New Order and Peter Hook pay tribute to Quincy Jones: “He made us big in America”

4 November, 2024

New Order and Peter Hook have paid tribute to their former collaborator Quincy Jones, who they say “made us big in America”.

The legendary producer and songwriter died on Sunday (November 3), aged 91. His long career saw him collaborate with the likes of Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, and he went on to produce Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, to this day the biggest selling album of all time.

Among the countless great artists Jones impacted was New Order, who were signed to Qwest Records in the US, Jones’ own label. In 1988, Jones also remixed the Manchester band’s classic single ‘Blue Monday’ alongside John Potoker, which was released under the title ‘Blue Monday 1988’ and reached Number Three on the UK charts, surpassing the song’s original high of Number Nine.

Writing on X/Twitter, New Order founding bassist Hook shared his tribute to the producer. “It’s so sad to hear about Quincy Jones,” he said. “When he signed us to his label, he made us feel so welcome – inviting us to dinner at his home every time we were in town. He made us big in America. He was so humble & sweet that you immediately fell in love with him.”

“And to this day I still got a lovely message from him every year on Christmas and birthday cards! A musical genius and a great, lovely man. He will be sorely missed. RIP.”

Similarly, the band shared a message on Instagram, saying: “Very sorry to hear about the passing of our old label boss and collaborator, Quincy Jones. We were on his label Qwest for many years, he did a great remix of Blue Monday in 1988. We send all our condolences and thoughts to his family, he was a true legend!”

Alongside the caption, the band shared a clip of Jones talking about his admiration for New Order. “We’re talking about this group who was influenced by the Sex Pistols, but at that time I didn’t understand it, because I thought they were much better than the Sex Pistols musically,” Jones says in the clip. “They were funky and they had tight time, because naturally when you’re dealing with sequencers, the time’s gonna be nailed down with spikes, which I loved. And they knew how to really deal with dance music.”

Writing about Jones’ life, NME has said: “The man they called LLQJ – loose-lipped Quincy Jones – had more than a few stories to tell. It’s hard to think of an area of contemporary pop culture that he didn’t help to shape in some way, from film and TV (via his production company Quincy Jones Entertainment) to, of course, music, on which he had as great an impact as anyone in the last 50 years.”

Since his passing, fans have been re-sharing some of Jones’ most outspoken statements in recent years, including when he described The Beatles as “the worst musicians in the world”, and when he spoke about when U2 made him stay in Bono’s castle “because Ireland is so racist”.

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