Entertainment
Multiple Award Winning Producer, Composer, Quincy Jones Dies at 91
Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, has died at 91.
Jones’ publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the family said in a statement. “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.”
Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalog that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.
Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.” On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” among others as the best-selling album of all time.
“If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producers fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. “The tracks don’t just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”
The list of his honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q”, including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones would cite the hymns his mother sang around the house as the first music he could remember. But he looked back sadly on his childhood, once telling Oprah Winfrey that “There are two kinds of people: those who have nurturing parents or caretakers, and those who don’t. Nothing’s in between.” Jones’ mother suffered from emotional problems and was eventually institutionalized, a loss that made the world seem “senseless” for Quincy. He spent much of his time in Chicago on the streets, with gangs, stealing and fighting.
“They nailed my hand to a fence with a switchblade, man,” he told the AP in 2018, showing a scar from his childhood.
Music saved him. As a boy, he learned that a Chicago neighbor owned a piano and he soon played it constantly himself. His father moved to Washington state when Quincy was 10 and his world changed at a neighborhood recreation center. Jones and some friends had broken into the kitchen and helped themselves to lemon meringue pie when Jones noticed a small room nearby with a stage. On the stage was a piano.
“I went up there, paused, stared, and then tinkled on it for a moment,” he wrote in his autobiography. “That’s where I began to find peace. I was 11. I knew this was it for me. Forever.”
Source: APnews
Globacom, through its social investment vehicle, Glo Foundation, on Friday hosted hundreds of girls from various secondary schools across the country to a symbolic walk and movie outing as part of activities mapped out to celebrate this year’s International Day of the Girl Child.
One hundred girls selected from five secondary schools across Lagos were received at the corporate head office of Globacom, Mike Adenuga Towers, Victoria Island, where they received encouraging words from senior female executives of Globacom.
The girls were drawn from Queens College, Sabo Yaba; Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Oregun, Ikeja; Herbert Macaulay Girls Senior High School, Yaba; Kuramo Senior College, Victoria Island; and Victoria Island Secondary School.
The session was held to encourage the girls to aim for the top in whatever field of endeavour that they opt for academically and to strive for excellence and success in any sphere of work or business within their environment.
The students were received by Globacom’s Director, Strategy and Board Affairs, Mrs Mojisola Ashieru Sweet, who admonished the girls to be proud of who they are and be confident that success will come when they strive for it.
Globacom’s Head of Human Resources, Mrs Jumoke Aduwo, equally echoed this further by advising the girls to focus on developing a strong character.
The girls later took a symbolic walk from the head office to Globacom’s Customer Care and Information Systems departments, where they were imparted with knowledge on how some of the telecommunications operations work.
Afterwards, they all moved over to Silverbird Cinema, where they watched a Nollywood movie, “The Serpent’s Gift”, which features Linda Ejiofor and radio presenter and actor, Chico Aligwejwe.
In Abuja, girls from Al-Noor Academy, Wuse, and Redeemers Private School were hosted at the Glo office and at Silverbird Cinema, Jabi Lake Mall.
In Kaduna, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Benin City, the story was similar as girls from selected schools were received in Glo offices and later taken to the movies where they all watched the movie, “The Serpent’s Gift”.
After the movie sessions, the girls were made to discuss the lessons learnt from the movie they watched. This was to help them develop public speaking skills and build confidence in themselves.
Imisi, one of the 29 housemates that signed up for this season’s Big Brother Naija show titled Season 10: 10/10, has been announced the winner.
The housemate triumphed over eight other finalists to claim the first position, winning N150 million worth of prizes.
Entertainment
Court Slams 50-month Jail Term on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for Over Prostitution-Related Offence
Music icon, Sean “Diddy” Combs, was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday for his conviction on prostitution-related charges.
Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for Combs but Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence after an emotional daylong court hearing.
Combs’s lawyers had urged the judge to sentence the 55-year-old hip-hop star to 14 months, which would effectively have been time served since he has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.
Addressing the court before the judge handed down the sentence, Combs said he was “truly sorry” for his actions and asked the judge for “another chance.”
“I ask your honor for mercy,” he said. “I beg your honor for mercy.”
Diddy Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him — sex trafficking and racketeering — but convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura submitted a letter to the judge asking him to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”
Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, described in wrenching detail the physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.
Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.
“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.
She said she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”
Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.
Speaking before the sentencing, prosecutor Christy Slavik said Combs has not accepted responsibility for his actions.
“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said.
Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”
Arguing for a lesser sentence, Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’s lawyers, called him an “inspiration” to the Black community and a social justice crusader.
“No, Combs is not larger than life,” she said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”
But he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”
Combs’s six adult children each delivered an emotional plea on their father’s behalf, with the eldest Quincy Brown calling him “a changed man.”
“Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” said one of his daughters, D’Lila Combs. “Not as headlines but as human beings.”
