Music legend who worked with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra dies

Music legend Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91. The star became a household name after working with performers such as Michael Jackson and Fran Sinatra.

He won 28 Grammy Awards over 70 years in the music business. His publicist, Arnold Robinson, says he died Sunday night at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.

His family said in a statement: “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing. 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.”

The star had a long list of popular music credits, including as the producer of Michael Jackson's Thriller album. He toured with jazz musicians Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night.”

He also oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa. Jones started life running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago.

He rose to the heights of show business, becoming one of the first black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalogue that includes some of the richest moments in American music. 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 with him.

Aside from his 28 Grammy awards out of 80 nominations he was given a Grammy Legend Award in 1992. He worked across a wide range of music genres from pop hits such as It's My Party by Lesley Gore in the early 1960s to publishing three of Michael Jackson's most successful albums - Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad.

In 1971 he became the first African American to be the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards. In 1995, he was the first African American to receive the academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

He is joint second most Oscar-nominated African American, with seven nominations. In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time.