Quincy Jones | SPOTLIGHT | Play GALAXY Music

Parker Ighile Over the Horizon - A collaboration with Quincy Jones

Named by Time Magazine as one of the six most influential Jazz artists of the 20th Century, Quincy Jones is an impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word. Over six-decades Jones’ career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, television station owner, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur and humanitarian. Beginning with the music of the post-swing era and continuing through today's high-technology, international multi-media hybrids; he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performance, movies and television.

Quincy Jones was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago and brought up in Seattle. While in junior high school, he began studying trumpet and sang in a gospel quartet at age 12. His musical studies continued at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston until he moved on to New York where his reputation as an arranger grew.

In the mid-50's, he was the first popular conductor-arranger to record with a Fender bass. His theme from the hit TV series Ironside was the first synthesizer-based pop theme song. As the first black composer to be embraced by the Hollywood establishment in the 60's, he helped refresh movie music with badly needed infusions of jazz and soul. His landmark 1989 album, Back On The Block- named "Album Of The Year" at the 1990 Grammy Awards- brought such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis together with Ice T, Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mel to create the first fusion of the be bop and hip hop musical traditions. As the producer and conductor of the historic "We Are The World" recording (the best-selling single of all time) and Michael Jackson's multi-platinum solo albums, Off The Wall, Bad and Thriller (the best-selling album of all time, with over 46 million copies sold), Quincy Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world.

In 1990, Quincy Jones formed Quincy Jones Entertainment (QJE), a co-venture with Time Warner, Inc. The new company, which Quincy served as CEO and chairman, had a broad ranging, multi-media agenda which encompassed programming for current and future technologies, including theatrical motion pictures and network, cable and syndicated television. The Quincy Jones Media Group, found in 1997, is active in film and TV show productions as well as live entertainment, direct response marketing, and cross-media projects for home entertainment and educational applications.

The laurels, awards and accolades have been innumerable. To name a few, starting with his first Grammy in 1963 for his Count Basie arrangement of "I Can’t Stop Loving You," Quincy has won an Emmy Award, seven Oscar nominations, 27 Grammy Awards, and The Grammy Living Legend Award. He is the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 79 Grammy nominations. Jones also has received the numerous distinguished titles and awards from various countries including the Legion d' Honneur from France, Polar Music Prize from Switzerland, and Rudolph Valentino Award from Italy. He is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from various American universities. Most recently, he was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master - the United States’ highest jazz honor, and was most recently bestowed the National Medal of Arts, the United States’ highest artistic honor.

English-Born Nigerian artist Parker Ighile is a producer, singer/songwriter who has produced and written records for platinum-selling artists such as Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kylie Minogue, Conor Maynard, Jessie J., and many more.

Parker produced his first #1 Record at the age of 19 with Jessie J's hit record "Do It Like a Dude". Shortly there-after Parker teamed up with his current manager, music strategist Efe Ogbeni, who broke producer RedOne's career.

After being touched by the Newtown tragedy, Parker felt compelled to write and produce a song (Heaven's Playground) in dedication to the Newtown victims. Efe Ogbeni presented the song to Adam Fell (the Vice President of Quincy Jones Productions) to be used for his United Way Campaign. It was from there that Quincy Jones was introduced to the young artist. Quincy was touched by Parker's character and music and felt that he was the right artist-producer to take under his wing and mentor moving forward.

After moving to Atlanta to develop his unique progressive 'afro-pop' sound, Parker was introduced to Nicki Minaj who defined his artistic value as 'lethal and dope' and quickly signed him as her first act.

His debut EP "Young Dumb & 21" is set for release this fall to follow his debut single "So Beautiful" which was released in February 2013 with critical acclaim.