continue to achieve
his many goals. WOW….truly amazing.
I mean this respectfully when I say, now he could do what his children in particular
have been begging him to do as seen in the documentary, which is to rest. No longer
trying to fight against time, age or obstacles. Just "sekkle," as us West Indians say.
Rest in Power Quincy- and Cyril for that matter since you’re on my mind too.
Love Lauren
