Legendary impresario Quincy Jones has officially joined all the fun on TikTok.
The legendary music executive, producer and social activist surprisingly posted his first video on Tuesday (Oct. 4), and has since then posted two others. The Grammy-winning musician’s first video delivered a powerful message about following your dreams.
“If you can see it, you can be it,” he started. “Most of your dreams don’t get achieved — not because someone told you ‘no,’ but because you told yourself you couldn’t. Because no matter how you look at it, there’s only one you.”
He added, “You can’t break the rules unless you’ve mastered them. All you gotta do is try.”
Jones’ official TikTok account (@quincyjones), will offer fans motivational words of wisdom, according to a press release obtained by VIBE. It will feature unique video content, inspiring speeches, and an overview of classics from Jones’ peerless production catalog.
Before joining the popular social media platform, the TikTok community already had Jones’ biggest productions trending. Timeless classics like Michael Jackson’s “Bad” currently boasts over 1.4M video creations as “Billie Jean” has a whopping 281,000 creations and counting. Jones’ 1962 song “Soul Bossa Nova” has over 13,000 tagged videos.
TikTokers around the globe can now catch gems straight from the 89-year-old musical genius’ mouth.
Jones has a career spanning over 70 years in the entertainment industry, with a record of 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys (tying him with Beyoncé) and a prestigious Grammy Legend Award. Starting out in the 1950’s as a jazz conductor, years later he found himself trailblazing through eras of film and music — including Hip-Hop and R&B.
He’s also the “first” of many historical moments in entertainment history, including being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “The Eyes of Love” from the film Banning and becoming the musical director and conductor of the Academy Awards. He is also the first African-American to receive the academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Ultimately, Jones is best known for his production on three of the late-Michael Jackson’s successful albums: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987). In 1985, he also produced and conducted the charity song “We Are the World”, which raised funds to alleviate the hunger crisis in Ethiopia.
In 2013, Jones was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a winner of the Ahmet Ertegun Award. He has also been deemed one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by TIME.
Check out Jones’ first TikTok above and give him a follow.
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