Skip to main content

Quincy Jones

Musician, producer, arranger, and composer Quincy Jones released his autobiography, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones (Doubleday), and a 4-CD box set collecting his work, Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones (Rhino) in 2001. Over his fifty-year career, he worked with nearly every major figure in the music industry. As a teenager, he played backup for Billie Holiday alongside his 16-year-old friend, Ray Charles. At 18, he began playing the trumpet in Lionel Hampton's band with Clifford Brown. He went on to collaborate with Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Lesley Gore, and many others. He wrote the theme songs for Sanford & Son and Ironside and composed music for the films In Cold Blood, For the Love of Ivy, and The Pawnbroker. His biggest commercial success came from producing and arranging Michael Jackson's 1982 hit album Thriller.

51:48

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Today in Fresh Air History

Writer Gloria Wade-Gayles Discusses Growing Up During the Era of Jim Crow.

Writer Gloria Wade-Gayles. Growing up in Memphis in the 1940's Wade-Gayles experienced Jim Crow discrimination first hand. In her new book of autobiographical essays, "Pushed Back To Strength: A Black Woman's Journey Home" (Beacon), she reflects on her childhood, the civil-rights movements, abortion in the African-American community, and the death of her mother. Wade-Gayles is a professor of English and women's studies at Spelman College. She also wrote "No Crystal Stair: Visions of Race and Sex in Black Women's Fiction" (Pilgrim Press).

15:24
Advertisement

Recently on Fresh Air Available to Play on NPR

52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

For more than 40 years, Fresh Air with Terry Gross has inspired and engaged audiences, both in the Greater Philadelphia area where it began as a local program on WHYY-FM in 1975 and across the country as a nationally-broadcast show since 1987.

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue