In 1960, Jones became the first black employee to hold a senior position at a major record label, Mercury Records. When jazz was no longer so popular, he was asked to produce singles with pop music. The first was It’s My Party with Lesley Gore. In 1962, he wrote Soul Bossa Nova, an easily accessible tune that decades later became known as the theme of the film Austin Powers. In the mid-1960s, he moved to Los Angeles and began writing film music, including the music for the film With Cold Blood. He also wrote the signature tunes for several TV series. In 1969 he recorded Walking In Space, an early jazz fusion record.

During the 1970s, Jones produced more pop music and less jazz. Because of this, he had to take some criticism from people who thought he was selling himself. In 1977, he was commissioned to write the music for The Wiz, a modernized version of The Wizard of Oz. There he met Michael Jackson, who had one of the roles in the film, and they agreed that Jones would be the producer on Jackson’s first solo album, “Off the Wall”. The success and friendship meant that the collaboration continued.

In the mid-1980s, Quincy Jones was the producer of the charity single We Are the World. In 1989, he was a producer on Back On The Block, starring stars such as Barry White, James Ingram, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, George Benson, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, along with Big Daddy Kane and other rap and hip-hop stars. Among the TV productions he has been involved in can be mentioned Fresh Prince in Bel Air, and among film merits can be mentioned Purpurfärgen. He has won 26 Grammys and received the Polar Prize in 1994.