“We Are the World”, “Thriller”, other hits

Quincy Jones once said his most important criteria for working with an artist were compassion and excellence.

“If they love what they do, they work hard. “We came from a school where we didn’t think about money or fame, just being a great musician,” Jones said.

The legendary producer, who played the trumpet in his early years, traveled the world with the famous Lionel Hampton and began composing film music in 1964, achieved unparalleled performance on both sides of the recording booth.

Jones, who died Sunday at age 91, also broke racial barriers in music and film and is one of the most revered music producers in music history. His skillful work and unique sound put him on a par with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, while his hitmaking prowess and partnership with Michael Jackson put him forever in the record books Pop music burned in.

Jones' influence cannot be overstated. The last of his 28 Grammy awards came in 2023, when he contributed to Harry Styles' album of the year win with “Harry's House.” Styles' album title “Daydreaming” contained a sample of the 1978 Brothers Johnson song “Ain't We Funkin' Now”, which Jones co-wrote.

“Never give up. And also maintain humility towards creativity. And the grace over success,” Jones told USA TODAY in 2018. “Because just because you're behind a No. 1 record doesn't make you better than anyone.”

Here are some of Jones' most famous hits.

“Off the Wall” tracks “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' and 'Rock with You'

Jones met the future King of Pop when he scored the 1978 musical film “The Wiz” with Jackson and Diana Ross. Jones produced Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall, which included the hit singles “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough,” “Rock with You,” “Off the Wall” and “She's Out of My Life.” The singer became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Off the Wall's success also includes songwriting contributions from Heatwave's Rod Temperton, whom Jones invited to contribute the title track and “Rock with You.” Temperton and Jones would collaborate again on the title track and other songs from Thriller.

Bestselling thriller with Michael Jackson

The best-selling album of all time, 1982's Thriller, cemented Jackson and Jones as a hit duo. With his groundbreaking marriage of funk, pop, disco and rock, Jones enlisted guitar superstar Eddie Van Halen to add the squeaky solo on “Beat It” – and “Thriller” reset the bar for pop music.

The album boasted an unprecedented seven hits from nine tracks (“Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” “The Girl is Mine” with Paul McCartney and “PYT (Pretty Young Thing),” which Jones co-wrote with the singer/songwriter ( including James Ingram) and remains the main work of Jones and Jackson.

Even the creepy spoken word interlude in “Thriller” by horror film star Vincent Price was written by Jones.

Blockbuster charity single “We Are the World”

Jones and Jackson's powerful pop music partnership is also credited with the star-studded charity song “We Are the World,” which earned Jones three Grammys (a fourth was awarded for Best Music Video, Short Form). The 1985 single, co-written by Jackson and Lionel Richie and co-produced by Jones and Michael Omartian, sold 20 million physical copies and is one of the best-selling singles of all time. The single, the US answer to Band Aid's “Do They Know It's Christmas?”, was designed to raise money for the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s.

The song featured vocal performances from dozens of singers including Richie, Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles.

A Netflix documentary earlier this year revealed the backstory of the most magical night in music history, a historic gathering dubbed “The Greatest Night in Pop.”

Jones, insisting that the 46 assembled music stars take their job seriously, taped a handwritten sign, Ted Lasso-style, over the studio door: “Check your ego at the door.”

Michael Jackson's offbeat “Bad” and “Man in the Mirror”

The duo's third and final collaboration, 1987's “Bad,” featured even more record-breaking tracks. The edgy title track, the pop ballad “Man in the Mirror,” the finger-snapping R&B hit “The Way You Make Me Feel,” the rock-inspired anthem “Dirty Diana” and the groovy single “Smooth Criminal” set the tone the successes of the Jackson Jones team continued success. It was one of the first albums to utilize the then-new technology of digital synthesizers and delved thematically deeper into Jackson's escalating paranoia towards the media and his commitment to world peace.

“Bad” topped the charts as the world's best-selling album in 1987 and 1988, selling 17 million copies, and led to a 123-date world tour that became the second highest-selling tour of the 1980s, behind Pink Floyd's “A Momentary Lapse of Reason.”

“Fly Me To the Moon” with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie

Jones arranged Frank Sinatra's 1964 Count Basie-assisted album It Might as Well Be Swing, which included the big band singer's version of “Fly Me to the Moon.” The single is closely related to NASA's Apollo space program and was played on the Apollo 10 mission around the moon and on Apollo 11 before the first moon landing.

Lesley Gore's hit “It's My Party”

Jones produced Lesley Gore's 1963 debut album, I'll Cry If I Want To, including the lead single and her first hit, “It's My Party.” Jones was instrumental in making the melodic hand clapper a hit when he mailed it to radio programmers across the country asking for consideration of the game. Jones and Gore formed a friendly partnership when he produced her follow-up albums, “Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts,” “Boys, Boys, Boys,” and “Girl Talk” in 1964, and “My Town, My Guy & Me” that year 1965.

“ET Phone Home” from Spielberg’s “ET – The Extra-Terrestrial”

Jones is not only known for producing pop and jazz music. The hitmaker was also frequently hired as a film composer and film soundtrack producer, with Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker being his first in 1964. Jones' films include the picture book album of Steven Spielberg's 1982 classic ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, where Jones served as producer, while John Williams composed and wrote the original music and Jackson served as narrator. The album includes the famous recording “ET Phone Home”.

“Ease On Down The Road” from the cult classic “The Wiz”

The soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz reboot of The Wiz was actually more successful than the 1978 cult classic film adaptation of the 1975 play. “Ease On Down The Road” is an original from the play by Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross, however, was produced by Jones and sung in the film by Ross and Jackson.

The single, which marked one of the first collaborations between Jackson and Jones, earned Jackson his first solo Grammy nomination – excluding his family band The Jacksons – with Ross.