Music legend Quincy Jones has been selected as the 2008 recipient of BET's Humanitarian Award and will receive the honor at the “BET Awards” on June 24. Past winners of the award include Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Denzel & Pauletta Washington, and Don Cheadle, who were bestowed the award in 2007.
Jones, 75, is one of the most influential figures in the music industry. Over a span of five decades, Jones has been nominated for 79 Grammy Awards, winning 27.
Born Quincy Delight Jones, Jr., Jones was the eldest son of Sarah Frances and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr. Growing up in Chicago, Jones discovered his passion for the trumpet and continued playing after his family moved to Seattle.
Jones turned down the opportunity to study at the Berklee College of Music (Formally Schilling House of Music) in Boston, deciding instead to tour with jazz bandleader Lionel Hampton. After touring overseas as the music director and trumpeter with the Dizzy Gillespie Band in 1956, Jones would return to the United States and land his first recording contract with ABC-Paramount Records.
Jones landed his big break as a record executive in 1964 when he became vice president of Mercury Records, the first African American to hold such an executive position.
During his time at Mercury, Jones shifted his attention to composing movie scores. The first of his 33 movie scores was for “The Pawnbroker.” Jones would quit his job at Mercury Records and moved to Los Angeles, where he composed full time. Jones was responsible for scores for such film projects as “The Color Purple,” “The Italian Job,” “The Getaway” and a variety of earlier television serials, including “Roots,” “Sanford and Son,” and “The Bill Cosby Show.”
Despite his outstanding work as a trumpeter, music executive and composer, Jones is probably best known for his work with “The King of Pop,” Michael Jackson. Jones and Jackson met while Quincy was working on the movie, “The Wiz.” Jones later served as producer on “Off The Wall” (20 million copies sold), “Bad” (32 million copies sold) and “Thriller” (104 million copies sold). “Thriller” is still the highest-selling album of all time.
Outside of his music career, Jones is one of the founders of the Institute for Black American Music, which is creating a national library of African-American music and art. He is also the founder of the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, which aims to break the cycle of poverty and violence by connecting children with education, technology, culture, and the roots and fruits of music. In 2001, Jones’ Listen Up Foundation built more than 100 homes in South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.