The late producer came from hardship and knew his history, which allowed him to see—and invent—the future of music.

Their work on “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad” set records for commercial success and defined the sound of the 1980s.

The producer, who died this week, was at the height of his powers during a legendary three-album run with Jackson.

For decades, he had many of the pop world’s best players on call — and knew how to coax out their sharpest performances.

To say the least, the passing of Quincy Jones has shocked the Black community ... We’ll try to keep it to one song per artist since Jones produced entire albums for some of the singers on this list.

He played the trumpet with Lionel Hampton, produced albums ('Thriller'), songs ("We Are the World," "It's My Party"), films ('The Color Purple') and TV shows ('Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'), scored movies ...

Quincy Jones, the multi-talented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson's historic "Thriller" ...