VOA · Arts & Culture
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed5:242024-11-04public domain
The Arts & Culture beat covers music, film, museums, food, and traditions from the United States and around the world. The reports are short, vivid, and full of everyday descriptive language — great for learners who want vocabulary beyond textbooks.
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01One of the biggest names in America's music industry, Quincy Jones, has died at the age of 91.
02A family statement said Jones passed away Sunday night surrounded by family members at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
03Jones is known for working with many top names in the music industry, including superstars Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles.
04Throughout his 65-year career, he worked with hundreds of other music artists.
05Jones's publicist, Arnold Robinson, said in a statement, Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones's passing.
06It added, 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.
07Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones said an early music influence was the hymns his mother used to sing around the house.
08Early on, he played music, the trumpet, and led others in band music.
09As a very young man, Jones used to run with gangs on the south side of Chicago.
10But he later rose to the top of show business, becoming one of the first black business leaders in Hollywood.
11Later, he established himself as a major composer and producer.
12Jones shaped recordings by jazz greats, such as Miles Davis, and produced hits for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
13And he helped organize the 1985 money-raising event for Africa that resulted in the song, We Are the World.
14The song went on to become one of the biggest hits of its time.
15Jones composed music for Roots and In the Heat of the Night.
16He also organized President Bill Clinton's first inaugural celebration in 1993.
17Jones also wrote several movie scores and co-produced the film The Color Purple.
18In addition, he co-produced the highly successful 1990s television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched the career of Will Smith.
19Jones' work with superstar Michael Jackson still represents one of his most lasting successes.
20He and Jackson made three wildly popular albums, Off the Wall in 1979, Thriller in 1982, and Bad in 1987.
21Thriller sold more than 20 million copies in 1993 alone.
22It helped Jackson become the first major black artist to have a video played on MTV and influenced countless other performers.
23Jones later explained, Michael had the look and the voice, and I had every sound you can think of.
24Jones was known for keeping company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists, and business leaders.
25His circle of friends included some of the most famous people of the 20th century, including artist Pablo Picasso, Pope John Paul II, and Nelson Mandela.
26The list of Jones' honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography, Q.
27The book made him a best-selling writer.
28He won a total of 27 Grammy Awards, as well as two Honorary Academy Awards, and an Emmy for the television series Roots.
29Jones also received France's Les Jeunes d'Honneur, the Rudolf Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy, and a Kennedy Center honor for his influence over American culture.
30He was the subject of a 1990 documentary called Listen Up!
31The Lives of Quincy Jones, as well as the 2018 film Quincy, directed by his daughter Rashida Jones.
32I'm Brian Lynn.
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