Quincy Jones Cements His Fame in Hollywood

Quincy Jones received a special honor in Hollywood today, as the legendary producer and composer placed his hands and footprints in cement at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre.

The 27-time Grammy winner was recognized for his lifetime achievement in entertainment, and is the first composer to be so honored. At the ceremony, he recalled how he became the first black composer in Hollywood.

“I am beyond thankful to have had the opportunity to work on more than 35 film scores,” he said. “When I started: No black composers on single screen credits.  And two people helped me solve that. That was Sidney Poitier. Gave me six films. And Sidney Lumet.”

Jones, whose career has seen him wear many hats including record producer, composer, musician and film producer, wore a cap with the slogan “University of the ‘Hood'” as he went through the ceremony on the forecourt of the Hollywood cinema.

Quincy Jones, often referred to as Q, first came to prominence in the 1950s. Since then, he has broken down barriers for African Americans in both film and music.

His daughter, Rashida Jones, who recently made the Netflix documentary about her father entitled Quincy, spoke at the podium about her father’s success.

She said: “He’s been nominated for 79 Grammys and won 27. He’s one of 20 EGOT winners in the world. That’s the holy quadrant of awards for anyone that doesn’t know. Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony. And oh yeah. He also produced the biggest selling album of all time and the biggest selling single of all time so no big deal.”

When it was her father’s turn to take to the stage, he spoke about the simplicity and complexity of songwriting.

He said: “There are only 12 notes and we’ve had them for 700 years and between rhythm and harmony, we have to figure out how to make those things belong to us and that’s difficult after 700 years. I’m really proud what we did with them though. We did our best.”

“I would not be the humanitarian I am today if you did not make me understand that there’s so much more important than what you’re doing in music,” Usher told Quincy. “You gotta make sure that you continue to supply the resource, the love, the passion…empathy for those people who might not necessarily have the voice to raise it.”

Jones is one of only 18 EGOT winners, having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. His production credits include one of the best-selling singles of all time, “We Are the World,” and Michael Jackson‘s iconic albums Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall.

(Excerpts) Read More at: ColumbusNewsTeam.com and StraitsTimes.com