Quincy and me

Dara E Healy

“Check Your Ego at the Door”

– Sign posted by Quincy Jones above the entrance to the studio the night the song We Are The World was recorded

I NEVER really thought of Quincy Jones as someone who had an impact on my life. Yes, I knew he was the one behind the scenes working with Michael Jackson on Thriller, but I never realised that his creativity had permeated so much of my existence. From music to television and film, his work has been part of shaping my world view and identity. So hearing about his passing startled me. In that moment, I understood that in many ways the projects he worked on affected me as a teenager and young adult. Indeed, it is true to say some of those works still affect me today.

“We are the world/We are the children/We are the ones to make a brighter day/So let’s start giving.” In 1985, like the rest of the world, I was swept up by the incredible pop song We Are The World, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.

Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Al Jarreau, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Ray Charles were just some of the names associated with developing a song to raise money for famine and other crises in Africa. The list of creative royalty was stunning.

As I look at the video again, my pores raise, remembering the emotions of the 80s. And there in front of all of these huge stars was Quincy Jones, bobbing his head to the music, conducting the proceedings with absolute confidence. He was probably one of the few people on the planet that this talented group of creatives would have taken seriously.

After the incredible success of the song, including Grammy awards and the funds raised for the cause – some US$80 million – Jones commented that a “great song lasts for eternity.”

I feel the truth in that, particularly when I think of the Michael Jackson song Rock with You. It is still one of my favourite songs of all time, filled with such pathos and longing, yet so much strength. Jones was the producer of the 1979 Off the Wall album, which featured that song, and showcased Michael as a bona-fide solo artist.

The 1970s were critical for me, a period when I was "figuring out" a lot. Being able to look at black actors on television was empowering in ways I did not fully understand at the time. Film was perhaps even more powerful for reinforcing pride and normalising the way I looked and my life experiences.

In 1978, Quincy Jones was the producer behind the successful movie The Wiz, an African American interpretation of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was played by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson played Scarecrow. I still remember how thrilling it was to watch them and the other actors dance and sing Ease on Down the Road and the other captivating songs.

Q, as Quincy Jones was called, was also the force behind the television shows I looked at in the little apartment in Laventille. For instance, he wrote the theme songs for Sanford and Sons and Ironside. In the following decade, he served as one of the executive producers behind Fresh Prince of Bel Air, giving Will Smith one of his first big opportunities as a young rap artist.

The day Thriller premiered, I settled myself on the couch, television on and snacks ready to take in Michael’s latest masterpiece. Producer Quincy Jones was furthest from my mind. Yet while Off the Wall had sold ten million copies, Thriller, the next Jones-Jackson collaboration, eventually sold over 100 million copies.

Quincy won so many Grammys that special shelves had to be built in his home to hold them. Yet the best advice that he ever received was about his humanity. In 1957, French composer Nadia Boulanger told him, “Your music will never be more or less than you are a human being, so start working on being a better human being.”

In 2019, at the age of 85, Q admitted he had finally worked out that anger “is an acid that does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than anything on which it’s poured.”

I never thought of Quincy, but it seems he was always there with me, entertaining, challenging, guiding.

Travel well, talented one. I thank you.

Dara E Healy is a performing artist and founder of the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN