Felt like a shotgun blast to the head

In a 1974 interview with PEOPLE, the legendary music producer recounted his brush with death.

Quincy Jones was widely regarded as one of music’s greatest producers and composers throughout his distinguished 70-year career. His death on Sunday, November 3 caused shock around the world. But his life almost ended 50 years earlier due to two brain aneurysms.

In an interview with PEOPLE magazine published on March 17, 1974, Jones recalled collapsing in the house he shared with Peggy Lipton before they tied the knot later that year. “I felt like the back of my head had been blown off by a shotgun,” he said.

Doctors discovered that two blood vessels in Jones’ brain had burst, and the music producer nearly died. Neurosurgeons operated and discovered a second aneurysm, warning him of the possibility of permanent paralysis if he survived. “If you don’t want to live, it’s so easy to walk away,” Jones said of his desire to live. “But all I could think was, ‘God, I’m not ready yet.’

Connected: How Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson Collaboration Changed Music History

His second operation to remove another aneurysm took seven and a half hours. “The doctor told me they sawed off my skull and put it on the table and then put it back on with six metal clamps,” he said in awe.

In an interview in 2018 GQJones said he realized he couldn’t ignore doctors’ orders after he feared for his health, but not for lack of trying. Due to a clamp on a blood vessel in his brain, he could no longer play his beloved trumpet and risked the clamp breaking, which could lead to his death. However, Jones tried it while on tour in Japan and got a headache. “I can’t get away with this, man,” he said.

Jones eventually made a full recovery from both surgeries, although he experienced memory loss as a side effect, according to PEOPLE.

Connected: Quincy Jones told his daughter he was ‘so proud to be your daddy’ in his final Instagram post before his death at 91

Dear producer of Michael Jackson died at his home surrounded by his family on Sunday, November 3, aged 91. “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of the passing of our father and brother, Quincy Jones,” the family said in a release. statement. “And while this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life he lived and know there will never be another like him.”

Countless people expressed their condolences and shared memories of working with Jones.

Jamie Lee Curtiswhose childhood home was purchased by Jones to raise his children there, wrote in Instagram post: “The thought of his children running and playing in the same beautiful village environment with eucalyptus trees makes me so happy. His musical legacy is and will be written about until the end of time, but the verisimilitude of the time and place and the DNA of My Family is very personal and known to the few of his children who played and grew up there, and to his family and friends, my hand is in yours.”

AND Harry Connick Jr. published on Instagram“He was so kind to me, so wonderful, such an influence. His legacy and his music will live on forever. Thank you for everything, Q. You were a dude. I love you and will always miss you. Rest in peace. “