Quincy Jones died exactly two weeks before he was set to receive an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ 15th Governors Awards on Sunday, Nov. 17. On June 12, when the award was announced, Academy president Janet Yang said in a statement: “Quincy Jones’ artistic genius and relentless creativity have made him one of the most influential musical figures of all time.”
This will be the second honorary Oscar for Jones, who was 91 when he died. He was voted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1994. Jones accepted that award on the Oscar telecast in 1995 from his longtime friend Oprah Winfrey. He said in part, “This moment, this evening, this spot where I stand tonight was not my destination when I was young and full of vinegar. I did not engineer this journey. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I could even see this far. And now that I’m older and full of wonder, I can see that maybe other forces were at the wheel.”
Jones – who won 28 Grammys, a Primetime Emmy and a Tony – made awards show history many times. He is the only person to win Grammy Awards in six consecutive decades. He won his first Grammy in 1964 – best instrumental arrangement for arranging Count Basie’s recording of the Ray Charles smash “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” He won four Grammys in the 1970s, 14 in the 1980s, seven in the 1990s and one each in the 2000s and 2010s. He won best spoken word album in 2002 for Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones and best music film in 2019 for Quincy.
In 2001, he received the Kennedy Center Honors, alongside Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Jack Nicholson and Luciano Pavarotti. In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in the non-performers category) by Winfrey.
Here are 10 times Quincy Jones made awards history.
