Note: If viewing Michael Jackson Ultimate Archive on archive.org (Wayback Machine), please view the latest snapshot of this page for the most up-to-date information and media.

Quincy Jones

 

“People” magazine (September 14, 1987) (archived) (archived scan of magazine article)

“Michael Jackson is grounded and centered and focused and connected to his creative soul. And he’s one of the most normal people I’ve ever met.”

..."When he comes to my house, my daughters think they're doing me a big favor by loaning him to me so he can rehearse", says Quincy Jones. "He's just got a very pure enthusiasm for simple things."

“East Coast Rocker” magazine (September 23, 1987)

“He’s the oldest man I know, and the youngest kid I know.”

“Smash Hits” magazine (February 18, 1992)

Michael has a very curious mind, about a lot of strange things, beautiful things", says his old producer, Quincy Jones. "He is an avid student of everything. He has to go and see some children at a hospital and someone says: 'There is an oxygen tent to sustain life.' Knowing Michael, it's fascinating—and he wants to see it. He gets in it, says, 'I could live 15 years in this', and the story gets out. He's the most normal person in the world."

“Vibe” magazine (June/July 1995)

Michael can go out and perform before 90,000 people, but if I ask him to sing a song for me, I have to sit on the couch with my hands over my eyes and he goes behind the couch. He is amazingly shy.

What people forget about him is that for the first time, probably in the history of music, a black artist is embraced on a global level by everyone from eight to 80 years old. People all over the world, especially young people, have a black man as an idol.

“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough - BBC Radio 2 40th Birthday Special” (August 29, 1998), from Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

Maybe five or eight people have the touch that God put on Michael. Stevie Wonder has it. Barbra Streisand has it. Louis Armstrong has it.

“Larry King Live” (June 26, 2009) (archived)

LARRY KING: And now the man who made incredible music with him, Quincy Jones is here. He's with us by phone. He's the legendary musical conductor, record producer.

He produced three of Michael's solo albums "Off the Wall," "Thriller," and "Bad." They also collaborated on the "We Are the World" charity project. He comes to us from Luxembourg.

What's your reaction to all of this, Quincy?

QUINCY JONES, RECORD PRODUCER (via phone): It's almost surrealistic, Larry. I, you know, Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett and Michael in a day and a half, it's almost—I just couldn't believe it. And I heard about Michael. I mean, I almost collapsed, I'm telling you because it's just—I was on the way to London to see him.

All my friends had arrived. All of us were getting together. We are going to be together tomorrow. And I just—I just can't believe it, you know?

KING: What was he like to work with?

JONES: The most professional person I've ever worked with in my life. I saw that when we started "The Wiz," he asked me to help him find a producer for his solo album on Epic. I said, Michael, we have to get a song for you in "The Wiz" first. Listen and pre-record. We'll talk about that later.

And I watched him and saw how aware and focused he was. He knew everybody's lyrics, everybody's dance steps, everybody's dialogue. And I saw something in him I'd never seen before because I had worked with him. And he went out—when he was rehearsing with the group, he—he announced—I was shocked. He said “so-cray-tees”.

I said Michael, Socrates. And he said really? And he looked at me like a deer in the headlights. I said, I'd like to take a shot at producing your album.

KING: Why he was...

JONES: He says you're too jazzy, Quincy can't do it. You know? And Michael came back crying. And he (INAUDIBLE) and we went back and we did it. I said, Michael, don't you worry about a thing.

KING: You know Miko pretty well, too, don't you, Quincy?

(CROSSTALK)

KING: You know Miko well, too?

JONES: Miko is my baby brother. And his father was my brother, too. Since 1951.

KING: Was Michael a perfectionist?

JONES: Absolutely. And so was I. So together we were dangerous, man.

(LAUGHTER)

He was—because, you know, the relationship between an artist, Larry, and a producer, is the most intimate relationship you can imagine. It takes love first, you know, to understand the limits and all—when it's too pushing it too hard or when it's time to cool it or you go for another take.

You had to be very sensitive. And it takes love to have that kind of observation. But Michael was one of the hardest workers and focused and professional. You know, we were doing the "ET" album the same time we were doing "Thriller" for Steven Spielberg.

And we did it all real quick. You know I'm telling you. We had three studios going on. (INAUDIBLE) Michael on another with long tubes singing. It's just amazing memories. And my mind has been cascading memories down all night long.

...KING: Quincy, before you leave us, when working with him—we've heard so many stories, mixed, pro and con. Was he difficult to work with, Quincy?

JONES: Michael difficult? Michael's the most professional person I ever worked with in my life, ever, in every way. In fact, we used to set up a stand when he sang. He'd do his dances and just have a spotlight on the stand, a pin spot on the stand and he'd do his dances and do his twists and everything else while he was singing.

He was absolutely amazing and I just send my heart out to his children and his mother and father and his family.

KING: Thank you, Quincy.

JONES: He's my blue brother, and our souls were attached for a long time, very deeply. And it was love and trust and passion and I'll treasure that as long as I live.

“The National” (Abu Dhabi) (September 25, 2013) (archived)

“There was no one like him,” Jones said. “He focused on everything he did and he would never give up. I have never seen anyone like him.”

Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

At 19, Michael had the wisdom of an old man and the enthusiasm of a child. He was a good-looking, but very shy, young man who hid his remarkable intelligence behind his soft voice and smiles. But don’t let the appearance fool you, there was, behind it, an artist who was a perfectionist to the extreme and consumed by the ambition of becoming the greatest showman in the world.

 

Bea Swedien, wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

One of Quincy’s most endearing traits was to give friends nicknames. Michael’s was “Smelly” because when music had a certain rhythm he liked, he called it “smelly jelly” (he didn’t like to say the word “funky”).

…We had the good fortune of being included in many wonderful parties thanks to Quincy. At the top of the list are his birthday parties. On one occasion this particular party was at Quincy’s house. Everyone was there. Bruce and I sat on a couch having a delightful conversation with Gregory Peck and his wife Veronique. They had just returned from a visit to Russia and were telling us how much the Russians loved American jazz.

Michael Jackson was upstairs in Quincy’s bedroom and didn’t want to come down, but Kidada and I finally convinced him to come down to meet everyone. I think he danced with Dyan Cannon. I know I danced with Emanuel Lewis.

…Quincy once said that he and Michael had sort of a father/son relationship, with love and respect for each other. He described Michael as being “very grounded, very spiritual, very focused, very courteous and kind. He never threw his weight around and was fun to be with. We saw him grow as an artist.”

 

Chris Cadman, author, “Michael Jackson the Maestro”

Michael’s first recollection of meeting Quincy Jones was at a Muhammad Ali Benefit show. However, the most common story is he first met Quincy Jones at Sammy Davies’s house in 1972, where he was holding a party. Sammy told Quincy that evening that Michael was a special talent and was going to be a huge star. Little then, would he know, that he would be part of the biggest selling album of all time a decade later.

The pair’s first collaboration came in 1978 for The Wiz. Quincy almost didn’t do the film, only agreeing as a repaid favour for Sidney Lumet.

Michael originally didn’t have a number in the Wiz so Quincy put the idea to Lumet who happily agreed.