"Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind." ~ Quincy Jones
Music producer Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (1933-), called "Q" by his friends, was born poor on this day in Chicago's South Side. Growing up, the music he heard on the radio stimulated his vision and creativity.
"Everything starts with a song or a story," he declared. "That drives everything."
When he was 41, Q survived a brain aneurysm and two brain operations. The experience inspired him to celebrate life daily: "God has given each one of us approximately 25,000 days on this earth. I truly believe He (or She) has something very specific in mind: 8,300 days to sleep, 8,300 to work, 8,300 to give, live, play, pray, and love one another."
Over the past five decades he has creatively fused music with his own style. Injecting soul and jazz, experimenting with synthesizers, innovating the mainstream pop world.
Q produced the historic We Are The World: U.S.A For Africa in 1991 to raise money for famine relief. He advised the multi-million dollar chorus of superstars to "check your egos at the door." They did.
"The only two people Quincy doesn't know in the music business are Beethoven and Bach," observed singer Lionel Richie.
Highly-respected and multi-awarded, Quincy Jones knows what makes greatness, true greatness: love, respect, and peace of mind.
