Think about it. Quincy Jones produced MJ’s best work and some of Frank Sinatra’s best work along with a bunch of others. I wonder how much of a media event his memorial service will be?
Interesting bit of trivia. Quincy hated the song, “Billie Jean,” and wanted to keep it off the Thriller album. It caused a huge rift between him and Michael. Qunicy thought it sucked and would drag down the quality of the rest of the album. MJ put his foot down and got it onto the album. It ended up being a minor hit. I think they made a video out of it too.
I take some exception to the idea that Quincy “made” Michael. He certainly guided, channeled and produced Michael’s talent, but Michael was a natural performer and his own dancing and singing talents and his personal charisma had just as much or a lot more to do with it thna QJ.
I was surprised by all the stars who didn’t show up - Liz Taylor, Michael Jordan, the aforementioned Oprah, as well as a bunch of people from the music industry.
joebuck20, some of those people were supposedly going to attend the repast at the Beverly Wilshire. I heard that Liz Taylor and Diana Ross were going to be there, but I don’t know if they were. Isn’t Liz frail?
Speaking of the repast, the TV announcers all made a point of calling it an African-American custom. Every funeral I’ve ever attended has had a repast afterward. Sometimes they call it a repast, sometimes it’s just “Join us in the church basement for lunch after the service.” It struck me as strange that the announcers had to explain why the mourners (and 800 of their closest friends) went somewhere for dinner after the service and the memorial.
As a victim of sexual abuse herself as a young girl, Oprah is constantly focusing on child sexual abuse on her show (which is one of the only things about her I find laudable); Despite how much she seemingly craves attention/publicity for herself and her circle of like minded “self help experts” I wonder if she truly realizes that M.J. was actually a pedophile, and so stayed away because of her personal principles. (first time for everything, I suppose)
I originally saw the story on some kind of behind the music thing or something, and I’ve seen it cited elsewhere over the years. I think the Wiki cite might be softening things a little. Other stuff I’ve seen made it sound like things really got heated, and that Quincy really thought it was a bad song. I cited that story to suggest that Michael might have had something to do with the success of that album himself. His instincts were certainly vindicated on that song.
From a couple interviews I’ve seen or heard, Jones strikes me as one of those people who will attend events when they’re the center of attention/up for-likely to get an award. I suppose it’s difficult to be humble when you’re so talented and false humility isn’t an attractive trait, but still, he should have been there.
But maybe he wasn’t invited and couldn’t get a ticket.
There was an article that appeared online for Details (http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_9937) that has QJ discussing MJ and his decision not to attend. Pretty plausible - he has sent his condolences to the family, and he chooses not to mourn with an arena full of people.
I’m a little perplexed as to why so many people seem to think that MJ was this naif pushed and prodded by various Svengalis to become the world’s greatest entertainer. It would be ridiculous to state that the Jackson-Jones partnership was anything but the stuff of magic. At the same time, however, MJ has a clear idea of what he wanted to do next. He did three albums with QJ, and four with other producers. Seems to me that he was in control of his musical and artistic accomplishments.
The point of the OP isn’t to diminish the talent of MJ but rather to point out that (in my estimation) it was QJ that took him from stardom to super stardom. What is MJ’s legacy without Bad, Thriller and Off the Wall? It is sort of like asking, “Who are the Beatles without Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road and The White Album?” Great but not the same.
Back to the OP, is it just coincidence that for so many diverse artists their best work was under the direction of Quincy Jones? You have to examine those coincidences.
QJ certainly had his reasons for not attending but I don’t think it had anything to do with him being a publicity hound.
I just found it a bit hollow that the guy who really put MJ over the top was not there at the memorial. I’m not dissing anybody, just making an observation.