Who deserves a musical biopic? Part 2: Quincy Jones

This is a continuation of my 3 part series on "Who deserves a musical biopic?", naming three people who would make excellent topics for their lives and contributions to music. Part 1 was about Robert Johnson.

Any musical biopic has to first be about the music, and few people have touched more musical artists than producer/arranger Quincy Jones.

(hat tip to Quincy's Twitter feed for the pic)

In the second half of the 20th century, there is very little Jones didn't do. (most of this info is from his Wikipedia entry) 

When Jones was 14, he met 16 year old Ray Charles, who inspired him. Jones went to college with Clint Eastwood, who was also a music major at Seattle University. 

Jones left college to tour Europe with bandleader Lionel Hampton. Jones worked as a trumpeter and pianist, but also displayed his gift as an arranger. Afterwards, he moved to New York, where he got commissions for doing arrangements for such notable artists as Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and even Ray Charles.

Jones first touched musical super stardom when he played second trumpet behind a studio band for Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey's tv show, where Elvis Presley made his first tv appearances, including a performance of Heartbreak Hotel, which was his first number 1 hit.

But playing music was only a sidelight for Jones. His musical genius was in arranging, and his work in movie and tv scores is legendary, including such films as In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night, and They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, as well as tv shows Sanford and Son, Ironside, and The Bill Cosby Show, as well as tv miniseries Roots.

But it is his work with famous singers and their hits that makes a biopic of Jones such an intriguing concept. Just consider the following list:

--Lesley Gore It's My Party and You Don't Own Me were both produced by Jones.



 --Frank Sinatra's 1965 album "Sinatra at the Sands", considered by many to be his finest album, where Jones arranged and conducted the Count Basie Orchestra.



--Michael Jackson's albums "Off the Wall", "Thriller", and "Bad" were all co-produced by Jones. "Thriller" is still the best selling album of all time.



--We Are the World was produced by Jones, and was performed by a list of singers that was a musical Who's Who of late 20th century artists, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Tina Turner, just to name a few.

Jones' influence didn't end in music. He was even a producer on the Oscar-winning film The Color Purple.

This list just scratches the surface of Quincy Jones' impact on 20th century music and culture. Any musical biopic of Jones would be epic in its scope, making him well deserving of a movie.