Star US music producer Quincy Jones dies aged 91

Music titan Quincy Jones - who worked with stars including Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles - has died aged 91. The news was confirmed by his publicist Arnold Robinson.

He said Jones had died on Sunday night (November 3) at his home in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles, surrounded by 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 worked with hundreds of recording artists in a glittering career.

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He 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 catalogue that includes some of the richest moments in American music.

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, organised then-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.

He produced Michael Jackson's Thriller album, released in 1982. Lionel Richie, who co-wrote We Are the World and was among the featured singers, would call Jones 'the master orchestrator'.