Happy 90th birthday to Quincy Jones, who’s lived quite the life, which is particularly impressive given that, nearly 50 years ago, it looked like he was dying:
In 1974 Jones had a pair of brain aneurysms, and the prognosis was pretty grim. Since it looked like he might not have much time left, his family and friends started planning a memorial service. Although Jones was in poor health, he talked his neurologist into letting him attend the service, which was held at the Shrine in Los Angeles. The doctor was worried that Jones’ health would suffer if he got too worked up during the service, so he sat next to Jones throughout the ceremony. Jones later told Newsweek that staying calm “was hard to do with Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, Sarah Vaughn and Sidney Poitier singing your praises.”
I’ll bet it was. Not sure how those aneurysms resolved but obviously they didn’t do too much long-term harm given that he flourished thereafter and he’s still with us nearly 50 years after they thought he was on his last legs… and he’s outlived all those people he mentioned from his memorial.
